Ford Taurus X (2009 year). Manual — part 51

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.

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

7. 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, repeat Steps 5 and 6.

8. Remove remaining slack from the
belt. Force the seat down with extra
weight, e.g., by pressing down or
kneeling on the child restraint while
pulling up on the shoulder belt in
order to force slack from the belt.
This is necessary to remove the
remaining slack that will exist once
the additional weight of the child is
added to the child restraint. It also
helps to achieve the proper

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snugness of the child seat to the vehicle. Sometimes, a slight lean
towards the buckle will additionally help to remove remaining slack from
the belt.

9. Attach the tether strap (if the child seat is equipped). Refer to
Attaching child safety seats with tether straps later in this chapter.

10. 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 and back. There should
be no more than 1 inch (2.5 cm) of
movement for proper installation.

11. Ford recommends checking with a NHTSA Certified Child Passenger
Safety Technician (CPST) to make certain the child restraint is properly
installed.

Attaching child safety seats with LATCH
(Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) attachments

The LATCH system is composed of three vehicle anchor points: two (2)
lower anchors located where the vehicle seat back and seat cushion meet
(called the “seat bight”) and one (1) top tether anchor located behind
that seating position.

LATCH compatible child safety seats have two rigid or webbing mounted
attachments that connect to the two lower anchors at the LATCH
equipped seating positions in your vehicle. This type of attachment
method eliminates the need to use safety belts to attach the child seat,
however the safety belt can still be used to attach the child seat. For
forward-facing child seats, the top tether strap must also be attached to
the proper top tether anchor, if a top tether strap has been provided
with your child seat.See Attaching child safety seats with tether straps
and Recommendations for attaching safety restraints for children in
this chapter for more information.

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Your vehicle has LATCH anchors for child seat installation at the seating
positions marked with the child seat symbol.

WARNING: Never attach
two LATCH child safety

seats to the same anchor. In a
crash, one anchor may not be
strong enough to hold two child
safety seat attachments and may
break, causing serious injury or
death.

The LATCH anchors are located at
the rear section of the rear seat
between the cushion and seat back.
Follow the child seat manufacturer’s
instructions to properly install a
child seat with LATCH attachments.

Follow the instructions on attaching child safety seats with tether straps.
Refer to Attaching child safety seats with tether straps later in this
chapter.

Attach LATCH lower attachments of the child seat only to the anchors
shown.

WARNING: Never attach two child safety seats to the same
anchor. In a crash, one anchor may not be strong enough to hold

two child safety seat attachments and may break, causing serious
injury or death.

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WARNING: Depending on where you secure a child restraint,
and depending on the child restraint design, you may block

access to certain safety belt buckle assemblies and/or LATCH lower
anchors, rendering those features potentially unusable. To avoid risk of
injury, occupants should only use seating positions where they are able
to be properly restrained.

Use of inboard lower anchors from the outboard seating positions
(center seating use)

The lower anchors at the center of the second row rear seat are spaced
520 mm (20.5 inches) apart. The standardized spacing for LATCH lower
anchors is 280 mm (11 inches) center to center. A child seat with rigid
LATCH attachments cannot be installed at the center seating position.
LATCH compatible child seats (with attachments on belt webbing) can
only be used at this seating position provided that the child seat
manufacturer’s instructions permit use with the anchor spacing stated.
Do not attach a child seat to any lower anchor if an adjacent child seat is
attached to that anchor.

WARNING: The standardized spacing for LATCH lower anchors
is 280 mm (11 inches) center to center. Do not use LATCH

lower anchors for the center seating position unless the child seat
manufacturer’s instructions permit and specify using anchors spaced at
least as far apart as those of this vehicle.

If you install a child seat with rigid LATCH attachments, do not tighten
the tether strap enough to lift the child seat off the vehicle seat cushion
when the child is seated in it. Keep the tether strap just snug without
lifting the front of the child seat. Keeping the child seat just touching the
vehicle seat gives the best protection in a severe crash.

Each time you use the safety seat, check that the seat is properly
attached to the lower anchors and tether anchor, if applicable. Tug the
child seat from side to side and forward and back where it is secured to
the vehicle. The seat should move less than one inch when you do this
for a proper installation.

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

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