2013 FORD FLEX warning

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.
36Safety Belts
2013 Flex(471)
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

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.
Safety Belts37
2013 Flex(471)
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

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
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, press the release
button and remove the tongue from
the buckle.
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.
38Safety Belts
2013 Flex(471)
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

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
WARNING: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.
WARNING: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 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 or lap 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(s) 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.
Safety Belts39
2013 Flex(471)
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

Safety Belt Extension Assembly
WARNING:Do not use extensions to change the fit of the
shoulder belt across the torso.
WARNING:Do not use extensions with an inflatable safety belt.
Safety belt extensions are vehicle specific. Please see an authorized
dealer to ensure you obtain the proper safety belt extension for your
vehicle. Use only extensions manufactured by the same supplier as the
safety belt. A safety belt extension is not available for the inflatable
safety belt. Also, use the safety belt extension only if the safety belt is
too short for you when fully extended.
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 Belts41
2013 Flex(471)
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

SAFETY BELT WARNING LIGHT 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
If... Then...
The driver’s safety belt is not
buckled before the ignition
switch is turned to the on
position...The safety belt warning light
illuminates 1-2 minutes and the
warning chime sounds 4-8 seconds.
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
warning chime turn off.
The driver’s safety belt is
buckled before the ignition
switch is turned to the on
position...The safety belt warning light and
indicator chime remain off.
SAFETY 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-Minderfeature 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-Minderwarnings have expired (warnings for approximately
five minutes) for one occupant (driver or front passenger), the other
occupant can still activate the Belt-Minderfeature.
42Safety Belts
2013 Flex(471)
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

If... Then...
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-Minderfeature will not
activate.
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-Minderfeature is activated -
the safety belt warning light
illuminates and the warning chime
sounds for six seconds every
25 seconds, repeating for
approximately 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...The Belt-Minderfeature is activated -
the safety belt warning light
illuminates and the warning chime
sounds for six seconds every
25 seconds, repeating for
approximately five minutes or until
the safety belts are buckled.
Safety Belts43
2013 Flex(471)
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)

Deactivating/Activating the Belt-MinderFeature
WARNING:While the design allows you to deactivate your
Belt-Minder, this system is designed to improve your chances of
being safely belted and surviving an accident. We recommend you leave
the Belt-Mindersystem activated for yourself and others who may use
the vehicle. To reduce the risk of injury, do not deactivate/activate the
Belt-Minderfeature while driving the vehicle.
Note:The driver and front passenger Belt-Minderare
deactivated/activated independently. When deactivating/activating one
seating position, do not buckle the other position as this will terminate
the process.
Read Steps1-5thoroughly before proceeding with the
deactivation/activation programming procedure.
Note: The driver and front passenger Belt-Minderfeatures must be
disabled/enabled separately. Both cannot be disable/enabled during the
same key cycle.
Note:If you are using MyKey, the Belt-Mindercannot be disabled.
Also, if the Belt-Minderhas been previously disabled, it will be
re-enabled during the use of MyKey. Refer toMyKeyin theLocks and
securitychapter.
The driver and front passenger Belt-Minderfeatures can be
deactivated/activated by performing the following procedure:
Before following the procedure, make sure that:
•The parking brake is set
•The gearshift is in P (Park)
•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).
3. Wait 10 seconds after the safety belt warning light turns off.
•Step 4 must be completed within 20 seconds after the completion of
Step 3.
4. For the seating position being disabled buckle then unbuckle the
safety belt three times at a moderate speed, ending in the unbuckled
state.
44Safety Belts
2013 Flex(471)
Owners Guide gf, 1st Printing
USA(fus)