Page 137 of 328
Push release button to lower head
restraint.
Folding down the 60/40 rear seats
Note: The head restraints should be placed in the full down position
before folding the seatback down.
Note: Ensure that no objects such as books, purses, or briefcases are on
the floor in front of, on or under the second row seat cushion before
actuating the release lever to cycle the seats to the load-floor position.
To prevent possible damage to the seat or safety belts, ensure
that the safety belts are not buckled when moving the seat to
the load floor position.
2nd row manual folding seat
To fold down the rear seat, pull up
on the lever on the outboard side of
the seat cushion and let the
seatback rotate downward into the
load floor position.
2008 MKX(mkx)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
137
Page 138 of 328

2nd row EasyFold™ seatback release
Ensure that the seat is unoccupied when folding it down.
Folding the seat while occupied could result in damage to the
seat or injury.
Note:The power feature is operational when the vehicle is in park and
the lifgate has been open for less than 10 minutes.
The control buttons are located on the left-hand rear quarter trim panel
(accessible from the liftgate area).
Press and hold the control
mechanism to lower the seatback.
The top portion lowers the right
(40%) seatback, and the bottom
portion lowers the left (60%)
seatback.
Returning the 2nd row seatback to the upright position
Before returning the seatback to its original position, make sure
that cargo or any objects are not trapped behind the seatback.
After returning the seatback to its original position, pull on the
seatback to ensure that the latches are engaged. An unlatched seat
may become dangerous in the event of a sudden stop or collision.
Rotate the seatback upward until the seatback latches in the upright
position. The seatback will click when it is locked into position.
2008 MKX(mkx)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
138
Page 139 of 328
Adjusting the second row seatback
Reclining the seatback can
cause an occupant to slide
under the seat’s safety belt,
resulting in severe personal
injuries in the event of a collision.
The second row seat reclines for
additional comfort. To adjust the
second row seatback to the desired
position, while seated, pull the
release lever up and push the
seatback rearward.
Seat mounted armrest and cupholders
Your vehicle is equipped with a rear
seat armrest. To fold the armrest
down, release the latch located on
the seatback by pressing down and
pulling forward.
2008 MKX(mkx)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
139
Page 140 of 328

To access the cup holders, lift up
one of the slotted areas on the
cover.
Use only soft cups in the cupholder. Hard objects can injure you
in a collision.
Returning the 2nd row armrest to the upright position
Close the cover on the cup holders. Rotate the armrest rearward until
the armrest is in the latched position. The armrest will click when it is
latched into position.
Rear heated seats (if equipped)
Persons who are unable to feel pain to the skin because of
advanced age, chronic illness, diabetes, spinal cord injury,
medication, alcohol use, exhaustion, or other physical conditions, must
exercise care when using the seat heater. The seat heater may cause
burns even at low temperatures, especially if used for long periods of
time. Do not place anything on the seat that insulates against heat,
such as a blanket or cushion, because this may cause the seat heater
to overheat. Do not puncture the seat with pins, needles, or other
pointed objects because this may damage the heating element which
may cause the seat heater to overheat. An overheated seat may cause
serious personal injury.
Note:Do not do the following:
•Place heavy objects on the seat
•Operate the seat heater if water or any other liquid is spilled on the
seat. Allow the seat to dry thoroughly.
The rear seat heat controls are located on the rear door panels.
2008 MKX(mkx)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
140
Page 141 of 328

To operate the heated seats:
•Push the indicated side of the
control for maximum heat.
•Push again to deactivate.
•Push the indicated side of the
control for minimum heat.
•Push again to deactivate.
The heated seat module resets at every ignition run cycle. While the
ignition is in the ON position, activating the high or low heated seat
switch enables heating mode. When activated, they will turn off
automatically when the engine is turned off.
The indicator light will illuminate when the heated seats have been
activated.
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 airbag-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 airbag supplemental restraints.
•Front outboard safety belts with pretensioners, energy management
retractors (first row only), and safety belt usage sensors.
•Driver’s seat position sensor.
•Front passenger sensing system
•“Passenger airbag off” or “pass airbag off” indicator lamp
2008 MKX(mkx)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
141
Page 142 of 328

•Front crash severity sensors.
•Restraints Control Module (RCM) with impact and safing sensors.
•Restraint system warning light and back-up tone.
•The electrical wiring for the airbags, crash sensor(s), safety belt
pretensioners, front safety belt usage sensors, driver seat position
sensor, front passenger sensing system, 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 may activate the safety belt pretensioners and/or either one or both
stages of the dual-stage airbag 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 airbags 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 rollovers and side collisions
when the Safety Canopy is activated.
Driver and passenger dual-stage airbag supplemental restraints
The dual-stage airbags offer the capability to tailor the level of airbag
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 toAirbag 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 airbags and safety belt pretensioners.
2008 MKX(mkx)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
142
Page 143 of 328

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 airbag based on seat
position. The system is designed to help protect smaller drivers sitting
close to the driver airbag by providing a lower airbag output level.
Front passenger sensing system
For airbags 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 airbag when it begins to inflate. For some occupants, this occurs
because they are initially sitting very close to the airbag. For other
occupants, this occurs when the occupant is not properly restrained by
safety 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 front passenger sensing system can automatically turn off the front
passenger airbag and passenger seat-mounted side airbag. The system is
designed to help protect small (child size) occupants from frontal airbag
deployments when they are seated or restrained in the front passenger
seat contrary to proper child-seating or restraint usage
recommendations. Even with this technology, parents areSTRONGLY
encouraged to always properly restrain children in the rear seat. The
sensor also turns off the passenger front airbag and passenger
seat-mounted side airbag (if equipped) when the passenger seat is empty
and the safety belt is unbuckled.
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 airbag deployment
and safety belt pretensioner activation depending upon safety belt usage.
Refer toSafety beltsection in this chapter.
2008 MKX(mkx)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
143
Page 144 of 328

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 rollover and side collisions when the
Safety Canopy is activated. This helps increase 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 airbags.
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 airbag supplemental restraints, crash sensor(s),
safety belt pretensioners, front safety belt buckle sensors, driver seat
position sensor, and front passenger sensing system. In addition, the
RCM also monitors the restraints warning light in the instrument cluster.
A difficulty with the system is indicated by one or more of the following.
•The warning light will either flash or stay lit.
•The warning light will not illuminate immediately after ignition is
turned on.
•A series of five beeps will be heard. The tone pattern will repeat
periodically until the problem and warning light are repaired.
If any of these things happen, even intermittently, have the Personal
Safety System™ serviced at an authorized dealer immediately. Unless
serviced, the system may not function properly in the event of a
collision.
2008 MKX(mkx)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
144