2000 FORD WINDSTAR Owners Manual

7. Allow the safety belt to retract
and remove any slack in the belt to
securely tighten the child safety seat
in the vehicle.
8. Before placing the child into the child seat, forcibly tilt the child seat
forward and back to make sure that the seat is held securely in place.
9. Check from time to time to be sure that there is no slack in the
lap/shoulder belt. The shoulder belt must be snug to keep the lap belt
tight during a collision.
Installing child safety seats in the lap belt seating positions
1. Lengthen the lap belt. To lengthen the belt, hold the tongue so that its
bottom is perpendicular to the direction of webbing while sliding the
tongue up the webbing.
2. Place the child safety seat in the center seating position.
3. Route the tongue and webbing through the child seat according to the
child seat manufacturer's instructions.
4. Insert the belt tongue into the proper buckle for the center seating
position until you hear a snap and feel it latch. Make sure the tongue is
securely fastened to the buckle by pulling on tongue.
5. Push down on the child seat while pulling on the loose end of the lap
belt webbing to tighten the belt.
6. Before placing the child into the child seat, forcibly tilt the child seat
from side to side and in forward direction to make sure that the seat is
held securely in place. If the child seat moves excessively, repeat steps 5
through 6, or properly install the child seat in a different position.
Some manufacturers make safety seats that include a tether strap that
goes over the back of the vehicle seat and attaches to an anchoring
point. Other manufacturers offer the tether strap as an accessory.
Contact the manufacturer of your child safety seat for information about
ordering a tether strap.
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153

Tether anchorage hardware
Children should be placed in the rear in an appropriate child
safety seat that is properly secured to the vehicle.
Rear-facing infant seats must always be secured in the rear seat.
In vehicles without a rear seat, a rear-facing infant seat should
be secured in the front seat only if your vehicle does not have a
passenger side air bag or your vehicle is equipped with a passenger air
bag deactivate switch and the switch is turned to ªOFF.º
When using forward-facing child safety seats in vehicles with
only two seating positions so the forward-facing child safety seat
cannot be placed in the rear of the vehicle, move the passenger seat as
far back from the instrument panel as possible.
Tether strap anchorage locations
have been provided in your vehicle.
The left side of the figure is the
front of the vehicle.
The tether can be attached directly to the rear of all passenger seating
except the front passenger seat equipped with power adjustment. The
front passenger seat with manual adjustment does have a tether anchor.
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154

Front passenger seating position
1. Position the child safety seat on
the passenger seat cushion.
2. Route the child safety seat tether
strap over the back of the seat.
3. Grasp the tether strap and
position it to the seat frame.
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155

4. Rotate the tether strap.
5. Clip the tether strap to the seat
frame.
If the tether strap is clipped
incorrectly (as shown) the child
safety seat may not be retained
properly in the event of a
collision.
6. Rotate the tether strap clip.
7. Refer to the instructions in this
section underInstalling child
safety seats in cinch tongue
combination lap and shoulder belt
seating positionsto secure the
child safety seat.
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8. Tighten the child safety seat
tether strap according to the
manufacturer's instructions.
Rear seating positions
Follow steps 1±8 as described above for the following available seats:
²2nd row bucket
²2nd row bench
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157

²3rd row bench
For additional important safety information on the proper use of
seatbelts, child seats and infant seats, please read the entireSeating
and safety restraintschapter in this owner's guide.
Attaching child safety seats with ISOFIX attachments
Some child seat manufacturers make safety seats that are labeled as
ISOFIX or ISOFIX compatible child seats. These seats include two rigid
or webbing mounted attachments that connect to two anchors at specific
seating positions in your vehicle. This type of child seat eliminates the
need to use seat belts to attach the child seat. For forward-facing child
seats, the tether strap must also be attached to proper tether anchor
point. For information on using tether straps with the child safety seats,
refer toAttaching safety seats with tether strapsin this chapter.
ISOFIX anchors have been provided
in your vehicle at the following
locations:
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158

The anchors at the center of the three-passenger seat are further apart
that the sets of ISOFIX anchors at other seating positions. A child seat
with rigid ISOFIX attachments cannot be installed at this seating
position. An ISOFIX-compatible child seat (with attachments on belt
webbing) can be used at this seating position. Do not attach a child seat
to any ISOFIX anchor if an adjacent child seat is attached to that anchor.
Do not attach a child seat to any ISOFIX anchor if an adjacent
child seat is attached to that anchor. In a crash, one anchor may
not be strong enough to hold two child seat attachments and may
break, causing serious injury or death.
The ISOFIX anchors are located at
the rear section of the seat cushion.
Follow the child seat manufacturer's
instructions to properly install safety
seats with ISOFIX or ISOFIX-
compatible attachments.
Attach the ISOFIX or
ISOFIX-compatible child
seat only to the appropriate
locations shown.
Once you have installed the ISOFIX
safety seat, assure that the seat is properly attached to the ISOFIX and
tether anchors. Also, test the safety seat before you place the child in it.
Tilt the seat from side to side. Also try to tug the seat forward. Check to
see if the anchors hold the seat in place.
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159

If the safety seat in not anchored properly, the risk of a child
being injured in a collision greatly increases.
To properly install any child seat in the second or third row seats, first
set the seatback angle.
1. Pull up on the seatback recline control located on the side of the seat,
allowing the seatback to spring to its forward position.
2. Without touching the recline control, push the seatback rearward
until the recline control drops into position. (If the recline control is
pulled up during this step, the seatback will not be properly positioned.)
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160