2022 MAZDA MODEL 3 SEDAN Owners Manual

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
6-53).

1. Ring

Essential Safety Equipment
Seat Belt Systems
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▼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.
Check 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, and
then try pulling it out slowly. If this
fails, pull the belt strongly 1 time and
loosen, then pull it 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 stopped
or in motion, it may be in the
automatic locking mode because the
belt has been pulled too 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 emergency locking
mode and then extend it around you
again.
▼
Automatic Locking Mode (Except
Mexico)
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-restraint system. It will retract
down to the child-restraint system and
stay locked on it. See the section on
child restraint (page 2-44).
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Seat Belt Systems
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Seat Belt
▼Fastening the Seat Belt
Insert the seat belt
tongue into the
buckle.
1. Seat belt tongue
2. Seat belt buckle

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.
1. Keep low on hip bone
2. Take up slack
3. Too high

Before fastening the rear seat belt,
make sure that the seat belt passes
through the seat belt guide correctly
and it is not twisted.
▼ 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.
1. 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.
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Seat Belt Systems
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▼Front Shoulder Belt Adjuster
The front seat belts have a front
shoulder belt adjuster. If the seat belt
contacts your neck or it slips off the
shoulder, adjust the seat belt height.
To ra i s e
To heighten the seat belt, move the
front shoulder belt adjuster upward.
To l o w e r
To lower the seat belt, hold the front
shoulder belt adjuster and lower the
seat belt with the knob of the front
shoulder belt adjuster pressed.

After adjusting , press the front
shoulder belt adjuster downward and
make sure that it is securely locked.
Seat Belt Warning
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 Seat Belt Warning Indication/
Warning Light (Front seat) on page
7-36.
Refer to Seat Belt Warning Light (Rear
seat) (Red) on page 7-37.
Refer to Seat Belt Warning Beep on
page 7-43.

Seat belt indicator light (rear seat)
(green)
The light turns on when the rear seat
belt is fastened while the ignition is
switched ON, and it turns off after a
certain period.
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Seat Belt Systems
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Front Seat Belt
Pretensioner and Load Limiting Systems
▼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
2-67).

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 Air Bag/Front Seat Belt
Pretensioner System Warning
Indication/Warning Light on page
7-33.
(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 2-71).

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 Belt"
(page 2-26).
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Seat Belt Systems
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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 2-67).
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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Seat Belt Systems
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Seat Belt Extender
▼Seat Belt Extender
If your seat belt is not long enough,
even when fully extended, a seat belt
extender may be available to you at no
charge from your Authorized Mazda
Dealer.
This extender will be only for you and
for the particular vehicle and seat. Even
if it plugs into othe
r seat belts, it may
not hold in the critical moment of a
crash.
When ordering an extender, only order
one that provides the necessary
additional length to fasten the seat belt
properly. Please contact your
Authorized Mazda Dealer for more
information.
WARNING
Do not use a seat belt extender unless
it is necessary:
Using a seat belt extender when not
necessary is dangerous. The seat belt
will be too long and not fit properly. In
an accident, the seat belt will not
provide adequate protection and you
could be seriously injured. Only use
the extender when it is required to
fasten the seat belt properly.
Do not use an improper extender:
Using a seat belt extender that is for
another person or a different vehicle or
seat is dangerous. The seat belt will not
provide adequate protection and the
user could be seriously injured in an
accident. Only use the extender
provided for you and for the particular
vehicle and seat. NEVER use the
extender in a different vehicle or seat.
If you sell your Mazda, do not leave
your seat belt extender in the vehicle.
It could be used accidentally by the
new owner of the vehicle. After
removing the seat belt extender,
discard it. Never use the seat belt
extender in any other vehicle you may
own in the future.
Do not use an extender that is too
long:
Using an extender that is too long is
dangerous. The seat belt will not fit
properly. In an accident, the seat belt
will not provide adequate protection
and you could be seriously injured. Do
not use the extender or choose one
shorter in length if the distance
between the extender's buckle and the
center of the user's body is less than
15 cm (6 in).
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Seat Belt Systems
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Do not leave a seat belt extender
connected to the buckle:
Leaving a seat belt extender connected
to the buckle without using the seat
belt is dangerous. When the seat belt
extender is connected to the driver's
seat belt buckle (or front passenger's
seat belt buckle), the SRS driver's (or
front passenger's) air bag system will
determine that the driver (or front
passenger) is wearing the seat belt
even if the driver (or front passenger) is
not wearing it. This condition could
cause the driver's (or front
passenger's) air bag to not activate
correctly and result in death or serious
injury in the event of collision. Always
wear the seat belt with the seat belt
extender.
Do not use the seat belt extender
when installing a child-restraint
system on the front or rear passenger
seat:
Using a seat belt extender to fasten a
child-restraint system on any seat is
dangerous. Always follow the
child-restraint system manufacturer's
installation instructions and never use
a seat belt extender.
NOTE
When not in use, remove the seat belt
extender and store it in the vehicle. If
the seat belt extender is left
connected, the seat belt extender
might get damaged as it will not retract
with the rest of the seat belt and can
easily fall out of the door when not in
use and be damaged. In addition, the
seat belt warning light will not
illuminate and function properly.
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Seat Belt Systems
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