Transporting children safely – Mini 2004 Cooper User Manual

Page 40

TRANSPORTING CHILDREN SAFELY

The proper place for children

Children should always sit in the rear:

Accident research shows that the safest
place for children in a vehicle is in the rear
seat.

Older children should be tightly secured
with a safety belt, after they have out-
grown a booster seat that is appropriate for
their age, height and weight.

A child sitting in the rear seat and not
properly restrained may place his or

her head on or near the airbag, if so
equipped. For example, a child – even
though belted – may fall asleep with his or
her head against the side airbag. It may be
difficult for a driver to ensure that children
in the rear seat will remain properly posi-
tioned at all times and do not place their
heads on or near the side airbag. Therefore,
we recommend that the rear side airbags, if
provided, be deactivated if you plan to
transport children in the rear seat.

Child-restraint system in the rear

Children under 13 years of age and
children less than 5 ft / 150 cm tall

should always ride in the rear and the
restraint systems should be secured with
the vehicle's safety belts.

Younger children should be secured in an
appropriate forward-facing child-restraint
system that has first been properly
restrained. We strongly urge you to care-
fully read and comply with the instructions
for installation and use provided by the
child-restraint's manufacturer whenever
you use such a device.

All rear seating positions in your vehicle
meet the recommendations of SAE J1819,
an industry-recommended practice for
securing child-restraint systems in motor
vehicles.

Exception for the front passenger seat

Never install a rearward-facing child-
restraint system in the front passen-

ger seat of this vehicle if the passenger's
airbag is not deactivated. If you do so, the
child could be severely injured or killed
when the airbag is triggered. Your vehicle is
equipped with an airbag supplemental
restraint system for the front passenger.
Because the backrest on any rearward-fac-
ing child-restraint system – of the kind
designed for infants under 1 year and
20 Ibs / 9 kg – would be within the airbag's
deployment range, you should never
mount such a system in the front passen-
ger seat, since the impact of the airbag
against the child restraint's backrest could
lead to serious or fatal injuries.