Ford Escape (2018 year). Manual — part 7

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.

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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.

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2. To unfasten, press the release button

and remove the tongue from the
buckle.

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When in use, place the rear seatbelts in the
belt guides on the outboard seatbacks.

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.

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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

After a crash, have a qualified
technician check all the seatbelts to
make sure the seatbelts including

the automatic locking retractor feature for
child restraints operate properly. We
recommend replacing any system that has
damage or does not operate properly.
Failure to do so can result in personal injury
or death in the event of a sudden stop or
another crash.

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).

How to Use the Automatic Locking
Mode

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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 Outboard Positions

Seatbelts in the rear outboard positions
can lock if the seatback is returned firmly
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 seatback 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 seatback.

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 seatback 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.

E87511

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

E71880

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 and

the 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 warning

chime turn off.

The driver seatbelt is buckled while the

indicator light is illuminated and the

warning chime is sounding...

The seatbelt warning light and indicator

chime 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.

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.