1996 Buick Century Owner's Manual

The safety belt locks if there’s a sudden stop or a crash.It’s possible that an automatic belt could keep you fromfully opening a door. That can happen if the door wasslammed shut very hard. Just close the door all the way,then slowly open it. If that doesn’t fix it, then yourBuick needs service.We hope you’ll always keep your automatic beltbuckled. However, you may need to unbuckle it in anemergency. And you would need to unbuckle it to letsomeone get into the center front seat position, if yourvehicle has one.The lap belt should be worn as low on the hips aspossible. In a crash, this applies force to the strongpelvic bones. And you’d be less likely to slide under thelap belt. If you slid under it, the belt would apply forceat your abdomen. This could cause serious or even fatalinjuries. The shoulder belt should go over the shoulderand across the chest. These parts of the body are bestable to take belt restraining forces.