2003 FORD EXPLORER SPORT Owners Manual

Reclining the seats
Pull the lever located on the outside
of the seat to recline the seatback.
Release the lever to lock the
seatback in place.
Reclining the seatback can cause an occupant to slide under the
seat’s safety belt, resulting in severe personal injuries in the
event of a collision.
Never adjust the driver’s seat or seatback when the vehicle is
moving.
Power lumbar (if equipped)
Push the button forward to inflate,
or rearward to deflate.
Heated seats (if equipped)
To operate the heated seats:
•Push control to activate.
•Push again to deactivate.
The indicator light on the control will illuminate when activated.
2003 U207 Explorer Sport(u27)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
65

Tip Slide
Do not drive the vehicle with the tip slide seat unlatched. This
may result in loss of vehicle control and severe personal injury.
To operate the feature:
1. Lift the seatback control (1) on
the side of the seat or push forward
control (2). The seatback will tilt
forward.
2. Push the seatback to move the
seat forward.
3. Reposition the seatback to the
desired position and pull control (1)
or push control (2) to lock/latch the
seat. The seatback and seat track
will not return to the original
position automatically and must be
adjusted.
Once the tip slide feature has been activated, the seat will not re-latch
until the seatback is moved into the latched upright position by lifting
the seatback control (1). This will engage the seat track locking levers.
The tip slide feature can also be activated from the rear seat position.
Push the lower control on the rear outboard side of the front seat (2)
with your foot and follow steps 2 and 3 listed previously.
REAR SEATS
Adjustable rear head restraints
Lift the head restraint so that it is located directly or as close as possible
behind your head.
1
2
2003 U207 Explorer Sport(u27)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
66

Push or pull the head restraint to
the desired position.
Folding rear seats
The rear seat adjustable head restraints should be placed in the full
down position before folding the seat back down.
1. Pull the release up to unlatch the
seatback.
2. While holding the latch handle,
pull the seat cushion up and flip it
forward. The seatback will follow
and fold into the load floor position.
2003 U207 Explorer Sport(u27)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
67

3. Press down on the top outboard
area of the seatback until a click is
heard. When you hear the click, the
seat is latched.
To return the seat to the upright
position:
•Pull the release handle up to
unlatch the seat.
•Flip the seatback up until the
seatback until a click is heard.
When you hear the click, the seat
is latched.
SAFETY RESTRAINTS
Safety restraints precautions
Always drive and ride with your seatback upright and the lap
belt snug and low across the hips.
To reduce the risk of injury, make sure children sit where they
can be properly restrained.
2003 U207 Explorer Sport(u27)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
68

Never let a passenger hold a child on his or her lap while the
vehicle is moving. The passenger cannot protect the child from
injury in a collision.
All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver, should always
properly wear their safety belts, even when an air bag (SRS) is
provided.
It is extremely dangerous to ride in a cargo area, inside or
outside of a vehicle. In a collision, people riding in these areas
are more likely to be seriously injured or killed. Do not allow people to
ride in any area of your vehicle that is not equipped with seats and
safety belts. Be sure everyone in your vehicle is in a seat and using a
safety belt properly.
In a rollover crash, an unbelted person is significantly more likely
to die than a person wearing a safety belt.
Each seating position in your vehicle has a specific safety belt
assembly which is made up of one buckle and one tongue that
are designed to be used as a pair. 1) Use the shoulder belt on the
outside shoulder only. Never wear the shoulder belt under the arm. 2)
Never swing the safety belt around your neck over the inside shoulder.
3) Never use a single belt for more than one person.
Always transport children 12 years old and under in the back
seat and always properly use appropriate child restraints.
Safety belts and seats can become hot in a vehicle that has been
closed up in sunny weather; they could burn a small child. Check
seat covers and buckles before you place a child anywhere near them.
Energy Management Feature
•This vehicle has a safety belt system with an energy management
feature at the front seating positions to help further reduce the risk of
injury in the event of a head-on collision.
2003 U207 Explorer Sport(u27)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
69

•The front outboard safety belt system has a retractor assembly that is
designed to extend the seat belt webbing in a controlled manner. This
helps reduce the belt force acting on the user’s chest.
BELT AND RETRACTOR ASSEMBLY MUST BE REPLACED if
the safety belt assembly automatic locking retractor feature or
any other safety belt function is not operating properly when checked
according to the procedures in Workshop Manual. Failure to replace
the Belt and Retractor assembly could increase the risk of injury in
collisions.
Vehicle sensitive mode
This is the normal retractor mode, which allows free shoulder belt length
adjustment to your movements and locking in response to vehicle
movement. For example, if the driver brakes suddenly or turns a corner
sharply, or the vehicle receives an impact of approximately 8 km/h
(5 mph) or more, the combination safety belts will lock to help reduce
forward movement of the driver and passengers.
Automatic locking mode
How to use the automatic locking mode
•Buckle the combination lap and
shoulder belt.
2003 U207 Explorer Sport(u27)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
70

•Grasp the shoulder portion and
pull downward until the entire
belt is extracted.
•Allow the belt to retract. As the belt retracts, you will hear a clicking
sound. When you hear the clicking sound, the safety belt is now in the
automatic locking mode.
How to disengage the automatic locking mode
Disconnect the combination lap/shoulder belt and allow it to retract
completely to disengage the automatic locking mode and activate the
vehicle sensitive (emergency) locking mode.
After any vehicle collision, the safety belt systems at all outboard
seating positions (except the driver position, which doesn’t have
this feature) must be checked by a qualified technician to verify that
the automatic locking retractor feature for child seats is still
functioning properly. In addition, all seat belts should be checked for
proper function.
BELT AND RETRACTOR ASSEMBLY MUST BE REPLACED if
the seat belt assembly “automatic locking retractor” feature or
any other seat belt function is not operating properly when checked
according to the procedures in Workshop Manual. Failure to replace
the Belt and Retractor assembly could increase the risk of injury in
collisions.
In this mode, the shoulder belt is automatically pre-locked. The belt will
still retract to remove any slack in the shoulder belt. The automatic
locking mode is not available on the driver safety belt.
This mode should be usedany timea child safety seat is installed in a
passenger front or outboard rear seating position (if equipped). Children
12 years old and under should be properly restrained in the rear seat
whenever possible. Refer toSafety restraints for childrenorSafety
seats for childrenlater in this chapter.
2003 U207 Explorer Sport(u27)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
71

Front safety belt height adjustment
Adjust the height of the shoulder
belt so the belt rests across the
middle of your shoulder.
To adjust the shoulder belt height,
push the button and slide the height
adjuster up or down. Release the
button and pull down on the height
adjuster to make sure it is locked in
place.
Position the safety belt
height adjusters so that the
belt rests across the middle of
your shoulder. Failure to adjust
the safety belt properly could
reduce the effectiveness of the
seat belt and increase the risk of
injury in a collision.
Combination lap and shoulder belts
1. Insert the belt tongue into the
proper buckle (the buckle closest to
the direction the tongue is coming
from) until you hear a snap and feel
it latch. Make sure the tongue is
securely fastened in the buckle.
2003 U207 Explorer Sport(u27)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
72