2013 FORD ESCAPE Owners Manual

The childproof locks are located on the
rear edge of each rear door and must be
set separately for each door.
•Driver side: turn counterclockwise to
lock and clockwise to unlock.
• Passenger side: turn clockwise to lock
and counterclockwise to unlock.
25
Child Safety
E112197

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
WARNINGS
Always drive and ride with your
seatback upright and the lap belt
snug and low across the hips.
To reduce the risk of injury, make
sure children sit 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 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.
When possible, all children 12 years
old and under should be properly
restrained in a rear seating position.
WARNINGS
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.
Front and rear seat occupants,
including pregnant women, should
wear safety belts for optimum
protection in an accident.
All seating positions in this vehicle have
lap and shoulder safety belts. All
occupants of the vehicle should always
properly wear their safety belts, even when
an airbag supplemental restraint system
is provided.
The safety belt system consists of:
• Lap and shoulder safety belts.
• Shoulder safety belt with automatic
locking mode, (except driver safety
belt).
• Height adjuster at the front outboard
seating positions.
• Retractor and anchor pretensioner at
the front outboard seating positions.
• Belt tension sensor at the front
outboard passenger seating position.
•Safety belt warning light and chime.
•Crash sensors and monitoring system
with readiness indicator.
26
Safety Belts

The safety belt pretensioners are designed
to activate in frontal, near-frontal and side
collisions, and in rollovers. The safety belt
pretensioners on the retractor and anchor
at the front seating positions are designed
to tighten the safety belts firmly against
the occupant's body when 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.
FASTENING THE SAFETY
BELTS
The front outboard and rear safety
restraints in the vehicle are combination
lap and shoulder belts.
1. Insert the belt tongue into the properbuckle (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, press the release buttonand remove the tongue from the
buckle.
When in use, the rear safety belts should
be placed in the belt guides on the
outboard seatbacks.
Restraint of Pregnant Women
WARNING
Always ride and drive with your
seatback upright and the safety belt
properly fastened. The lap portion of
the safety belt should fit snug and be
positioned low across the hips. The
shoulder portion of the safety belt should
be positioned across the chest. Pregnant
women should also follow this practice.
See the following figure.
27
Safety Belts
E142587
E142588
E142589

Pregnant women should always wear their
safety belt. The lap belt portion of a
combination lap and shoulder belt should
be positioned low across the hips below
the belly and worn as tight as comfort will
allow. The shoulder belt should be
positioned to cross the middle of the
shoulder and the center of the chest.
Safety Belt Locking Modes
WARNINGS
After any vehicle collision, the safety
belt system at all passenger seating
positions 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 safety belts should be checked
for proper function.
BELT AND RETRACTOR ASSEMBLY
MUST BE REPLACED if the safety
belt assembly automatic locking
retractor feature or any other safety 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.
All safety restraints in the vehicle are
combination lap and shoulder belts. The
driver safety belt has the first type of
locking mode, and the front outboard
passenger and rear seat safety belts have
both types of locking modes described as
follows:
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.
In addition, the retractor is designed to lock
if the webbing is pulled out too quickly. If
this occurs, let the belt retract slightly and
pull webbing out again in a slow and
controlled manner.
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.
When to Use the Automatic Locking
Mode
This mode should be used any time a child
safety seat, except a booster, is installed
in passenger front or rear seating positions.
Children 12 years old and under should be
properly restrained in a rear seating
position whenever possible. See Child
Safety (page 14).
28
Safety Belts
E142590

How to Use the Automatic Locking
Mode
1. Buckle the combination lap andshoulder belt.
2. Grasp the shoulder portion and pull downward until the entire belt is pulled
out.
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 and
shoulder belt and allow it to retract
completely to disengage the automatic
locking mode and activate the vehicle
sensitive (emergency) locking mode.
How to Extract Safety Belts in the
Rear Outboard Positions
Safety belts in the rear outboard positions
can lock if the seat back is returned firmly
to its upright position. The safety belts can
be unlocked using the following
procedures.
For vehicles where the rear seats recline:
1. Recline the seat to its full rear recline position. See Safety Belts (page 26).
2. The safety belt should then unlock. 3. Return the seat back to its desired
upright position.
For vehicles with rear seats that do not
recline or are locked with the seat in its full
rear recline position:
1. Grasp the safety belt webbing at the top of the seat back.
2. Pull the safety belt webbing forward, firmly.
3. After pulling the safety belt forward, allow the safety belt to feed back into
the safety belt retractor as much as
possible. If necessary, press the seat
back down to allow the safety belt
webbing to retract further.
4. The safety belt should then unlock.
5. If the safety belt does not unlock, repeat steps 1-3.
Safety Belt Extension Assembly
WARNING
Position the safety belt height
adjusters so that the belt rests
across the middle of your shoulder.
Failure to adjust the safety belt properly
could reduce the effectiveness of the
safety belt and increase the risk of injury in
a collision.
If the safety belt is too short when fully
extended, a safety belt extension assembly
can be obtained from an authorized dealer.
Use only extensions manufactured by the
same supplier as the safety belt.
Manufacturer identification is located at
the end of the webbing on the label. Also,
use the safety belt extension only if the
safety belt is too short for you when fully
extended.
29
Safety Belts
E142591

SAFETY BELT HEIGHT
ADJUSTMENT
WARNING
Position the safety belt height
adjusters so that the belt rests
across the middle of your shoulder.
Failure to adjust the safety belt properly
could reduce the effectiveness of the
safety belt and increase the risk of injury in
a collision.
Adjust the height of the shoulder belt so
the belt rests across the middle of your
shoulder.
To adjust the shoulder belt height, squeeze
the button and slide the height adjuster up
or down. Release the button and pull down
on the height adjuster to make sure it is
locked in place.
SAFETY BELT WARNING LAMP
AND INDICATOR CHIME
This lamp illuminates and an
audible warning will sound if the
driver's safety belt has not been
fastened when the vehicle's ignition is
turned on.
Conditions of operation
Then...
If...
The safety belt warning light illuminates 1-2 minutes and the warning chime sounds 4-8 seconds.
The driver's safety belt is not buckled
before the ignition switch is turned to the on position...
The safety belt warning light and warningchime turn off.
The driver's safety belt is buckled while the
indicator light is illuminated and the warning chime is sounding...
The safety belt warning light and indicatorchime remain off.
The driver's safety belt is buckled before
the ignition switch is turned to the on posi- tion...
30
Safety Belts
E87511

SAFETY BELT MINDER
Belt-Minder®
This feature supplements the safety belt
warning function by providing additional
reminders by intermittently sounding a
chime and illuminating the safety belt
warning light when the driver's or front
passenger's seat is occupied and the
safety belt is unbuckled.The system uses information from the
front passenger sensing system to
determine if a front seat passenger is
present and therefore potentially in need
of a warning. To avoid activating the
Belt-Minder feature for objects placed in
the front passenger seat, warnings will only
be given to large front seat occupants as
determined by the front passenger sensing
system.
If the Belt-Minder warnings have expired
(warnings for approximately five minutes)
for one occupant (driver or front
passenger), the other occupant can still
activate the Belt-Minder feature.
Then...
If...
The Belt-Minder feature will not activate.
The driver's and front passenger's safety
belts are buckled before the ignition switch
is turned to the on position or less than 1-2 minutes have elapsed since the ignition switch has been turned to on...
The Belt-Minder feature is activated - thesafety belt warning light illuminates and
the warning chime sounds for six seconds
every 25 seconds, repeating for approxim- ately five minutes or until the safety belts are buckled.
The driver's or front passenger's safety belt
is not buckled when the vehicle has reached
at least 6 mph (9.7 km/h) and 1-2 minutes have elapsed since the ignition switch has been turned to on...
The Belt-Minder feature is activated - thesafety belt warning light illuminates and
the warning chime sounds for six seconds
every 25 seconds, repeating for approxim- ately five minutes or until the safety belts are buckled.
The driver's or front passenger's safety belt
becomes unbuckled for approximately one
minute while the vehicle is traveling at least
6 mph (9.7 km/h) and more than 1-2
minutes have elapsed since the ignition switch has been turned to on...
31
Safety Belts

Deactivating and Activating the
Belt-Minder Feature
WARNING
While the system allows you to
deactivate it, this system is designed
to improve your chances of being
safely belted and surviving an accident.
We recommend you leave the system
activated for yourself and others who may
use the vehicle. To reduce the risk of injury,
do not deactivate or activate the system
while driving the vehicle.
Note: The driver and front passenger
warning are deactivated and activated
independently. When deactivating or
activating one seating position, do not
buckle the other position as this will
terminate the process.
Read Steps 1 - 4 thoroughly before
proceeding with the deactivation or
activation programming procedure.
The system can be deactivated or
activated by performing the following
procedure:
Before following the procedure, make sure
that:
• The parking brake is set
• The gearshift is in position P
• The ignition is off
• The driver and front passenger safety
belts are unbuckled.
1. Turn the ignition on. DO NOT START THE ENGINE.
2. Wait until the safety belt warning light turns off (approximately one minute).
After Step 2, wait an additional five
seconds before proceeding with Step
3. Once Step 3 is started, the procedure
must be completed within 60 seconds. 3.
For the seating position being disabled,
buckle then unbuckle the safety belt
four times at a moderate speed, ending
in the unbuckled state. After Step 3,
the safety belt warning light will turn
on.
4. While the safety belt warning light is on, buckle and then unbuckle the
safety belt. After Step 4, the safety belt
warning light will flash three times for
confirmation.
• This will disable the feature for that
seating position if it is currently
enabled.
• This will enable the feature for that
seating position if it is currently
disabled.
32
Safety Belts