If the booster seat slides on the vehicle seat
upon which it is being used, placing a
rubberized mesh sold as shelf or carpet liner
under the booster seat may improve this
condition. Do not introduce any item thicker
than this under the booster seat. Check with
the booster seat manufacturer's instructions.
CHILD SEAT POSITIONING
WARNINGS
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 vehicle seat upon which
the child seat is installed all the way back.
When possible, all children age 12 and under
should be properly restrained in a rear
seating position. If all children cannot be
seated and restrained properly in a rear
seating position, properly restrain the largest
child in the front seat. WARNINGS
Always carefully follow the instructions
and warnings provided by the
manufacturer of any child restraint to
determine if the restraint device is
appropriate for your child's size, height,
weight, or age. Follow the child restraint
manufacturer's instructions and warnings
provided for installation and use in
conjunction with the instructions and
warnings provided by your vehicle
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. WARNINGS
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. 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. 34
MKC (TME), enUSA 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. WARNINGS
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
37
MKC (TME), enUSA Safety Belts
•
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.
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.
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. When in use, the rear safety belts should be
placed in the belt guides on the outboard
seatbacks.
38
MKC (TME), enUSA Safety Belts E142587 E142588 E142589
Using Safety Belts During Pregnancy
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 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.
39
MKC (TME), enUSA Safety BeltsE142590
1.
Grasp the safety belt webbing at the top
of the seatback.
2. Pull the safety belt webbing forward, firmly.
3. After pulling the safety belt forward, allow
the safety belt to feed back into the
safety belt retractor as much as possible.
If necessary, press the seatback down to
allow the safety belt webbing to retract
further.
4. The safety belt should then unlock.
5. If the safety belt does not unlock, repeat
steps 1-3.
Safety Belt Extension Assembly WARNING
Do not use extensions to change the
fit of the shoulder belt across the torso.
If the safety belt is too short when fully
extended, you can obtain a safety belt
extension assembly from an authorized
dealer. Use only extensions manufactured by the
same supplier as the safety belt.
Manufacturer identification is on a label
located either at the end of the webbing or
on the retractor behind the trim. 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 correctly could reduce the effectiveness
of the safety belt and increase the risk of
injury in a crash. 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.
41
MKC (TME), enUSA Safety BeltsE87511
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 warningchime 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 warning chime 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 indicator chime remain off.
The driver's safety belt is buckled before the ignition switch is turned
to the on position...
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MKC (TME), enUSA 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 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. Then...
If...
The Belt-Minder feature will not activate.
The driver and front passenger 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 or front passenger 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 or front passenger 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...
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MKC (TME), enUSA 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 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.
1. Turn the ignition on. Do not start the vehicle.
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 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.
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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MKC (TME), enUSA Safety Belts