2005 Mercury Montego rear seat

To lower the seatback(s) from
inside the vehicle, pull the strap
located on the outboard side of the
seatback to release it, and then fold
seatback down.
When raising the seatback(s), make sure you hear the seat latch into
place.
Before returning the seatback to its original position, make sure
that cargo or any objects are not trapped underneath the
seatback. After returning the seatback to its original position, pull on
the seatback to ensure that it has fully latched. An unlatched seat may
become dangerous in the event of a sudden stop or collision.
Seat mounted cup holders and armrest storage compartment
(if equipped)
Your vehicle is equipped with cup holders and a storage compartment (if
equipped) in the rear seat armrest. To access the cup holders, rotate
armrest into use position. To open the storage compartment (if
equipped), pull up on the latch.
Use only soft cups in the cupholder. Hard objects can injure you
in a collision.
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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 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
(first row only), and safety belt usage sensors.
•Driver’s seat position sensor.
•Passenger occupant classification sensor
•Front crash severity sensor.
•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, passenger occupant classification 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
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 one or both
stages of the dual-stage air bag supplemental restraints based on crash
severity and occupant conditions.
The fact that the pretensioners or airbags did not activate for both front
seat occupants in a collision does not mean that something is wrong with
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 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. The pretensioners are designed to activate in
frontal and near-frontal collisions, and in side collisions and rollovers
when the vehicle is equipped with the Safety Canopy
system.
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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, 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.
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 passenger occupant classification sensor can automatically turn off
the passenger front air bag. The system is designed to help protect small
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(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 passenger
front air bag and seat-mounted side air bag (if equipped) when the
passenger seat is empty to prevent unnecessary replacement of air
bag(s) after a collision.
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 at the front outboard seating positions are
designed to tighten the safety belts firmly against the occupant’s body
during frontal collisions, and in side collisions and rollovers when the
vehicle is equipped with the Safety Canopy
system. This maximizes the
effectiveness of the safety belts. In frontal collisions, the safety belt
pretensioners can be activated alone or, if the collision is of sufficient
severity, together with the front 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
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 toEnergy management feature
section 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, driver seat
position sensor, and passenger occupant classification sensor. In addition,
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Energy Management Feature — Outboard
•This vehicle has a safety belt system with an energy management
feature at the front seats to help further reduce the risk of injury in
the event of a head-on collision.
•This safety belt system has a retractor assembly that is designed to
extend the seat belt webbing in a controlled manner. This helps
reduce the belt force acting on the user’s chest.
Failure to inspect and replace if necessary the Belt and
Retractor assembly after an accident could increase the risk of
injury in a collision.
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 5 mph (8
km/h) or more, the combination safety belts will lock to help reduce
forward movement of the driver and passengers.
Automatic locking mode
When to use 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.
This mode should be usedany timea child safety seat is installed in a
passenger front or outboard rear seating position (if equipped). Children
12 years old and under should be properly restrained in the rear seat
whenever possible. Refer toSafety restraints for childrenorSafety
seats for childrenlater in this chapter.
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Reasons given... Consider...
“Traffic is light”Nearly 1 of 2 deaths occur in
single-vehicle crashes,many when
no other vehicles are around.
“Belts wrinkle my clothes” Possibly, but a serious crash can do
much more than wrinkle your clothes,
particularly if you are unbelted.
“The people I’m with don’t
wear belts”Set the example, teen deaths occur 4
times more often in vehicles with
TWO or MORE people. Children and
younger brothers/sisters imitate
behavior they see.
“I have an airbag” Airbags offer greater protection when
used with safety belts. Frontal airbags
are not designed to inflate in rear and
side crashes or rollovers.
“I’d rather be thrown clear” Not a good idea.Peoplewho are
ejected are 40 times more likely
to DIE.Safety belts help prevent
ejection, WE CAN’T “PICK OUR
CRASH”.
Do not sit on top of a buckled safety belt to avoid the
BeltMinder
chime. Sitting on the safety belt will increase the
risk of injury in an accident. To disable (one-time) or deactivate the
BeltMinder
feature please follow the directions stated below.
One time disable
If at any time the driver/front passenger quickly buckles then unbuckles
the BeltMinder
feature for that seating position, the BeltMinder
is
disabled for the current ignition cycle. The BeltMinder
feature will
re-enable during the same ignition cycle if the occupant buckles and
remains buckled for approximately 30 seconds. Confirmation is not given
for the one time disable.
Deactivating/activating the BeltMinderfeature
The driver and front passenger BeltMinder
are
deactivated/activated independently. When deactivating/activating
one seating position, do not buckle the other position as this will
terminate the process.
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All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver, should always
properly wear their safety belts, even when an air bag
supplemental restraint system (SRS) is provided.
Always transport children 12 years old and under in the back
seat and always properly use appropriate child restraints.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
recommends a minimum distance of at least 10 inches (25 cm)
between an occupant’s chest and the driver air bag module.
Never place your arm over the air bag module as a deploying air
bag can result in serious arm fractures or other injuries.
Steps you can take to properly position yourself away from the airbag:
•Move your seat to the rear as far as you can while still reaching the
pedals comfortably.
•Recline the seat slightly (one or two degrees) from the upright
position.
Do not put anything on or over the air bag module. Placing
objects on or over the air bag inflation area may cause those
objects to be propelled by the air bag into your face and torso causing
serious injury.
Do not attempt to service, repair, or modify the air bag
supplemental restraint system (SRS) or its fuses. See your Ford
or Lincoln Mercury dealer.
The front passenger airbag is not designed to offer protection to
an occupant in the center front seating position.
Modifying or adding equipment to the front end of the vehicle
(including frame, bumper, front end body structure and tow
hooks) may affect the performance of the airbag system, increasing the
risk of injury. Do not modify the front end of the vehicle.
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Children and airbags
Children must always be properly
restrained. Accident statistics
suggest that children are safer when
properly restrained in the rear
seating positions than in the front
seating position. Failure to follow
these instructions may increase the
risk of injury in a collision.
Airbags can kill or injure a
child in a child seat.
NEVERplace a rear-facing child
seat in front of an active airbag. If
you must use a forward-facing
child seat in the front seat, move
the seat all the way back.
How does the air bag supplemental restraint system work?
The air bag SRS is designed to
activate when the vehicle sustains
longitudinal deceleration sufficient
to cause the sensors to close an
electrical circuit that initiates air
bag inflation. The fact that the air
bags did not inflate in a collision
does not mean that something is
wrong with the system. Rather, it
means the forces were not of the
type sufficient to cause activation.
Front air bags are designed to
inflate in frontal and near-frontal collisions, not rollover, side-impact, or
rear-impacts unless the collision causes sufficient longitudinal
deceleration.
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