2018 FORD ESCAPE Owners Manual

The childproof locks are located on the
rear edge of each rear door and must be
set separately for each door.
Left-Hand Side
Turn counterclockwise to lock and
clockwise to unlock.
Right-Hand Side
Turn clockwise to lock and
counterclockwise to unlock.
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PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
WARNING: Always drive and ride
with your seatback upright and the lap belt
snug and low across the hips. WARNING:
To reduce the risk of
injury, make sure children sit where they
can be properly restrained. WARNING:
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. WARNING:
All occupants of your
vehicle, including the driver, should always
properly wear their safety belts, even when
an airbag supplemental restraint system
is provided. WARNING: 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. WARNING:
In a rollover crash, an
unbelted person is significantly more likely
to die than a person wearing a safety belt. WARNING:
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. WARNING:
When possible, all
children 12 years old and under should be
properly restrained in a rear seating
position. WARNING:
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. WARNING:
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
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•
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 SEATBELTS
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, place the rear seatbelts in the
belt guides on the outermost seat
backrests.
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Using Seatbelts During Pregnancy
WARNING: Always ride and drive
with your seatback upright and properly
fasten your seatbelt. Fit the lap portion of
the seatbelt snugly and low across the
hips. Position the shoulder portion of the
seatbelt across your chest. Pregnant
women must follow this practice. See the
following figure. Pregnant women should always wear their
seatbelt. Position the lap belt portion of a
combination lap and shoulder belt low
across the hips below the belly and worn
as tight as comfort allows. Position the
shoulder belt to cross the middle of the
shoulder and the center of the chest.
Seatbelt Locking Modes
WARNING: If your vehicle is involved
in a crash, have the seatbelts and
associated components inspected as soon
as possible. Failure to follow this
instruction could result in personal injury
or death. All safety restraints in the vehicle are
combination lap and shoulder belts. The
driver seatbelt has the first type of locking
mode, and the front outboard passenger
and rear seat seatbelts 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 about
5 mph
(8 km/h) or more, the combination
seatbelts lock to help reduce forward
movement of the driver and passengers.
In addition, the retractor is designed to lock
if you pull the webbing out too quickly. If
the seatbelt retractor locks, slowly lower
the height adjuster to allow the seatbelt
to retract. If the retractor does not unlock,
pull the seatbelt out slowly then feed a
small length of webbing back toward the
stowed position. For rear seatbelts, recline
the rear seat backrest or push the seat
backrest cushion away from the seatbelt.
Feed a small length of webbing back
toward the stowed position.
Automatic Locking Mode
In this mode, the shoulder belt
automatically pre-locks. The belt still
retracts to remove any slack in the
shoulder belt. The automatic locking mode
is not available on the driver seatbelt.
When to Use the Automatic Locking
Mode
Use this mode any time a child safety seat,
except a booster, is installed in passenger
front or rear seating positions. Properly
restrain children 12 years old and under in
a rear seating position whenever possible.
See
Child Safety (page 18).
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How to Use the Automatic Locking
Mode
1. Buckle the combination lap and
shoulder belt.
2. Grasp the shoulder portion and pull downward until you pull the entire belt
out. Allow the belt to retract. As the
belt retracts, you will hear a clicking
sound. This indicates the seatbelt is
now in the automatic locking mode.
How to Disengage the Automatic
Locking Mode
Unbuckle the combination lap and
shoulder belt and allow it to retract
completely to disengage the automatic
locking mode and turn on the vehicle
sensitive (emergency) locking mode.
How to Extract Seatbelts in the
Rear Outermost Positions
Seatbelts in the rear outermost positions
can lock if you firmly return the seat
backrest to its upright position. You can
unlock the seatbelts using the following
procedures.
For vehicles where the rear seats recline:
1. Recline the seat to its full rear recline position.
2. The seatbelt should then unlock. 3. Return the seat backrest to its desired
upright position.
For vehicles with rear seats that do not
recline or are locked with the seat in its full
rear recline position:
1. Grasp the seatbelt webbing at the top of the seat backrest.
2. Pull the seatbelt webbing forward, firmly.
3. After pulling the seatbelt forward, allow the seatbelt to feed back into the
seatbelt retractor as much as possible.
If necessary, press the seat backrest
down to allow the seatbelt webbing to
retract further.
4. The seatbelt should then unlock.
5. If the seatbelt does not unlock, repeat steps 1-3.
SEATBELT HEIGHT
ADJUSTMENT WARNING: Position the seatbelt
height adjusters so that the belt rests
across the middle of your shoulder. Failure
to adjust the seatbelt correctly could
reduce the effectiveness of the seatbelt
and increase the risk of injury in a crash.
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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.
SEATBELT WARNING LAMP
AND INDICATOR CHIME
This lamp illuminates and an
audible warning will sound if the
driver seatbelt has not been
fastened when the vehicle's ignition is
turned on.
Conditions of operation Then
If
The seatbelt warning light illuminates andthe warning chime sounds for a few seconds.
The driver seatbelt is not buckled before
the ignition switch is turned to the on posi- tion...
The seatbelt warning light and warningchime turn off.
The driver seatbelt is buckled while the
indicator light is illuminated and the warning chime is sounding...
The seatbelt warning light and indicatorchime remain off.
The driver seatbelt is buckled before the
ignition switch is turned to the on position...
SEATBELT REMINDER
Belt-Minder™
This feature supplements the safety belt
warning function by providing additional
reminders that intermittently sound a tone
and illuminate the safety belt warning light
when you are in the driver seat or you have
a front seat passenger and a 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 you place
in the front passenger seat, only the front
seat passengers receive warnings as
determined by the front passenger sensing
system.
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If the Belt-Minder warnings expire
(warnings for about five minutes) for one
passenger (driver or front passenger), the
other passenger can still cause the
Belt-Minder feature to turn on. Then...
If...
The Belt-Minder feature will not activate.
You and the front seat passenger buckle
your safety belts before you switch the
ignition on or less than 1-2 minutes elapse after you switch the ignition on...
The Belt-Minder feature activates, the
safety belt warning light illuminates and a warning tone sounds for 6 seconds every
25 seconds, repeating for about 5 minutes or until you and the front seat passenger buckle your safety belts.
You or the front seat passenger do not
buckle your safety belts before your vehicle reaches at least 6 mph (9.7 km/h) and 1-2
minutes elapse after you switch the ignition on...
The Belt-Minder feature activates, the
safety belt warning light illuminates and a warning tone sounds for 6 seconds every
25 seconds, repeating for about 5 minutes or until you and the front seat passenger buckle your safety belts.
The safety belt for the driver or front
passenger is unbuckled for about 1 minute
while the vehicle is traveling at least 6 mph (9.7 km/h) and more than 1-2 minutes
elapse after you switch the ignition 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 your vehicle.
Note: The driver and front passenger
warnings switch on and off independently.
When you perform this procedure for 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).
• The ignition is off.
• The driver and front passenger safety
belts are unbuckled.
1. Switch 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
you start Step 3, you must complete
the procedure within 60 seconds.
3. For the seating position you are switching off, 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 turns on.
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4. While the safety belt warning light is
on, buckle and then unbuckle the
safety belt. After Step 4, the safety belt
warning light flashes for confirmation.
• This will switch the feature off for that
seating position if it is currently on.
• This will switch the feature on for that
seating position if it is currently off.
CHILD RESTRAINT AND
SEATBELT MAINTENANCE
Inspect the vehicle seatbelts and child
safety seat systems periodically to make
sure they work properly and are not
damaged. Inspect the vehicle and child
restraint seatbelts to make sure there are
no nicks, tears or cuts. Replace if
necessary. All vehicle seatbelt assemblies,
including retractors, buckles, front seatbelt
buckle assemblies, buckle support
assemblies (slide bar-if equipped),
shoulder belt height adjusters (if
equipped), shoulder belt guide on seat
backrest (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.
We recommend that all seatbelt
assemblies in use in vehicles involved in a
crash be replaced. However, if the crash
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. Seatbelt assemblies
not in use during a crash should also be
inspected and replaced if either damage
or improper operation is noted.
Properly care for seatbelts. See Vehicle
Care (page 268). SEATBELT EXTENSION WARNING:
Persons who fit into the
vehicle's seatbelt should not use an
extension. Unnecessary use could result in
serious personal injury in the event of a
crash. WARNING:
Only use extensions
provided free of charge by Ford Motor
Company dealers. The dealer will provide
an extension designed specifically for this
vehicle, model year and seating position.
The use of an extension intended for
another vehicle, model year or seating
position may not offer you the full
protection of your vehicle ’s seatbelt
restraint system. WARNING:
Never use seatbelt
extensions to install child restraints. WARNING:
Do not use a seatbelt
extension with an inflatable seatbelt. WARNING:
Do not use extensions
to change the fit of the belt across the
torso, over the lap or to make the seatbelt
buckle easier to reach.
If, because of body size or driving position,
it is not possible to properly fasten the
seatbelt over your lap and shoulder, an
extension that is compatible with the
seatbelts is available free of charge from
Ford Motor Company dealers. Only Ford
seatbelt extensions made by the original
equipment seatbelts manufacturer should
be used with Ford seatbelts. Ask your
authorized dealer if your extension is
compatible with your Ford vehicle restraint
system.
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