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The importance of shoulder belts
Using a booster without a shoulder belt increases the risk of a child’s
head hitting a hard surface in a collision. For this reason, you should
never use a booster seat with a lap belt only. It is best to use a booster
seat with combination lap/shoulder belts.
WARNING: Follow all instructions provided by the
manufacturer of the booster seat.
WARNING: Never put the shoulder belt under a child ’s arm or
behind the back because it eliminates the protection for the
upper part of the body and may increase the risk of injury or
death in a collision.
WARNING: Never use pillows, books, or towels to boost a
child. They can slide around and increase the likelihood of
injury or death in a collision.
SAFETY SEATS FOR CHILDREN
Child and infant or child safety seats
Use a safety seat that is recommended for the size and weight of the
child. Carefully follow all of the manufacturer ’s instructions with the
safety seat you put in your vehicle. If you do not install and use the
safety seat properly, the child may be injured in a sudden stop or
collision.
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When installing a child safety seat:
•Review and follow the information
presented in the Air Bag
Supplemental Restraint System
section in this chapter.
• Use the correct safety belt buckle
for that seating position (the
buckle closest to the direction the
tongue is coming from).
• Insert the belt tongue into the
proper buckle until you hear a
snap and feel it latch. Make sure the tongue is securely fastened in the
buckle.
WARNING: Do not install a child seat in a center facing jump
seat.
• Keep the buckle release button pointing up and away from the safety
seat, with the tongue between the child seat and the release button,
to prevent accidental unbuckling.
• Place seat back in upright position.
• Put the safety belt in the automatic locking mode. Refer to Automatic
locking mode (passenger side front seat).
• LATCH lower anchors are recommended for use by children up to 22
kg (48 pounds) in a child restraint. Top tether anchors can be used
for children up to 27 kg (60 pounds) in a child restraint, and to
provide upper torso restraint for children up to 36 kg (80 pounds)
using an upper torso harness and a belt-positioning booster.
Mazda recommends the use of a child safety seat having a top tether
strap. Install the child safety seat in a seating position with LATCH and
tether anchors. For more information on top tether straps and anchors,
refer to Attaching safety seats with tether straps in this chapter. For
more information of LATCH anchors refer to Attaching safety seats with
LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) attachments in this
chapter.
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WARNING: Carefully follow all of the manufacturer’s
instructions included with the safety seat you put in your
vehicle. If you do not install and use the safety seat properly,
the child may be injured in a sudden stop or collision.
Installing child safety seats with combination lap and shoulder
belts (front outboard passenger seat only) 1. Position the child safety seat in a seat with a combination lap
and shoulder belt.
WARNING: If there is a tether on the child safety seat, attach
it to the tether anchor point. Refer to Attaching child safety
seats with tether straps in this chapter.
WARNING: Air bags can kill or injure a child in a child seat.
Never place a rear facing child seat in the right front seat
unless the air bag on/off switch is turned OFF. If you place a
forward-facing child seat in the right front seat, turn the air bag
on/off switch to OFF. See Passenger air bag on/off switch in
this chapter.
WARNING: Rear facing child seats should NEVER be placed in
the front seats unless the passenger air bag switch is turned
off. Also, slide the front seat forward until the rear facing child
seat contacts the dash board for maximum support. (All other
children and forward facing child seats and booster seats should
be on front seats that are slid back as far away as possible from
the dashboard.)
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5. To put the retractor in theautomatic locking mode, grasp
the shoulder portion of the belt
and pull downward until all of
the belt is extracted and a click
is heard.
6. Allow the belt to retract. The belt will click as it retracts to
indicate it is in the automatic
locking mode.
7. Pull the lap belt portion across the child seat toward the buckle
and pull up on the shoulder belt
while pushing down with knee
on the child seat.
8. Allow the safety belt to retract to remove any slack in the belt.
9. Before placing the child in the seat, forcibly tilt the seat
forward and back to make sure
the seat is securely held in
place. To check this, grab the
seat at the belt path and
attempt to move it side to side
and forward. There should be
no more than one inch of movement for proper installation.
10. Try to pull the belt out of the retractor to make sure the retractor is in the automatic locking mode (you should not be able to pull more
belt out). If the retractor is not locked, unbuckle the belt and repeat
steps two through nine.
11. See Attaching child safety seats with tether straps in this chapter.
Check to make sure the child seat is properly secured before each use.
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Attaching child safety seats with tether straps
Most new forward-facing child safety seats include a tether strap which
goes over the back of the seat and hooks to an anchoring point. Tether
straps are available as an accessory for many older safety seats. Contact
the manufacturer of your child seat for information about ordering a
tether strap.
The tether anchors in your vehicle are located on the back of the front
seat cushion.
The tether strap anchors in your vehicle are in the following positions
(shown from top view):
•Bucket seats
• 60/40 seats
WARNING: Attach the tether strap only to the appropriate
tether anchor as shown. The tether strap may not work
properly if attached somewhere other than the correct tether
anchor.
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WARNING: This anchor information applies to child safety
seats equipped with tether straps. For child safety seats
equipped with LATCH anchors, refer toAttaching safety seats
with LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children)
attachments for child seat anchors in this chapter.
WARNING: Never attach two child safety seat tethers to a
single tether anchor. In a crash, on anchor may not be strong
enough to hold two child safety seat attachments and may
break, causing serious injury or death. 1. Position the child safety seat on the front seat cushion.
2. Route the child safety seat tether strap over the back of the seat.
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Center seating location 60/40 seats with folding armrest
When installing a child safety seat in the center position, route the tether
strap over the center arm rest and clip it to the center anchor.
See next page for center seating location of vinyl 60/40 seat.WARNING: If the tether strap is clipped incorrectly, the child
safety seat may not be retained properly in the event of a
collision.
WARNING: If the tether strap is clipped incorrectly, the child
safety seat may not be retained properly in the event of a
collision.
5. Refer to the Installing child safety seats in combination lap and
shoulder belt seating positions section of this chapter for further
instructions to secure the child safety seat.
6. Tighten the child safety seat tether strap according to the manufacturer’ s instructions.
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WARNING: If the safety seat is not anchored properly, the risk
of a child being injured in a collision greatly increases.
Attaching safety seats with LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for
Children) attachments for child seat anchors
Some child safety seats have two rigid or webbing mounted attachments
that connect to two anchors at certain 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 the proper tether anchor. See Attaching safety seats with
tether straps in this chapter.
Your vehicle may be equipped with LATCH anchors for child seat
installation at the following seating positions:
• Bucket seats
• 60/40 seats
represents LATCH anchors.
represents tether strap anchors.
To improve child seat protection, use the tether anchor when using the
LATCH to install a child safety seat. See Attaching child safety seats
with tether straps in this section.
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