Page 121 of 336

To reduce the risk of injury, make sure children sit in the back
seat where they can be properly restrained.
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 airbag
supplemental restraint system (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.
Always transport children 12 years old and under in the back
seat and always properly use appropriate child restraints.
Safety belts and seats can become hot in a vehicle that has been
closed up in sunny weather; they could burn a small child. Check
seat covers and buckles before you place a child anywhere near them.
2006 F-150(f12)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
121
Page 122 of 336
Combination lap and shoulder belts
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.
Center front safety belt (Regular Cab center seating position only)
Always use both lap and shoulder safety belt in the Regular Cab
center seating position.
If you carry large cargo behind the seat or items that might damage or
soil the belt, detach the belt from the seat:
1. Release the mini-buckle by
inserting a key or safety belt tongue
into the slot.
2006 F-150(f12)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
122
Page 123 of 336
2. Insert the belt into the clip on the
back panel. Protect the stowed belt
if you carry cargo this may damage
or soil the belt.
If the belt has been disconnected to carry large objects behind the seat,
reconnect it as follows:
1. Remove the belt from the
stowage clip on the back panel.
2. Buckle the small tongue on the
end of the belt into the mini-buckle
on the driver’s side. The belt is now
ready for use. This mini-buckle
should stay buckled at all times
unless cargo-carrying makes it
necessary to detach the belt.
Safety belt with cinch tongue (Regular Cab center only)
The cinch tongue will slide up and down the belt webbing when the belt
is stowed or while putting safety belts on. When the lap/shoulder safety
belt is buckled, the cinch tongue will allow the lap portion to be
2006 F-150(f12)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
123
Page 124 of 336

shortened, but pinches the webbing to keep the lap portion from getting
longer. The cinch tongue is designed to slip during a crash, so always
wear the shoulder belt properly and don’t allow any slack in either the
lap or shoulder portions.
Before you can reach and latch a combination lap and shoulder belt
having a cinch tongue into the buckle, you may have to lengthen the lap
belt portion of it.
1. To lengthen the lap belt, pull
some webbing out of the shoulder
belt retractor.
2. While holding the webbing below
the tongue, grasp the tip (metal
portion) of the tongue so that it is
parallel to the webbing and slide the
tongue upward.
3. Provide enough lap belt length so that the tongue can reach the
buckle.
How to fasten the cinch tongue (Regular Cab center only)
1. Pull the combination lap and shoulder belt from the retractor so that
the shoulder belt portion of the safety belt crosses your shoulder and
chest.
2. Be sure the belt is not twisted. If the belt is twisted, remove the twist.
3. Insert the belt tongue into the proper buckle for your seating position
until you hear a snap and feel it latch.
4. Make sure the tongue is securely fastened to the buckle by pulling on
the tongue.
The lap belt should fit snugly and as low as possible around the
hips, not across the waist.
Front and rear seat occupants, including pregnant women,
should wear safety belts for optimum protection in an accident.
2006 F-150(f12)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
124
Page 125 of 336

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.
While you are fastened in the seat belt, the combination lap/shoulder belt
with a cinch tongue adjusts to your movement. However, if you brake
hard, turn hard, or if your vehicle receives an impact of 8 km/h (5 mph)
or more, the safety belt will become locked and help reduce your
forward movement.
Energy management retractors
Your vehicle has a seat belt system equipped with energy management
retractors at the driver and front outboard passenger seating positions.
An energy management retractor is a device which pays out webbing in a
controlled manner. This feature is designed to help further reduce the
risk of force-related injuries to the occupant.
Seat belt systems equipped with an energy management retractor must
be replaced if they were in use during a frontal collision which resulted
in deployment of the frontal airbags. Refer to theSafety belt
maintenancesection in this chapter.
The front and rear safety restraints in the vehicle are combination lap
and shoulder belts. The front passenger outboard and rear outboard seat
safety belts have two types of locking modes described below:
Lap belts
Adjusting the lap belt
The lap belt should fit snugly and as low as possible around the
hips, not across the waist.
The front center lap belt tongue is designed to fit only in the correct
buckle. The tongue will not securely latch if you attempt to use it in any
of the outboard seating position buckles. To ensure that you have used
the correct buckle you should hear a snap and feel it latch.
•Front center lap belt (SuperCab and SuperCrew)
The lap belt does not adjust automatically.
2006 F-150(f12)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
125
Page 126 of 336

Insert the tongue into the correct
buckle (the buckle closest to the
direction the tongue is coming
from). To lengthen the belt, turn the
tongue at a right angle to the belt
and pull across your lap until it
reaches the buckle. To tighten the
belt, pull the loose end of the belt
through the tongue until it fits
snugly across the hips.
Shorten and fasten the belt when
not in use.
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 5 mph (8 km/h) or more, the combination safety belts will
lock to help reduce forward movement of the driver and passengers.
The front outboard safety belts can also be made to lock manually by
quickly pulling on the shoulder belt. Rear safety belts (if equipped) can
also be made to lock up by pulling quickly on the belt.
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, or
the Regular Cab center safety belt.
2006 F-150(f12)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
126
Page 127 of 336
When to use the automatic locking mode
•Anytimea child safety seat is installed in a front outboard passenger
in a Regular Cab/ SuperCab/ SuperCrew or any rear seating position of
a SuperCab or SuperCrew. The Regular Cab front center seatbelt has a
cinch mechanism. Refer toSafety belt with locking cinch tongue
(Regular Cab center only)earlier in this chapter. Children 12 years
old and under should be properly restrained in a rear seat whenever
possible. Refer toSafety Restraints for ChildrenorSafety Seats for
Childrenlater in this chapter.
How to use the automatic locking mode
1. Buckle the combination lap and shoulder belt.
•Right front passenger seat
•Rear seats (if equipped)
2006 F-150(f12)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
127
Page 128 of 336

2. Grasp the shoulder portion and
pull downward until the entire belt
is extracted.
3. 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.
How to disengage the automatic locking mode
Disconnect the combination lap/shoulder belt and allow it to retract
completely to disengage the automatic locking mode and activate the
vehicle sensitive (emergency) locking mode.
After any vehicle collision, the safety belt systems at all outboard
seating positions (except the driver position, which does not
have this feature) must be checked by an authorized dealer to verify
that the automatic locking retractor feature for child seats is still
functioning properly. In addition, all seat belts should be checked for
proper function.
BELT AND RETRACTOR ASSEMBLY MUST BE REPLACED if
the seat belt assembly “automatic locking retractor” feature or
any other seat belt function is not operating properly when checked by
an authorized dealer. 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 buckle pretensioners at the
driver and front outboard passenger seating positions.
Do NOT place objects between the seats, as this could interfere
with the functioning of the pretensioner.
2006 F-150(f12)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
128