2013 FORD FLEX airbag

INSTALLING CHILD SEATS WITH LAP AND SHOULDER BELTS
WARNING: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.
WARNING:Children 12 and under should be properly restrained
in the rear seat whenever possible.
WARNING:Depending on where you secure a child restraint,
and depending on the child restraint design, you may block
access to certain safety belt buckle assemblies and/or LATCH lower
anchors, rendering those features potentially unusable. To avoid risk of
injury, occupants should only use seating positions where they are able
to be properly restrained.
When installing a child safety seat with combination lap/shoulder belts:
•Use the correct safety belt buckle for that seating position.
•Insert the belt tongue into the proper buckle until you hear a snap and
feel it latch. Make sure the tongue is securely fastened in the buckle.
•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
prevent accidental unbuckling.
•Place vehicle seat back in upright position.
•For second row seating positions, if needed, the recliner may be
adjusted slightly to improve child seat fit. If needed the head restraints
may be removed.
•For third row seating positions the head restraints may be stowed to
improve child seat fit, if needed. Refer toRear seatsin theSeats
chapter for information on folding the head restraints.
•Put the safety belt in the automatic locking mode. Refer to Step 5
below. This vehicle does not require the use of a locking clip.
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PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
WARNING:Always drive and ride with your seatback upright
and the lap belt snug and low across the hips.
WARNING:To reduce the risk of injury, make sure children sit
where they can be properly restrained.
WARNING: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.
WARNING: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.
WARNING: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.
WARNING:In a rollover crash, an unbelted person is
significantly more likely to die than a person wearing a safety
belt.
WARNING: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.
WARNING:When possible, all children 12 years old and under
should be properly restrained in a rear seating position.
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WARNING: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.
WARNING: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 and
rear inflatable 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. Refer toSafety Belt
Warning Light and Indicator Chimelater in this chapter.
•Crash sensors and monitoring system with readiness
indicator. Refer toCrash Sensors and Airbag Indicatorin
theSupplemental Restraint Systemchapter.
The safety belt pretensioners and rear inflatable safety belts 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.
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•After Step 4, the safety belt warning light will be turned on for three
seconds.
5. Within approximately seven seconds of the light turning off, buckle
then unbuckle the safety belt.
•This will disable the Belt-Minderfeature for that seating position if it
is currently enabled. As confirmation, the safety belt warning light will
flash four times per second for three seconds.
•This will enable the Belt-Minderfeature for that seating position if it
is currently disabled. As confirmation, the safety belt warning light will
flash four times per second for three seconds, followed by three
seconds with the light off, then followed by the safety belt warning
light flashing four times per second for three seconds again.
REAR INFLATABLE SAFETY BELT (IF EQUIPPED)
WARNING:Do not attempt to service, repair, or modify the rear
inflatable safety belt.
The rear inflatable safety belts are fitted in the shoulder portion of the
safety belts of the second-row outboard seating positions.
Note:The rear inflatable safety belts are compatible with most infant
and child safety car seats and belt positioning booster seats when
properly installed. This is because they are designed to fill with a cooled
gas at a lower pressure and at a slower rate than traditional airbags.
After inflation, the shoulder portion of the safety belt remains cool to the
touch.
The rear inflatable safety belt consists of the following:
•An inflatable bag located in the shoulder safety belt webbing.
•Lap safety belt webbing with automatic locking mode.
•Safety belt warning light and chime. SeeSafety belt warning
lights and indicatorsin this chapter.
•Crash Sensors and Airbag Indicator. SeeCrash sensors and
Airbag Indicatorin theSupplemental Restraint System
chapter.
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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/on indicator lamp
•Front crash severity sensors.
•Restraints Control Module (RCM) with impact and safing sensors.
•Restraint system warning light and backup 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. During a crash, the
Restraints Control Module 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.
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PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
WARNING:Airbags DO NOT inflate slowly or gently, and the risk
of injury from a deploying airbag is the greatest close to the trim
covering the airbag module.
WARNING:All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver,
should always properly wear their safety belts, even when an
airbag supplemental restraint system is provided.
WARNING:Always transport children 12 years old and under in
the back seat and always properly use appropriate child
restraints.
WARNING:Never place your arm over the airbag module as a
deploying airbag can result in serious arm fractures or other
injuries.
WARNING:Airbags can kill or injure a child in a child seat.
NEVER place 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.
WARNING:Do not attempt to service, repair, or modify the
airbag supplemental restraint systems or its fuses. Contact your
authorized dealer as soon as possible.
WARNING:Several airbag system components get hot after
inflation. Do not touch them after inflation.
WARNING:If the airbag has deployed, the airbag will not
function again and must be replaced immediately. If the airbag is
not replaced, the unrepaired area will increase the risk of injury in a
collision.
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WARNING:All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver,
should always properly wear their safety belts, even when an air
bag supplemental restraint system is provided.
The airbags are a supplemental restraint system and are designed to
work with the safety belts to help protect the driver and right front
passenger from certain upper body injuries. Airbags DO NOT inflate
slowly; there is a risk of injury from a deploying airbag.
Note:You will hear a loud bang and see a cloud of harmless powdery
residue if an airbag deploys. This is normal.
The airbags inflate and deflate rapidly upon activation. After airbag
deployment, it is normal to notice a smoke-like, powdery residue or smell
the burnt propellant. This may consist of cornstarch, talcum powder (to
lubricate the bag) or sodium compounds (e.g., baking soda) that result
from the combustion process that inflates the airbag. Small amounts of
sodium hydroxide may be present which may irritate the skin and eyes,
but none of the residue is toxic. While the system is designed to help
reduce serious injuries, contact with a deploying airbag may also cause
abrasions or swelling. Temporary hearing loss is also a possibility as a
result of the noise associated with a deploying airbag. Because airbags
must inflate rapidly and with considerable force, there is the risk of
death or serious injuries such as fractures, facial and eye injuries or
internal injuries, particularly to occupants who are not properly
restrained or are otherwise out of position at the time of airbag
deployment. Thus, it is extremely important that occupants be properly
restrained as far away from the airbag module as possible while
maintaining vehicle control.
Routine maintenance of the airbags is not required.
SOS POST-CRASH ALERT SYSTEM™
The system flashes the turn signal lamps and sounds the horn
(intermittently) in the event of a serious impact that deploys an airbag
(front, side, side curtain or Safety Canopy) or the safety belt
pretensioners.
The horn and lamps will turn off when:
•the hazard control button is pressed
•the panic button is pressed on the remote entry transmitter, or
•the vehicle runs out of power.
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DRIVER AND PASSENGER AIRBAGS
WARNING:Never place your arm or any objects over an airbag
module. Placing your arm over a deploying airbag can result in
serious arm fractures or other injuries. Objects placed on or over the
airbag inflation area may cause those objects to be propelled by the
airbag into your face and torso causing serious injury.
WARNING:Airbags can kill or injure a child in a child seat.
Never place 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.
The driver and front passenger
airbags will deploy during significant
frontal and near frontal collisions.
The driver and passenger front airbag system consists of:
•Driver and passenger airbag modules
•Crash sensors and monitoring system with readiness
indicator. Refer toCrash Sensors and Airbag Indicator
later in this chapter.
•Front passenger sensing system.
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