2009 FORD EXPLORER Owners Manual

•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 help prevent accidental unbuckling.
•Place vehicle seat back in upright position.
•Put the safety belt in the automatic locking mode. Refer to step 5
below.
Perform the following steps when installing the child seat with
combination lap/shoulder belts:
Note:Although the child seat illustrated is a forward facing child seat,
the steps are the same for installing a rear facing child seat.
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.
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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.
6. Allow the belt to retract to remove slack. The belt will click as it
retracts to indicate it is in the automatic locking mode.
7. 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, repeat Steps 5 and 6.
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8. Remove remaining slack from the
belt. Force the seat down with extra
weight, e.g., by pressing down or
kneeling on the child restraint while
pulling up on the shoulder belt in
order to force slack from the belt.
This is necessary to remove the
remaining slack that will exist once
the additional weight of the child is
added to the child restraint. It also
helps to achieve the proper
snugness of the child seat to the vehicle. Sometimes, a slight lean
towards the buckle will additionally help to remove remaining slack from
the belt.
9. Attach the tether strap (if the child seat is equipped). Refer to
Attaching child safety seats with tether strapslater in this chapter.
10. 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 and back. There should
be no more than 1 inch (2.5 cm) of
movement for proper installation.
11. Ford recommends checking with a NHTSA Certified Child Passenger
Safety Technician (CPST) to make certain the child restraint is properly
installed.
Attaching child safety seats with LATCH
(Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) attachments
The LATCH system is composed of three vehicle anchor points: two (2)
lower anchors located where the vehicle seat back and seat cushion meet
(called the “seat bight”) and one (1) top tether anchor located behind
that seating position.
LATCH compatible child safety seats have two rigid or webbing mounted
attachments that connect to the two lower anchors at the LATCH
equipped seating positions in your vehicle. This type of attachment
method eliminates the need to use safety belts to attach the child seat,
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however the safety belt can still be used to attach the child seat. For
forward-facing child seats, the top tether strap must also be attached to
the proper top tether anchor, if a top tether strap has been provided
with your child seat.SeeAttaching child safety seats with tether straps
andRecommendations for attaching safety restraints for childrenin
this chapter for more information.
Your vehicle has LATCH lower anchors for child seat installation at the
following seating positions. In addition, six passenger and seven
passenger LATCH lower anchor positions are marked with the child seat
symbol.
•5 passenger vehicle
•6 passenger vehicle
•7 passenger vehicle
WARNING: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.
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The LATCH anchors for child seat
installation are located at the rear
section of the second row seat
between the cushion and seatback.
The LATCH anchors are below the
locator symbols on the seat back on
6 and 7 passenger vehicles. The 5
passenger vehicle does not require
the symbol, however, the anchor
itself is located in the same area.
Follow the child seat manufacturer’s
instructions to properly install a
child seat with LATCH attachments.
Follow the instructions on attaching child safety seats with tether straps.
Refer toAttaching child safety seats with tether strapslater in this
chapter.
Attach LATCH lower attachments of the child seat only to the anchors
shown.
Plastic LATCH guides can be obtained from an authorized 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.
WARNING:Never attach two 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.
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Use of inboard lower anchors from the outboard seating positions
(center seating use)
The lower anchors at the center of the second row rear seat are spaced
592 mm (23 inches) apart. The standardized spacing for LATCH lower
anchors is 280 mm (11 inches) center to center. A child seat with rigid
LATCH attachments cannot be installed at the center seating position.
LATCH compatible child seats (with attachments on belt webbing) can
only be used at this seating position provided that the child seat
manufacturer’s instructions permit use with the anchor spacing stated.
Do not attach a child seat to any lower anchor if an adjacent child seat is
attached to that anchor.
WARNING:The standardized spacing for LATCH lower anchors
is 280 mm (11 inches) center to center. Do not use LATCH
lower anchors for the center seating position unless the child seat
manufacturer’s instructions permit and specify using anchors spaced at
least as far apart as those in this vehicle.
If you install a child seat with rigid LATCH attachments, and have
attached the top tether strap to the proper top tether anchor, 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, if applicable. Tug the
child seat from side to side and forward and back where it is secured to
the vehicle. The seat should move less than one inch when you do this
for a proper installation.
If the safety seat is not anchored properly, the risk of a child being
injured in a crash greatly increases.
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Attaching child safety seats with tether straps
Many forward-facing child safety seats include a tether strap which
extends from the back of the child safety seat and hooks to an anchoring
point called the top tether anchor. 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, or to obtain a
longer tether strap if the tether strap on your safety seat does not reach
the appropriate top tether anchor in the vehicle.
The rear seats of your vehicle are equipped with built-in tether strap
anchors located behind the seats as described below.
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.
•6 passenger vehicle
•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.
Once the child safety seat has been installed using either the safety belt
or the lower anchors of the LATCH system, you can attach the top tether
strap.
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Perform the following steps to install a child safety seat with tether
anchors:
1. Route the tether strap under the head restraint and between the head
restraint posts.
For vehicles with adjustable head restraints, route the tether strap under
the head restraint and between the head restraint posts, otherwise route
the tether strap over the top of the seatback.
2. 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.
•Behind 2nd row seat
•At the rear of the cargo area
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