2004 FORD THUNDERBIRD 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
Head restraints help to limit head motion in the event of a rear collision.
Adjust your head restraint so that it is located directly or as close as
possible behind your head.
The head restraints can be moved
up and down.
Push control to lower head restraint.
2004 Thunderbird (tbr)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English (fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
Seating and Safety Restraints
73

Using the manual lumbar support
The lumbar control is located on the
front of the driver’s seat cushion.
Turn to adjust lumbar support.
Using the manual recline function
Never adjust the driver ’s seat or seatback when the vehicle is
moving.
The driver and passenger seat must be in the upright position
and the lap belt must be snug and low across the hips while the
vehicle is moving.
To adjust the front seatback using
the manual recliner:
• Lift and hold the handle located
on the side of the seat.
• Lean against the seatback to
adjust it to your desired position.
You can recline the seat back or
bring it forward.
• Release the handle when the
desired position has been
reached.
Adjusting the driver’s power seat
Never adjust the driver ’s seat or seatback when the vehicle is
moving.
Do not pile cargo higher than the seatbacks to avoid injuring
people in a collision or sudden stop.
2004 Thunderbird (tbr)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English (fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
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The driver and passenger seat must be in the upright position
and the lap belt must be snug and low across the hips while the
vehicle is moving.
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.
The seat position control is located on the outboard side of the seat
cushion.
Press front to raise or lower the
front portion of the seat cushion.
Press rear to raise or lower the rear
portion of the seat cushion.
Press the control to move the seat
forward, backward, up or down.
2004 Thunderbird (tbr)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English (fus)
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Adjusting the passenger’s power seat
The control is located on the outboard side of the seat cushion.
Press the control to move the seat
forward or backward.
Heated seats (if equipped)
To operate the heated seats:
• Push the indicated side of the
control for maximum heat.
• Push again to deactivate.
• Push the indicated side of the
control for minimum heat.
• Push again to deactivate.
The heated seat module resets at every ignition run cycle. While the
ignition is in the run position, activating the high or low heated seat
switch enables heating mode. When activated, they will turn off
automatically when the ignition is turned to the OFF position.
The indicator light will illuminate when the heated seats have been
activated.
SAFETY RESTRAINTS
Safety restraints precautions
The driver and passenger seat must be in the upright position
and the lap belt must be snug and low across the hips while the
vehicle is moving.
To reduce the risk of injury, make sure children sit where they
can be properly restrained.
2004 Thunderbird (tbr)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English (fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
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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.
Combination lap and shoulder belts
Before fastening the safety belt,
make sure the shoulder belt passes
through the belt holder on the top
of the seatback.
2004 Thunderbird (tbr)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English (fus)
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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.
2. To unfasten, push the release
button and remove the tongue from
the buckle.
Energy Management Feature
The safety belts in the vehicle are combination lap and shoulder belts.
•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.
The safety restraints in the vehicle are combination lap and shoulder
belts. The safety belts have two types of locking modes described below.
Vehicle sensitive mode
The vehicle sensitive mode is the normal retractor mode, allowing 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.
2004 Thunderbird (tbr)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English (fus)
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Automatic locking mode
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.
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.
2004 Thunderbird (tbr)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
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When to use the automatic locking mode
•Anytime a child safety seat is installed in the vehicle. Refer to Safety
Restraints for Children orSafety Seats for Children later in this
chapter.
How to disengage the automatic locking mode
Unbuckle the combination lap and shoulder belt and allow it to retract
completely to disengage the automatic locking mode and return to the
vehicle sensitive (emergency) locking mode.
After any vehicle collision, the combination lap and shoulder belt
system at all passenger seating positions must be checked by a
qualified technician to verify that the “automatic locking retractor ”
feature for child seats is still functioning properly, in addition to other
checks for proper seat belt system function.
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. In addition, all
safety belts should be checked for proper function. Failure to replace
the belt and retractor assembly could increase the risk of injury in
collisions.
Safety belt pretensioner
Your vehicle is equipped with safety belt pretensioners at the driver and
front passenger seating positions.
The safety belt pretensioner is a device which removes excess webbing
from the safety belt system. The safety belt pretensioner uses the same
crash sensor system as the front air bag supplemental restraint system
(SRS). When the safety belt pretensioner deploys, webbing from the lap
and shoulder belt is tightened. The driver and front passenger seat belt
system (including retractors and buckles) must be replaced if the vehicle
is involved in a collision that results in deployment of front air bags and
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.
2004 Thunderbird (tbr)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA English (fus)
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