WARNING: Do not leave children, unreliable adults, or pets
unattended in your vehicle. Leaving a child or an animal
unattended in a parked vehicle is dangerous. In hot weather,
temperatures inside a vehicle can become high enough to cause
brain damage or even death. Always take all children and
animals with you or leave a responsible person with them.
Leaving children in a vehicle with the ignition key is dangerous.
This could result in someone being badly injured or even killed.
They could play with power windows or other controls, or even
make the vehicle move. Don’t leave the keys in your vehicle
with children.
WARNING: Placing a child, 12 years or younger, in the front
seat is dangerous. The child could be hit by a deploying air bag
and be seriously injured or even killed. Never place a child
safety seat in a center facing rear jump seat. If you must place
a child safety seat in a front seating position, make sure the
passenger airbag is turned off. SeeTurning the airbag Offin
this section. Never use a rear-facing child restraint system in
the front seat with an air bag that could deploy.
Child booster seats
Children outgrow a typical convertible or toddler seat when they weigh
40 pounds and are around 4 years of age. Although the lap/shoulder belt
will provide some protection, these children are still too small for
lap/shoulder belts to fit properly, which could increase the risk of serious
injury.
To improve the fit of both the lap and shoulder belt on children who
have outgrown child safety seats, Mazda recommends use of a
belt-positioning booster.
Booster seats position a child so that safety belts fit better. They lift the
child up so that the lap belt rests low across the hips and the knees
bend comfortably. Booster seats also make the shoulder belt fit better
and more comfortably for growing children.
When children should use booster seats
Children need to use booster seats from the time they outgrow the
toddler seat until they are big enough for the vehicle seat and
lap/shoulder belt to fit properly. Generally this is when they weigh about
80 lbs (about 8 to 12 years old).
REVIEW COPY
2005 Mazda B Series(mbs), Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)(own2002),
Market:Canadian_French(fr_can)
Seating and Safety Restraints
88
Booster seats should be used until you can answer YES to ALL of these
questions:
•Can the child sit all the way back
against the vehicle seat back with
knees bent comfortably at the
edge of the seat without
slouching?
•Does the lap belt rest low across the hips?
•Is the shoulder belt centered on the shoulder and chest?
•Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?
WARNING: Booster seats must be installed only in seating
positions equipped with a combination lap/shoulder belt.
Types of booster seats
There are two types of belt-positioning booster seats:
•Those that are backless.
If your backless booster seat has a
removable shield, remove the
shield and use the lap/shoulder
belt. If a seating position has a
low seat back and no head
restraint, a backless booster seat
may place your child’s head (top
of ear level) above the top of the
seat. In this case, use a
high-backed booster seat.
REVIEW COPY
2005 Mazda B Series(mbs), Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)(own2002),
Market:Canadian_French(fr_can)
Seating and Safety Restraints
89
•Those with a high back.
If, with a backless booster seat,
you cannot find a seating position
that adequately supports your
child’s head, a high back booster
seat would be a better choice.
Both can be used in any vehicle in a seating position equipped with
lap/shoulder belts if your child is over 40 lbs.
The shoulder belt should cross the chest, resting snugly on the center of
the shoulder. The lap belt should rest low and snug across the hips,
never up high across the stomach.
If the booster seat slides on the vehicle seat, placing a rubberized mesh
sold as shelf or carpet liner under the booster seat may improve this
condition.
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.
REVIEW COPY
2005 Mazda B Series(mbs), Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)(own2002),
Market:Canadian_French(fr_can)
Seating and Safety Restraints
90
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.
When installing a child safety seat:
•Review and follow the information
presented in theAir 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 toAutomatic
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.
REVIEW COPY
2005 Mazda B Series(mbs), Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)(own2002),
Market:Canadian_French(fr_can)
Seating and Safety Restraints
91
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 toAttaching safety seats with tether strapsin this chapter. For
more information of LATCH anchors refer toAttaching safety seats with
LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) attachmentsin this
chapter.
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 toAttaching child safety
seats with tether strapsin 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. SeePassenger air bag on/off switchin
this chapter.
REVIEW COPY
2005 Mazda B Series(mbs), Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)(own2002),
Market:Canadian_French(fr_can)
Seating and Safety Restraints
92
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.)
2. Pull down on the shoulder belt
and then grasp the shoulder
belt and lap belt together.
3. While holding the shoulder and
lap belt portions together, route
the tongue through the child
seat according to the child seat
manufacturer’s instructions. Be
sure the belt webbing is not
twisted.
4. Insert the belt tongue into the
proper buckle (the buckle
closest to the direction the
tongue is coming from) for that
seating position until you hear
and feel the latch engage. Make
sure the tongue is latched
securely by pulling on it.
REVIEW COPY
2005 Mazda B Series(mbs), Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)(own2002),
Market:Canadian_French(fr_can)
Seating and Safety Restraints
93
5. To put the retractor in the
automatic 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. SeeAttaching child safety seats with tether strapsin this chapter.
REVIEW COPY
2005 Mazda B Series(mbs), Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)(own2002),
Market:Canadian_French(fr_can)
Seating and Safety Restraints
94
Check to make sure the child seat is properly secured before each use.
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.
REVIEW COPY
2005 Mazda B Series(mbs), Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)(own2002),
Market:Canadian_French(fr_can)
Seating and Safety Restraints
95