2005 Mercury Mountaineer child restraint

Rear-facing child seats or infant carriers should never be placed
in the front seats.
Installing child safety seats with combination lap and shoulder
belts
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.
Children 12 and under should be properly restrained in the rear
seat whenever possible.
1. Position the child safety seat in a
seat with a combination lap and
shoulder belt.
2. Pull down on the shoulder belt
and then grasp the shoulder belt
and lap belt together.
2005 Mountaineer(mnt)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
143

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 a snap and feel the latch
engage. Make sure the tongue is
latched securely by pulling on it.
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
pulled out 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.
2005 Mountaineer(mnt)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
144

7. Pull the lap belt portion across
the child seat toward the buckle and
pull up on the shoulder belt while
pushing down with your 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 move 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 2
through 9.
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 rear seats of your vehicle are equipped with built-in tether strap
anchors located behind the seats as shown below.
2005 Mountaineer(mnt)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
145

The tether strap anchors in your vehicle are in the following positions
(shown from top view):
•5 passenger vehicle
For the center seat, use either of
the two tether anchors/cargo
tie-downs in the scuff plate along
the back edge of the floor.
•7 passenger vehicle
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.
1. Position the child safety seat on the rear seat cushion.
2. Route the tether strap under the head restraint and between the head
restraint posts.
3. Locate the correct anchor for the selected rear seating position.
When placing a child safety seat in the 2nd row center seating position
of the 5 passenger vehicle, the tether straps may be attached to either of
the tether anchors located at the rear of the cargo area.
2005 Mountaineer(mnt)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
146

4. Clip the tether strap to the
anchor.
If the tether strap is clipped incorrectly, the child safety seat
may not be retained properly in the event of a collision.
5. Install the child safety seat tightly using the LATCH anchors or safety
belts. Follow the instructions in this chapter.
6. Tighten the child safety seat tether strap according to the
manufacturer’s instructions.
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. SeeAttaching child safety seats
with tether strapsin this chapter.
2005 Mountaineer(mnt)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
148

Your vehicle has LATCH anchors for child seat installation at the seating
positions marked with the child seat symbol:
Never attach two LATCH child safety seats to the same anchor. In
a crash, one anchor may not be strong enough to hold two child
safety seat attachments and may break, causing serious injury or death.
The lower anchors for child seat
installation are located at the rear
section of the second row seat
between the cushion and seat back.
The LATCH anchors are below the
locator symbols on the seat back.
2005 Mountaineer(mnt)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
149

Follow the child seat manufacturer’s instructions to properly install a
child seat with LATCH attachments. Two plastic LATCH guides can be
obtained at no charge from any Ford or Lincoln/Mercury dealer. They
snap onto the LATCH lower anchors in the seat to help attach a child
seat with rigid attachments. The guides hold the seat trim away to
expose the anchor and make it easier to attach some child seats.
Attach LATCH lower attachments of the child seat only to the
anchors shown.
If you install a child seat with rigid LATCH attachments, do not tighten
the tether strap enough to lift the child seat off the vehicle seat cushion
when the child is seated in it. Keep the tether strap just snug without
lifting the front of the child seat. Keeping the child seat just touching the
vehicle seat gives the best protection in a severe crash.
Each time you use the safety seat, check that the seat is properly
attached to the lower anchors and tether anchor. Try to move the child
seat from side to side. Also try to tug the seat forward. Check to see if
the anchors hold the seat in place.
If the safety seat is not anchored properly, the risk of a child
being injured in a crash greatly increases.
2005 Mountaineer(mnt)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
150

NOTICE TO UTILITY VEHICLE AND TRUCK OWNERS
Utility vehicles and trucks handle
differently than passenger cars in
the various driving conditions that
are encountered on streets,
highways and off-road. Utility
vehicles and trucks are not designed
for cornering at speeds as high as
passenger cars any more than
low-slung sports cars are designed
to perform satisfactorily under
off-road conditions.
Utility vehicles have a significantly higher rollover rate than
other types of vehicles. To reduce the risk of serious injury or
death from a rollover or other crash you must:
•Avoid sharp turns and abrupt maneuvers;
•Drive at safe speeds for the conditions;
•Keep tires properly inflated;
•Never overload or improperly load your vehicle; and
•Make sure every passenger is properly restrained.
In a rollover crash, an unbelted person is significantly more likely
to die than a person wearing a seat belt. All occupants must
wear safety belts and children/infants must use appropriate restraints
to minimize the risk of injury or ejection.
Study yourOwner’s Guideand any supplements for specific information
about equipment features, instructions for safe driving and additional
precautions to reduce the risk of an accident or serious injury.
VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS
4WD and AWD Systems (if equipped)
A vehicle equipped with AWD or 4WD (when selected) has the ability to
use all four wheels to power itself. This increases traction which may
enable you to safely drive over terrain and road conditions that a
conventional two-wheel drive vehicle cannot.
2005 Mountaineer(mnt)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Tires, Wheels and Loading
151