2014 FORD ESCAPE Front

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Perform the following steps to install a
child safety seat with tether anchors:
Note:If you install a child seat with rigid
LATCH attachments, do not tighten the
tether strap enough to lift the child seat off
your 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 your
vehicle seat gives the best protection in a
severe crash.
1. Route the child safety seat tether strap
over the back of the seat. For outboard
seating positions, route the tether strap
under the head restraint and between
the head restraint posts. For the center
seating positions, route the tether strap
over the top of the head restraint. If
needed, the head restraints can also
be removed.
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2. Locate the correct anchor on the back
panel of the rear seat for the selected
seating position. The anchors are
labeled with the tether strap symbol
and are partially covered by the gap
panel. Pull the panel back to fully
expose the anchors.
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3. Clip the tether strap to the anchor as
shown.
4. Tighten the child safety seat tether
strap according to the manufacturer's
instructions. If your child restraint
system is equipped with a tether strap,
and the child restraint manufacturer
recommends its use, Ford also
recommends its use.
CHILD SAFETY LOCKS
When these locks are set, the rear doors
cannot be opened from the inside.
24
Child Safety

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 your vehicle is
moving. The passenger cannot
protect the child from injury in a crash.
All occupants of your 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 crash, 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
crashes, 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 crashes, the safety
belt pretensioners can be activated alone
or, if the crash 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.
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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.
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2. To unfasten, press the release button
and remove the tongue from the
buckle.
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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

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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 crash, 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 crashes.
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).
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Safety Belts

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 about 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 - the
safety belt warning light illuminates and
the warning chime sounds for six seconds
every 25 seconds, repeating for about five
minutes or until the safety belts are
buckled. The driver's or front passenger's safety belt
is not buckled when your 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 - the
safety belt warning light illuminates and
the warning chime sounds for six seconds
every 25 seconds, repeating for about five
minutes or until the safety belts are
buckled. The driver's or front passenger's safety belt
becomes unbuckled for about one minute
while your 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...
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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 your vehicle. To reduce the risk of
injury, do not deactivate or activate the
system while driving your 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 programming
procedure.
Before following the procedure, make sure
that:
• the parking brake is set
• the transmission selector lever 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 (about 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 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.
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), child
safety seat LATCH and tether anchors, and
attaching hardware, should be inspected
after a crash. Read the child restraint
manufacturer's instructions for additional
inspection and maintenance information
specific to the child restraint.
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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 controlmodule. 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.
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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. Failure to properly wear
your safety belt could seriously increase
the risk of injury or death.
Always transport children 12 years
old and under in the back seat and
always properly use appropriate
child restraints. Failure to follow this could
seriously increase the risk of injury or death.
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 as you
could be seriously injured or killed. Contact
your authorized dealer as soon as possible.
Several airbag system components
get hot after inflation. Do not touch
them after inflation as this may result
in serious injury.
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.
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 (for example, 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.
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Supplementary Restraints System