2004 FORD TAURUS Owners Manual

SEATING
Notes:
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.
Do not pile cargo higher than the seatbacks to reduce the risk of
injury in a collision or sudden stop.
Adjustable head restraints (if equipped)
Head restraints help to limit head motion in the event of a rear collision.
The seats in your vehicle may have adjustable head restraints. Adjust
your head restraint so that it is located directly or as close as possible
behind your head.
Raise the head restraint by pulling it
upward.
To lower the head restraint:
•Push the release control.
•Push down on the head restraint.
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Using the manual lumbar support (if equipped)
The lumbar control is located on the
front of the seat cushion.
Turn to adjust lumbar support.
Adjusting the front manual seat (if equipped)
Never adjust the driver’s seat or seatback when the vehicle is
moving.
Always drive and ride with your seatback upright and the lap
belt snug and low across the hips.
Lift handle to move seat forward or
backward.
Pull lever up to adjust seatback.
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Adjusting the front power seat (if equipped)
The control is located on the outboard side of the seat cushion.
Press to raise or lower the front
portion of the seat cushion.
Press to raise or lower the rear
portion of the seat cushion.
Press the control to move the seat
forward, backward, up or down.
REAR SEATS
2nd seat/Split-folding rear seat
Fold the seatback(s) down.
When raising the seatback(s), make sure you hear the seat latch into
place.
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Make sure that the safety belt for the rear center passenger is properly
routed over the rear seatback.
3rd seat (wagon only)
The third seat faces the rear of the vehicle. For height and weight limits,
see the label on the seat cushion. When the seat is down, the back of
your wagon has a flat surface for carrying cargo.
To open up the seat:
1. Unlock the floor panel with the
key, then use the handle to fold the
floor panel toward the front of the
car.
2. Remove the cargo cover. The
cargo cover must be removed or the
seatback will not latch in the
upright position.
3. Lift the remote latch release on
the left side of the compartment
and fold the remaining floor panel
until it latches. Make sure the
seatback is locked in the upright
position.
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To close the seat, make sure the safety belts are properly stowed, then
lift the remote latch release and push the seat down until it latches. Pull
up on the handle and push the floor panel into place.
SAFETY RESTRAINTS
Personal Safety System
The Personal Safety System provides an improved overall level of frontal
crash protection to front seat occupants and is designed to help further
reduce the risk of air bag-related injuries. The system is able to analyze
different occupant classifications and conditions and crash severity
before activating the appropriate safety devices to help better protect a
range of occupants in a variety of frontal crash situations.
Your vehicle’s Personal Safety System consists of:
•Driver and passenger dual-stage air bag supplemental restraints.
•Front safety belts with pretensioners, energy management retractors,
and safety belt usage sensors.
•Driver’s seat position sensor.
•Front crash severity sensor.
•Front passenger sensing system
•Passenger Air Bag Off indicator light.
•Restraints Control Module (RCM) with impact and safing sensors.
•Restraint system warning light and back-up tone.
•The electrical wiring for the air bags, crash sensor(s), safety belt
pretensioners, front safety belt usage sensors, driver seat position
sensor, and indicator lights.
How does the personal safety system work?
The Personal Safety System can adapt the deployment strategy of your
vehicle’s safety devices according to crash severity and occupant
classification and conditions. A collection of crash and occupant sensors
provides information to the Restraints Control Module (RCM). During a
crash, the RCM activates the safety belt pretensioners and/or either
none, one, or both stages of the dual-stage air bag supplemental
restraints based on crash severity and occupant classification and
conditions.
The fact that the pretensioners or air bags did not activate for both front
seat occupants in a collision does not mean that something is wrong with
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the system. Rather, it means the Personal Safety System determined the
accident conditions (crash severity, belt usage, etc.) were not
appropriate to activate these safety devices. Front air bags and
pretensioners are designed to activate only in frontal and near-frontal
collisions, not rollovers, side-impacts, or rear-impacts unless the collision
causes sufficient longitudinal deceleration.
Driver and passenger dual-stage air bag supplemental restraints
The dual-stage air bags offer the capability to tailor the level of air bag
inflation energy. A lower, less forceful energy level is provided for more
common, moderate-severity impacts. A higher energy level is used for
the most severe impacts. Refer toAir bag Supplemental Restraints
section in this chapter.
Front crash severity sensor
The front crash severity sensor enhances the ability to detect the
severity of an impact. Positioned up front, it provides valuable
information early in the crash event on the severity of the impact. This
allows your Personal Safety System to distinguish between different
levels of crash severity and modify the deployment strategy of the
dual-stage air bags and safety belt pretensioners.
Driver’s seat position sensor
The driver’s seat position sensor allows your Personal Safety System to
tailor the deployment level of the driver dual-stage air bag based on seat
position. The system is designed to help protect smaller drivers sitting
close to the driver air bag by providing a lower air bag output level.
Front passenger sensing system
For air bags to do their job they must inflate with great force, and this
force can pose a potentially deadly risk to occupants that are very close
to the air bag when it begins to inflate. For some occupants, like infants
in rear-facing child seats, this occurs because they are initially sitting
very close to the air bag. For other occupants, this occurs when the
occupant is not properly restrained by seat belts or child safety seats and
they move forward during pre-crash braking. The most effective way to
reduce the risk of unnecessary injuries is to make sure all occupants are
properly restrained. Accident statistics suggest that children are much
safer when properly restrained in the rear seating positions than in the
front.
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Air bags can kill or injure a child in a child seat.NEVERplace a
rear-facing child seat in front of an active air bag. If you must
use a forward-facing child seat in the front seat, move the seat all the
way back.
Always transport children 12 years old and under in the back
seat and always properly use appropriate child restraints.
The front passenger sensing system can automatically turn off the
passenger front air bag. The system is designed to help protect small
(child size) occupants from air bag deployments when they are
improperly seated or restrained in the front passenger seat contrary to
proper child-seating or restraint usage recommendations. Even with this
technology, parents areSTRONGLYencouraged to always properly
restrain children in the rear seat. The sensor also turns off the air bag
when the passenger seat is empty to prevent unnecessary replacement of
the air bag(s) after a collision.
When the front passenger seat is occupied and the sensing system has
turned off the passenger’s frontal air bag, the“pass air bag off”indicator
will light and stay lit to remind you that the front passenger frontal air
bag is off. SeeFront passenger sensing systemin the airbags section of
this chapter.
Front safety belt usage sensors
The front safety belt usage sensors detect whether or not the driver and
front outboard passenger safety belts are fastened. This information
allows your Personal Safety System to tailor the air bag deployment and
safety belt pretensioner activation depending upon safety belt usage.
Refer toSafety Beltsection in this chapter.
Front safety belt pretensioners
The safety belt pretensioners are designed to tighten the front outboard
safety belts firmly against the occupant’s body during a collision. This
maximizes the effectiveness of the safety belts and helps properly
position the occupant relative to the air bag to improve protection. The
safety belt pretensioners can be either activated alone or, if the collision
is of sufficient severity, together with the air bags.
Front safety belt energy management retractors
The front outboard safety belt energy management retractors allow
webbing to be pulled out of the retractor in a gradual and controlled
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manner in response to the occupant’s forward momentum. This helps
reduce the risk of force-related injuries to the occupant’s chest by
limiting the load on the occupant. Refer toSafety Beltsection in this
chapter.
Determining if the Personal Safety System is operational
The Personal Safety System uses a warning light in the instrument
cluster or a back-up tone to indicate the condition of the system. Refer
to theWarning Lightsection in theInstrument Clusterchapter.
Routine maintenance of the Personal Safety System is not required.
The Restraints Control Module (RCM) monitors its own internal circuits
and the circuits for the air bag supplemental restraints, crash sensor(s),
safety belt pretensioners, front safety belt buckle sensors, and the driver
seat position sensor. In addition, the RCM also monitors the restraints
warning light in the instrument cluster. A difficulty with the system is
indicated by one or more of the following.
•The warning light will either flash or stay lit.
•The warning light will not illuminate immediately after ignition is
turned on.
•A series of five beeps will be heard. The tone pattern will repeat
periodically until the problem and warning light are repaired.
If any of these things happen, even intermittently, have the Personal
Safety System serviced at your dealership or by a qualified technician
immediately. Unless serviced, the system may not function properly in
the event of a collision.
Safety belt 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.
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