WARNINGS
manufacturer. A safety seat that is
improperly installed or utilized, is
inappropriate for your child's height, age,
or weight or does not properly fit the child
may increase the risk of serious injury or
death. 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, which may
result in serious injury or death. Never use pillows, books, or towels
to boost a child. They can slide
around and increase the likelihood of
injury or death in a crash. WARNINGS
Always restrain an unoccupied child
seat or booster seat. These objects
may become projectiles in a crash or
sudden stop, which may increase the risk
of serious injury. Never place, or allow a child to
place, the shoulder belt under a
child's arm or behind the back because it
reduces the protection for the upper part
of the body and may increase the risk of
injury or death in a crash. To avoid risk of injury, do not leave
children or pets unattended in your
vehicle. Use any attachment method as indicated below by X
Combined
child and
seat weight
Restraint
Type Safety belt
only
Safety belt
and LATCH (lower
anchors and top tether
anchor)
Safety belt
and toptether
anchor
LATCH
(lower
anchors only)
LATCH
(lower
anchors and top tether
anchor)
X
X
Up to 65 lb
(29 kg)
Rear
facing
child seat
X
Over 65 lb
(29 kg)
Rear
facing
child seat
X
X
X
Up to 65 lb
(29 kg)
Forward
facing
child seat
X
X
Over 65 lb
(29 kg)
Forward
facing
child seat
27
MKZ (CC9) Child Safety
PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
WARNINGS
Always drive and ride with your seat
back 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. Failure to properly
wear your safety belt could seriously
increase the risk of injury or death. 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. WARNINGS
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.
Failure to follow this could seriously
increase the risk of injury or death. 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 your 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).
29
MKZ (CC9) Safety Belts
•
height adjuster at the front outboard
seating positions.
• safety belt 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.
The safety belt pretensioners at the front
seating positions are designed to tighten
the safety belts when activated. In frontal
and near-frontal crashes, the safety belt
pretensioners may be activated alone or,
if the crash is of sufficient severity,
together with the front airbags. The
pretensioners may also activate when a
side curtain airbag is deployed.
FASTENING THE SAFETY BELTS
Standard belts shown, inflatable belts
similar
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 you securely fasten the
tongue in the buckle. 2. To unfasten, press the release button
and remove the tongue from the
buckle.
30
MKZ (CC9) Safety Belts E142587 E142588
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. 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 vehicle sensitive
locking mode. The front outboard
passenger and rear seat safety belts have
both the vehicle sensitive locking mode
and the automatic locking mode.
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.
31
MKZ (CC9) Safety BeltsE142590
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.
• The same warning light, electronic
control and diagnostic unit as used for
the front safety belts.
• Impact sensors located in various parts
of the vehicle.
How does the rear inflatable safety belt
system work?
The rear inflatable safety belts will function
like standard restraints in everyday usage. During a crash of sufficient force, the
inflatable belt will inflate from inside the
webbing.
The fully inflated belt's increased diameter
more effectively holds the occupant in the
appropriate seating position, and spreads
crash forces over more area of the body
than regular safety belts. This helps reduce
pressure on the chest and helps control
head and neck motion for passengers.
WARNING
If the rear inflatable safety belt has
deployed, it will not function again.
The rear inflatable safety belt system must
be replaced by an authorized dealer. 33
MKZ (CC9) Safety BeltsE146364 E146365
The rear inflatable safety belts are
designed to inflate in frontal or near-frontal
crashes and some side impact crashes.
The fact that the rear inflatable safety belt
did not inflate in a crash does not mean
that something is wrong with the system.
Rather, it means the forces were not of the
type sufficient to cause activation.
Safety Belt Extension Assembly
WARNINGS
Do not use extensions to change the
fit of the shoulder belt across the
torso. Do not use extensions with an
inflatable safety belt.
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. 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 crash. Adjust the height of the shoulder belt so
the belt rests across the middle of your
shoulder.
To adjust the shoulder belt height:
1. Press the button and slide the height
adjuster up or down.
2. Release the button and pull down on the height adjuster to make sure it is
locked in place.
34
MKZ (CC9) Safety BeltsE146191
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 position...
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 seat or front
passenger 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 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.
35
MKZ (CC9) Safety Belts
Then...
If...
The Belt-Minder feature will not activate.
The driver's and front passenger's safety
belts are buckled before the ignition is
turned on or less than 1-2 minutes have
elapsed since the ignition has been turned 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 the vehicle has
reached at least 6 mph (9.7 km/h) and 1-2 minutes have elapsed since the ignition has been turned 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 the vehicle is traveling at least 6 mph
(9.7 km/h) and more than 1-2 minutes have
elapsed since the ignition has been turned
on...
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 programming
procedure.
Before following the procedure, make sure
that:
• The parking brake is set.
• The transmission is in park (P) or
neutral (N).
• The ignition is off.
• The driver and front passenger safety
belts are unbuckled.
36
MKZ (CC9) Safety Belts