
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 transmission selector lever is
in position P (automatic
transmission) or N (manual
transmission)
• 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 30 seconds.
3. For the seating position being disabled, buckle then unbuckle the
safety belt three 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 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.
39
Safety Belts

CHILD RESTRAINT AND
SAFETY BELT
MAINTENANCE
Inspect the vehicle safety belts and
child safety seat systems periodically
to make sure they work properly and
are not damaged. Inspect the vehicle
and child seat safety belts to make
sure there are no nicks, tears or cuts.
Replace if necessary. All vehicle safety
belt assemblies, including retractors,
buckles, front safety belt buckle
assemblies, buckle support
assemblies (slide bar-if equipped),
shoulder belt height adjusters (if
equipped), shoulder belt guide on seat
back (if equipped), rear inflatable
safety belts (if equipped), child safety
seat LATCH and tether anchors, and
attaching hardware, should be
inspected after a collision. Read the
child restraint manufacturer's
instructions for additional inspection
and maintenance information specific
to the child restraint. Ford Motor
Company recommends that all safety
belt assemblies in use in vehicles
involved in a collision be replaced.
However, if the collision was minor
and an authorized dealer finds that
the belts do not show damage and
continue to operate properly, they do
not need to be replaced. Safety belt
assemblies not in use during a
collision should also be inspected and
replaced if either damage or improper
operation is noted.
Properly care for safety belts. See
Vehicle Care (page 284).
40
Safety Belts

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 and on
indicator lamp.
• Front crash severity sensors.
• Restraints Control Module 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 may
activate either one or both stages of
the dual-stage airbag supplemental
restraints based on crash severity and
occupant conditions.
41
Personal Safety System
™

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
WARNINGS
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. All occupants of your vehicle,
including the driver, should
always properly wear their safety
belts, even when an airbag
supplemental restraint system is
provided. Always transport children 12
years old and under in the back
seat and always properly use
appropriate child restraints. Never place your arm over the
airbag module as a deploying
airbag can result in serious arm
fractures or other injuries. 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. Do not attempt to service, repair,
or modify the airbag
supplemental restraint systems or its
fuses. Contact your authorized dealer
as soon as possible. Several airbag system
components get hot after
inflation. Do not touch them after
inflation. WARNINGS
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. 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.
42
Supplementary Restraints System

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 (if equipped) is
pressed on the remote entry
transmitter, or
• your vehicle runs out of power.
Spin out Detection
If a spinout is detected and the hazard
warning flashers come on, the
message Spinout Detected Hazards
Activated will appear on the
instrument cluster.
Once the hazard warning flashers
have been activated, they can be
turned off by:
• pressing the hazard warning
flasher button.
• pressing the remote control unlock
button.
• pressing the remote control panic
button.
• cycling the ignition on and off
twice.
43
Supplementary Restraints System

DRIVER AND PASSENGER
AIRBAGS
WARNINGS
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. 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.
• Front passenger sensing system. · Crash sensors and
monitoring system with
readiness indicator. See
Crash Sensors and Airbag
Indicator (page 51).
Proper Driver and Front
Passenger Seating Adjustment WARNING
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA)
recommends a minimum distance of
at least 10 in. (25 cm) between an
occupant’ s chest and the driver airbag
module. To properly position yourself away
from the airbag:
•
Move your seat to the rear as far
as you can while still reaching the
pedals comfortably.
• Recline the seat slightly (one or
two degrees) from the upright
position.
After all occupants have adjusted
their seats and put on safety belts, it’ s
very important that they continue to
sit properly. A properly seated
occupant sits upright, leaning against
the seat back, and centered on the
seat cushion, with their feet
comfortably extended on the floor.
Sitting improperly can increase the
chance of injury in a crash event. For
example, if an occupant slouches, lies
down, turns sideways, sits forward,
leans forward or sideways, or puts one
or both feet up, the chance of injury
during a crash is greatly increased.
44
Supplementary Restraints SystemE151127

WARNINGS
Any alteration or modification to
the front passenger seat may
affect the performance of the front
passenger sensing system. This system works with sensors that
are part of the front passenger
’s seat
and safety belt to detect the presence
of a properly-seated occupant and
determine if the front passenger ’s
frontal airbag should be enabled (may
inflate) or not. The front passenger sensing system
uses a passenger airbag status
indicator which will illuminate
indicating that the front passenger
frontal airbag is either ON (enabled)
or OFF (disabled). The indicator lamp
is located at the top center of the
instrument panel.
Note:
The passenger airbag status
indicator OFF and ON indicator lamps
will illuminate for a short period of time
when the ignition is first turned on to
confirm it is functional. The front passenger sensing system
is designed to disable (will not inflate)
the front passenger's frontal airbag
when the front passenger seat is
unoccupied, or a rear facing infant
seat, a forward-facing child restraint,
or a booster seat is detected. Even
with this technology, parents are
STRONGLY encouraged to always
properly restrain children in the rear
seat. The sensor also turns off the
passenger front airbag and
seat-mounted side airbag when the
passenger seat is empty.
• When the front passenger sensing
system disables (will not inflate)
the front passenger frontal airbag,
the passenger airbag status
indicator will illuminate the OFF
lamp and stay lit to remind you
that the front passenger frontal
airbag is disabled.
• If the child restraint has been
installed and the passenger airbag
status indicator illuminates the ON
lamp, then turn the vehicle off,
remove the child restraint from the
vehicle and reinstall the restraint
following the child restraint
manufacturer's instructions.
The front passenger sensing system
is designed to enable (may inflate)
the front passenger's frontal airbag
anytime the system senses that a
person of adult size is sitting properly
in the front passenger seat.
46
Supplementary Restraints SystemE151849

After all occupants have adjusted
their seats and put on safety belts, it’
s
very important that they continue to
sit properly. A properly seated
occupant sits upright, leaning against
the seat back, and centered on the
seat cushion, with their feet
comfortably extended on the floor.
Sitting improperly can increase the
chance of injury in a crash event. For
example, if an occupant slouches, lies
down, turns sideways, sits forward,
leans forward or sideways, or puts one
or both feet up, the chance of injury
during a crash is greatly increased.
The conditions listed above may
cause the weight of a properly seated
occupant to be incorrectly interpreted
by the front passenger sensing
system. The person in the front
passenger seat may appear heavier
or lighter due to the conditions
described in the list above. To know if the front
passenger sensing system is
operating properly, See
Crash Sensors and Airbag
Indicator (page 51).
DO NOT attempt to repair or service
the system; take your vehicle
immediately to an authorized dealer.
If it is necessary to modify an
advanced front airbag system to
accommodate a person with
disabilities, contact the Ford
Customer Relationship Center. See
Getting the Services You Need
(page
243). SIDE AIRBAGS WARNINGS
Do not place objects or mount
equipment on or near the airbag
cover, on the side of the seat backs
(of the front seats), or in front seat
areas that may come into contact
with a deploying airbag. Failure to
follow these instructions may increase
the risk of personal injury in the event
of a collision. Do not use accessory seat
covers. The use of accessory
seat covers may prevent the
deployment of the side airbags and
increase the risk of injury in an
accident. Do not lean your head on the
door. The side airbag could injure
you as it deploys from the side of the
seatback. Do not attempt to service, repair,
or modify the airbag, its fuses or
the seat cover on a seat containing an
airbag. Contact your authorized dealer
as soon as possible. If the side airbag has deployed,
the airbag will not function again.
The side airbag system (including the
seat) must be inspected and serviced
by an authorized dealer. If the airbag
is not replaced, the unrepaired area
will increase the risk of injury in a
collision. 48
Supplementary Restraints System