2003 FORD RANGER Owners Manual

Center facing jump seat (4 door SuperCab) (if equipped)
To open, pull seat assembly down,
then raise seatback.
To stow the seat, fold seat back
down and raise seat assembly to the
fully upright position.
Do not install a child seat in
a center facing jump seat.
Booster seats must be
installed only in seating
positions equipped with a
combination lap/shoulder belt.
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.
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.
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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.
On four-door SuperCab vehicles, do not open the rear door when
the rear seat belt is still buckled.
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.
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2. To unfasten, push the release
button and remove the tongue from
the buckle.
The front outboard safety restraints in the vehicle are combination lap
and shoulder belts. The front passenger outboard safety belt has two
types of locking modes described below:
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
The automatic locking mode is not available on the driver safety belt.
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 seat. Refer toSafety restraints for childrenorSafety
seats for childrenlater in this chapter.
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How to use the automatic locking mode
•Buckle the combination lap and
shoulder belt.
•Grasp the shoulder portion and
pull downward until the entire
belt is pulled out.
•Allow the belt to retract. As the belt retracts, you will hear a clicking
sound. This indicates 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 seat belt system at all outboard
seating positions (except driver, which has no“automatic locking
retractor”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.
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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.
Energy Management Feature
•This vehicle has a seat belt system with an energy management
feature at the front outboard seating positions to help further reduce
the risk of injury in the event of a head-on collision.
•This seat belt system has a retractor assembly that is designed to pay
out webbing in a controlled manner. This feature is designed to help
reduce the belt force acting on the occupant’s chest.
Safety belt pretensioner
Your vehicle is equipped with safety belt pretensioners at the driver and
front outboard passenger seating positions.
The safety belt pretensioners are designed to activate during certain
frontal or near-frontal collisions with sufficient longitudinal deceleration.
A safety belt pretensioner is a device which tightens the webbing of the
lap and shoulder belts in such a way that they fit more snugly against
the body.
The driver and front outboard passenger safety belt system (including
retractors, buckle assembly, pretensioner assembly with seat and height
adjusters) must be replaced if the vehicle is involved in a collision that
results in the activation of the safety belt pretensioners. Refer to the
Safety belt maintenancesection in this chapter.
Failure to replace the safety belt assembly under the above
conditions could result in severe personal injuries in the event of
a collision.
Front safety belt height adjustment
Your vehicle has safety belt height adjustments for the driver and front
passenger. Adjust the height of the shoulder belt so the belt rests across
the middle of your shoulder.
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•Regular Cab and 4–door Super
Cab
•2–door SuperCab
To lower the shoulder belt height, push the button and slide the height
adjuster down. To raise the height of the shoulder belt, slide the height
adjuster up. 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.
Lap belts
Adjusting the front center seat lap belt (if equipped)
The lap belt does not adjust automatically.
The lap belt should fit snugly and as low as possible around the
hips, not across the waist.
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Insert the tongue into the correct
buckle (the buckle closest to the
direction the tongue is coming
from). To lengthen the belt, turn the
tongue at a right angle to the belt
and pull across your lap until it
reaches the buckle. To tighten the
belt, pull the loose end of the belt
through the tongue until it fits snugly across the hips.
Shorten and fasten the belt when
not in use.
Adjusting the rear center facing jump seat lap belt (if equipped)
The lap belt will adjust automatically. To fasten, grasp the tongue, and
with a continuous motion, pull out enough webbing to buckle the tongue
into the correct buckle. If you did not pull out enough webbing to reach
the buckle, allow the tongue to retract fully before trying to pull it out
again.
The lap belt should fit snugly and as low as possible around the
hips, not across the waist.
If you need to lengthen the belt, unfasten it and repeat the procedure
above.
To unfasten the belt, push in the release button prior to opening the rear
door.
Safety belt extension assembly
If the safety belt is too short when fully extended, there is a 20 cm
(8 inch) safety belt extension assembly that can be added (part number
611C22). This assembly can be obtained from your dealer at no cost.
Use only extensions manufactured by the same supplier as the safety
belt. Manufacturer identification is located at the end of the webbing on
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the label. Also, use the safety belt extension only if the safety belt is too
short for you when fully extended.
Do not use extensions to change the fit of the shoulder belt
across the torso.
Safety belt warning light and indicator chime
The safety belt warning light illuminates in the instrument cluster and a
chime sounds to remind the occupants to fasten their safety belts.
Conditions of operation
If... Then...
The driver’s safety belt is not
buckled before the ignition
switch is turned to the ON
position...The safety belt warning light
illuminates 1-2 minutes and the
warning chime sounds 4-8 seconds.
The driver’s safety belt is
buckled while the indicator
light is illuminated and the
warning chime is sounding...The safety belt warning light and
warning chime turn off.
The driver’s safety belt is
buckled before the ignition
switch is turned to the ON
position...The safety belt warning light and
indicator chime remain off.
BeltMinder
The BeltMinder feature is a supplemental warning to the safety belt
warning function. This feature provides additional reminders to the
driver that the driver’s safety belt is unbuckled by intermittently
sounding a chime and illuminating the safety belt warning lamp in the
instrument cluster.
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