2016 MAZDA MODEL 3 4-DOOR Owners Manual

2–11
Essential Safety Equipment
Seats
*Some models.
Head Restraints
Your vehicle is equipped with head
restraints on all outboard seats and the
rear center seat
*. The head restraints
are intended to help protect you and the
passengers from neck injury.
WARNING
Always drive with the head restraints
installed when seats are being used and
make sure they are properly adjusted: Driving with the head restraints
adjusted too low or removed is
dangerous. With no support behind
your head, your neck could be seriously
injured in a collision.
Height adjustment
To raise a head restraint, pull it up to the
desired position.
To lower the head restraint, press the stop-
catch release, then push the head restraint
down.
Adjust the head restraint so that the center
is even with the top of the passenger's ears.
Front outboard seat
Rear outboard seat
Rear center seat*
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2–12
Essential Safety Equipment
Seats
Removal/Installation
To remove the head restraint, pull it up
while pressing the stop-catch.
To install the head restraint, insert the legs
into the holes while pressing the stop-
catch.
WARNING
Always drive with the head restraints
installed when seats are being used and
make sure they are properly installed:Driving with the head restraints not
installed is dangerous. With no support
behind your head, your neck could be
seriously injured in a collision.
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2–13
Essential Safety Equipment
Seat Belt Systems
Seat Belt Precautions
Seat belts help to decrease the possibility of severe injury during acci\
dents and sudden
stops. Mazda recommends that the driver and all passengers always wear s\
eat belts.
(U.S.A. and Canada)
All of the seat belt retractors are designed to keep the lap/shoulder be\
lts out of the way when
not in use.
The driver's seat belt has no provisions for child-restraint systems and\
has only an
emergency locking mode. The driver may wear it comfortably, and it will lock during a
collision.
However, the front passenger's seat and all rear lap/shoulder belt retractors o\
perate in
two modes: emergency locking mode, and for child-restraint systems, automatic locking
mode. While we recommend you put all children in the rear seats, if you must u\
se the front
passenger seat for a child, slide the front passenger seat as far back a\
s possible and make
sure any child-restraint system is secured properly.
(Mexico)
The front seats and rear outboard seats have lap/shoulder belts. These belts have retractors
with inertia locks that keep them out of the way when not in use. The locks allow the belts
to remain comfortable on users, but they will lock in position during a \
collision.
The rear center seat has a lap belt with manual adjustment.
WARNING
Always wear your seat belt and make sure all occupants are properly restrained:
Not wearing a seat belt is extremely dangerous. During a collision, occupants not
wearing seat belts could hit someone or things inside the vehicle or even be thrown out of
the vehicle. They could be seriously injured or even killed. In the same collision, occupants
wearing seat belts would be much safer.
Do not wear twisted seat belts: Twisted seat belts are dangerous. In a collision, the full width of the belt is not available to
absorb the impact. This puts more force on the bones beneath the belt, which could cause
serious injury or death. So, if your seat belt is twisted, you must straighten the seat belt to
remove any twists and to allow the full width of the belt to be used.
Never use one seat belt on more than one person at a time: Using one seat belt for more than one person at a time is dangerous. A seat belt used
in this way cannot spread the impact forces properly and the two passengers could
be crushed together and seriously injured or even killed. Never use one belt for more
than one person at a time and always operate the vehicle with each occupant properly
restrained.
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2–14
Essential Safety Equipment
Seat Belt Systems
Do not operate a vehicle with a damaged seat belt:Using a damaged seat belt is dangerous. An accident could damage the belt webbing
of the seat belt in use. A damaged seat belt cannot provide adequate protection in a
collision. Have an Authorized Mazda Dealer inspect all seat belt systems in use during an
accident before they are used again.
Have your seat belts changed immediately if the pretensioner or load limiter has been
expended: Always have an Authorized Mazda Dealer immediately inspect the seat belt pretensioners
and air bags after any collision. Like the air bags, the seat belt pretensioners and load
limiters will only function once and must be replaced after any collision that caused them
to deploy. A seat belt with an expended pretensioner or load limiter is still better than
wearing no seat belt at all; however, if the seat belt pretensioners and load limiters are
not replaced, the risk of injury in a collision will increase.
Positioning the Shoulder Portion of the Seat Belt: Improper positioning of the shoulder portion of the seat belt is dangerous. Always make
sure the shoulder portion of the seat belt is positioned across your shoulder and near your
neck, but never under your arm, on your neck, or on your upper arm.
Positioning the Lap Portion of the Seat Belt: The lap portion of the seat belt worn too high is dangerous. In a collision, this would
concentrate the impact force directly on the abdominal area, causing serious injury. Wear
the lap portion of the belt snugly and as low as possible.
CAUTION
Belt retraction may become difficult if the belts and rings are soiled, so try to keep them
clean. For more details about cleaning the seat belts, refer to "Seat Belt Maintenance"
(page 6-75).
Ring
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2–15
Essential Safety Equipment
Seat Belt Systems
*Some models.
Pregnant Women and Persons with Serious Medical Conditions
Pregnant women should always wear seat belts. Ask your doctor for specific
recommendations.
The lap belt should be worn SNUGLY AND AS LOW AS POSSIBLE OVER THE HIPS.
The shoulder belt should be worn across your shoulder properly, but never across the
stomach area.
Persons with serious medical conditions also should wear seat belts. Che\
ck with your doctor
for any special instructions regarding specific medical conditions.
Emergency Locking Mode
When the seat belt is fastened, it will always be in the emergency locking mode.
In the emergency locking mode, the belt remains comfortable on the occupant and the\

retractor will lock in position during a collision.
If the belt is locked and cannot be pulled out, retract the belt once, a\
nd then try pulling it out
slowly. If this fails, pull the belt strongly one time and loosen, then pull i\
t out again slowly.
(Seat Belt with Automatic Locking Mode)
When the seat belt is fastened, it will always be in the emergency locking mode until it is
switched to automatic locking mode by pulling it all the way out to its \
full length. If the belt
feels tight and hinders comfortable movement while the vehicle is stoppe\
d or in motion, it
may be in the automatic locking mode because the belt has been pulled to\
o far out. To return
the belt to the more comfortable emergency locking mode, wait until the vehicle has stopped
in a safe, level area, retract the belt fully to convert it back to emer\
gency locking mode and
then extend it around you again.
Automatic Locking Mode*
Always use the automatic locking mode to keep the child-restraint system\
from shifting to
an unsafe position in the event of an accident. To enable seat belt automatic locking mode,
pull it all the way out and connect it as instructed on the child-restra\
int system. It will retract
down to the child-restraint system and stay locked on it. See the sectio\
n on child restraint
(page 2-22).
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2–16
Essential Safety Equipment
Seat Belt Systems
3-Point Type Seat Belt
Fastening the Seat Belt
Seat belt
buckle
Seat belt tongue
Position the lap belt as low as possible,
not on the abdominal area, then adjust the
shoulder belt so that it fits snugly against
your body.
Keep low on
hip bone
Too high
Take up slack
Unfastening the Seat Belt
Depress the button on the seat belt buckle.
If the belt does not fully retract, pull it out
and check for kinks or twists. Then make
sure it remains untwisted as it retracts.
Button
NOTE
If a belt does not fully retract, inspect
it for kinks and twists. If it is still not
retracting properly, have it inspected at an
Authorized Mazda Dealer.
Front Shoulder Belt Adjuster
To raise To lower
Make sure the adjuster is locked.
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2–17
Essential Safety Equipment
Seat Belt Systems
Seat Belt Warning Systems
If it detects that the occupant seat belt
is unfastened, the warning light or beep
alerts the occupant.
Refer to Warning/Indicator Lights on page
4-20.
Refer to Seat Belt Warning Beep on page
7-36.
Front Seat Belt
Pretensioner and Load
Limiting Systems
For optimum protection, the driver and
front passenger seat belts are equipped
with pretensioner and load limiting
systems. For both these systems to work
properly you must wear the seat belt
properly.
Pretensioners:
When a collision is detected, the
pretensioners deploy simultaneously with
the air bags.
For vehicles with the front passenger
occupant classification system, the
pretensioners deploy simultaneously
with the air bags when a roll-over is also
detected.
For deployment details, refer to the SRS
Air Bag Deployment Criteria (page
2-53).
The seat belt retractors remove slack
quickly as the air bags are expanding.
Any time the air bags and seat belt
pretensioners have fired they must be
replaced.
A system malfunction or operation
conditions are indicated by a warning.
Refer to Warning/Indicator Lights on page
4-20.
Refer to Air Bag/Seat Belt Pretensioner
System Warning Beep on page 7-35.
(With Front Passenger Occupant
Classification System)
In addition, the pretensioner system for
the front passenger, like the front and side
passenger air bag, is designed to only
deploy in accordance with the total seated
weight on the front passenger seat.
For details, refer to the front passenger
seat weight sensors (page 2-56).
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2–18
Essential Safety Equipment
Seat Belt Systems
Load limiter:
The load limiting system releases belt
webbing in a controlled manner to reduce
belt force on the occupant's chest. While
the most severe load on a seat belt occurs
in frontal collisions, the load limiter has
an automatic mechanical function and
can activate in any accident mode with
sufficient occupant movement.
Even if the pretensioners have not fired,
the load limiting function must be checked
by an Authorized Mazda Dealer.
WARNING
Wear seat belts only as recommended in
this owner's manual:Incorrect positioning of the seat
belts is dangerous. Without proper
positioning, the pretensioner and
load limiting systems cannot provide
adequate protection in an accident
and this could result in serious injury.
For more details about wearing seat
belts, refer to "Fastening the seat belts"
(page 2-16).
Have your seat belts changed
immediately if the pretensioner or load
limiter has been expended: Always have an Authorized Mazda
Dealer immediately inspect the seat
belt pretensioners and air bags after
any collision. Like the air bags, the seat
belt pretensioners and load limiters
will only function once and must be
replaced after any collision that caused
them to deploy. A seat belt with an
expended pretensioner or load limiter
is still better than wearing no seat
belt at all; however, if the seat belt
pretensioners and load limiters are not
replaced, the risk of injury in a collision
will increase. Do not modify the components or
wiring, or use electronic testing devices
on the pretensioner system:
Modifying the components or wiring
of the pretensioner system, including
the use of electronic testing devices
is dangerous. You could accidentally
activate it or make it inoperable which
would prevent it from activating in an
accident. The occupants or repairers
could be seriously injured.
Properly dispose of the pretensioner
system: Improper disposal of the pretensioner
system or a vehicle with non-
deactivated pretensioners is
dangerous. Unless all safety
procedures are followed, injury
could result. Have an Authorized
Mazda Dealer safely dispose of
the pretensioner system or scrap a
pretensioner system equipped vehicle.
NOTE
 The pretensioner system may not
operate depending on the type of the
collision. For details, refer to the SRS
Air Bag Deployment Criteria (page
2-53).
 Some smoke (non-toxic gas) will
be released when the air bags and
pretensioners deploy. This does not
indicate a fire. This gas normally has
no effect on occupants, however, those
with sensitive skin may experience
light skin irritation. If residue from
the deployment of the air bags or the
pretensioner system gets on the skin
or in the eyes, wash it off as soon as
possible.
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