Ford Escort (2003 year). Manual — part 19

Installing child safety seats with combination lap and shoulder
belts

Air bags can kill or injure a child in a child seat. NEVER place a
rear-facing child seat in front of an active air bag. If you must

use a forward-facing child seat in the front seat, move the seat all the
way back.

Children 12 and under should be properly restrained in the rear
seat whenever possible.

1. Position the child safety seat in a
seat with a combination lap and
shoulder belt.

2. Pull down on the shoulder belt
and then grasp the shoulder belt
and lap belt together.

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3. While holding the shoulder and
lap belt portions together, route the
tongue through the child seat
according to the child seat
manufacturer’s instructions. Be sure
the belt webbing is not twisted.

4. Insert the belt tongue into the
proper buckle (the buckle closest to
the direction the tongue is coming
from) for that seating position until
you hear a snap and feel the latch
engage. Make sure the tongue is
latched securely by pulling on it.

5. To put the retractor in the
automatic locking mode, grasp the
shoulder portion of the belt and pull
downward until all of the belt is
pulled out and a click is heard.

6. Allow the belt to retract. The belt will click as it retracts to indicate it
is in the automatic locking mode.

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7. Pull the lap belt portion across
the child seat toward the buckle and
pull up on the shoulder belt while
pushing down with your knee on the
child seat.

8. Allow the safety belt to retract to
remove any slack in the belt.

9. Before placing the child in the
seat, forcibly move the seat forward
and back to make sure the seat is
securely held in place. To check
this, grab the seat at the belt path
and attempt to move it side to side
and forward. There should be no
more than one inch of movement for
proper installation.

10. Try to pull the belt out of the retractor to make sure the retractor is
in the automatic locking mode (you should not be able to pull more belt
out). If the retractor is not locked, unbuckle the belt and repeat steps
two through nine.

Check to make sure the child seat is properly secured before each use.

Attaching child safety seats with tether straps

Most new forward-facing child safety seats include a tether strap which
goes over the back of the seat and hooks to an anchoring point. Tether
straps are available as an accessory for many older safety seats. Contact
the manufacturer of your child seat for information about ordering a
tether strap.

The rear seats of your vehicle are equipped with built-in tether strap
anchors located behind the seats as described below.

The tether anchors in your vehicle are located below the rear window
marked with the tether anchor symbol (shown with title).

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The tether strap anchors in your vehicle are in the following positions
(shown fromtop view):

Attach the tether strap only
to the appropriate tether

anchor as shown. The tether strap
may not work properly if attached
somewhere other than the correct
tether anchor.

1. Position the child safety seat on the seat cushion.

2. Route the child safety seat tether strap over the back of the seat.

For vehicles with adjustable head restraints, route the tether strap under
the head restraint and between the head restraint posts, otherwise route
the tether strap over the top of the seatback.

3. Locate the correct anchor for the selected seating position.

4. Clip the tether strap to the anchor as shown.

If the tether strap is clipped incorrectly, the child safety seat
may not be retained properly in the event of a collision.

5. For further instructions to secure the child safety seat, refer to the
Installing child safety seats in combination lap and shoulder belt
seating positions section of this chapter.

6. Tighten the child safety seat tether strap according to the
manufacturer’s instructions.

If the safety seat is not anchored properly, the risk of a child
being injured in a collision greatly increases.

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