Ford Freestyle (2007 year). Manual — part 34

3. To return the seat, ensure seat
latching area is free of objects.
Then, raise the seat off the liftgate
scuff plate and push at the top of
the seat back to rotate the seat back
onto the latches. Pull up on the
head restraints to raise them.

Ensure seat is latched to vehicle floor by pushing/pulling on seat.
If not latched, the seat may cause injury during a sudden stop.

SAFETY RESTRAINTS

Personal Safety System

姟

The Personal Safety System

娂 provides an improved overall level of

frontal crash protection to front seat occupants and is designed to help
further reduce the risk of airbag-related injuries. The system is able to
analyze different occupant conditions and crash severity before activating
the appropriate safety devices to help better protect a range of
occupants in a variety of frontal crash situations.

Your vehicle’s Personal Safety System

娂 consists of:

• Driver and passenger dual-stage airbag supplemental restraints.
• Front outboard safety belts with pretensioners, energy management

retractors (first row only), and safety belt usage sensors.

• Driver’s seat position sensor.
• Front passenger sensing system
• “Passenger airbag off” or “pass airbag off” indicator lamp
• Front crash severity sensor.
• Restraints Control Module (RCM) with impact and safing sensors.
• Restraint system warning light and back-up tone.
• The electrical wiring for the airbags, crash sensor(s), safety belt

pretensioners, front safety belt usage sensors, driver seat position
sensor, front passenger sensing system, and indicator lights.

Seating and Safety Restraints

138

How does the Personal Safety System

姟 work?

The Personal Safety System

娂 can adapt the deployment strategy of your

vehicle’s safety devices according to crash severity and occupant
conditions. A collection of crash and occupant sensors provides
information to the Restraints Control Module (RCM). During a crash, the
RCM activates the safety belt pretensioners and/or either one or both
stages of the dual-stage airbag supplemental restraints based on crash
severity and occupant conditions.

The fact that the pretensioners or airbags did not activate for both front
seat occupants in a collision does not mean that something is wrong with
the system. Rather, it means the Personal Safety System

娂 determined

the accident conditions (crash severity, belt usage, etc.) were not
appropriate to activate these safety devices. Front airbags are designed
to activate only in frontal and near-frontal collisions (not rollovers, side
impacts or rear impacts) unless the collision causes sufficient
longitudinal deceleration. The pretensioners are designed to activate in
frontal collisions, and in side collisions and rollovers when the vehicle is
equipped with the available Safety Canopy

娂 system.

Driver and passenger dual-stage airbag supplemental restraints

The dual-stage airbags offer the capability to tailor the level of airbag
inflation energy. A lower, less forceful energy level is provided for more
common, moderate-severity impacts. A higher energy level is used for
the most severe impacts. Refer to Airbag supplemental restraints
section in this chapter.

Front crash severity sensor

The front crash severity sensor enhances the ability to detect the
severity of an impact. Positioned up front, it provides valuable
information early in the crash event on the severity of the impact. This
allows your Personal Safety System

娂 to distinguish between different

levels of crash severity and modify the deployment strategy of the
dual-stage airbags and safety belt pretensioners.

Driver’s seat position sensor

The driver’s seat position sensor allows your Personal Safety System

娂 to

tailor the deployment level of the driver dual-stage airbag based on seat
position. The system is designed to help protect smaller drivers sitting
close to the driver airbag by providing a lower airbag output level.

Front passenger sensing system

For airbags to do their job they must inflate with great force, and this
force can pose a potentially deadly risk to occupants that are very close

Seating and Safety Restraints

139

to the airbag when it begins to inflate. For some occupants, this occurs
because they are initially sitting very close to the airbag. For other
occupants, this occurs when the occupant is not properly restrained by
safety belts or child safety seats and they move forward during pre-crash
braking. The most effective way to reduce the risk of unnecessary
injuries is to make sure all occupants are properly restrained. Accident
statistics suggest that children are much safer when properly restrained
in the rear seating positions than in the front.

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.

Always transport children 12 years old and under in the back
seat and always properly use appropriate child restraints.

The front passenger sensing system can automatically turn off the
passenger front airbag. The system is designed to help protect small
(child size) occupants from airbag deployments when they are
improperly seated or restrained in the front passenger seat contrary to
proper child-seating or restraint usage recommendations. Even with this
technology, parents are STRONGLY encouraged to always properly
restrain children in the rear seat. The sensor also turns off the
passenger’s front airbag, and side airbag if equipped, when the passenger
seat is empty to prevent unnecessary replacement of the airbag(s) after
a collision.

Front safety belt usage sensors

The front safety belt usage sensors detect whether or not the driver and
front outboard passenger safety belts are fastened. This information
allows your Personal Safety System

娂 to tailor the airbag deployment and

safety belt pretensioner activation depending upon safety belt usage.
Refer to Safety belt section in this chapter.

Front safety belt pretensioners

The safety belt pretensioners at the front outboard seating positions are
designed to tighten the safety belts firmly against the occupant’s body
during frontal collisions, and in side collisions and rollovers when the
vehicle is equipped with the Safety Canopy

娂 system. This helps increase

the effectiveness of the safety belts. In frontal collisions, the safety belt
pretensioners can be activated alone or, if the collision is of sufficient
severity, together with the front airbags.

Seating and Safety Restraints

140

Front safety belt energy management retractors

The front outboard safety belt energy management retractors allow
webbing to be pulled out of the retractor in a gradual and controlled
manner in response to the occupant’s forward momentum. This helps
reduce the risk of force-related injuries to the occupant’s chest by
limiting the load on the occupant. Refer to Energy management feature
section in this chapter.

Determining if the Personal Safety System is operational

The Personal Safety System

娂 uses a warning light in the instrument

cluster or a back-up tone to indicate the condition of the system. Refer
to the Warning light section in the Instrument cluster chapter. Routine
maintenance of the Personal Safety System

娂 is not required.

The Restraints Control Module (RCM) monitors its own internal circuits
and the circuits for the airbag supplemental restraints, crash sensor(s),
safety belt pretensioners, front safety belt buckle sensors, driver seat
position sensor, and front passenger sensing system. In addition, the
RCM also monitors the restraints warning light in the instrument cluster.
A difficulty with the system is indicated by one or more of the following.
• The warning light will either flash or stay lit.
• The warning light will not illuminate immediately after ignition is

turned on.

• A series of five beeps will be heard. The tone pattern will repeat

periodically until the problem and warning light are repaired.

If any of these things happen, even intermittently, have the Personal
Safety System

娂 serviced at an authorized dealer immediately. Unless

serviced, the system may not function properly in the event of a
collision.

Safety belt precautions

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.

Seating and Safety Restraints

141