Ford E-250 (2009 year). Manual — part 8

WARNING: The safety belts for the driver and right front
passenger seating positions have been specifically designed to

function together with the airbags in certain types of crashes. When
you turn OFF your airbag, you not only lose the protection of the
airbag, you also may reduce the effectiveness of your safety belt
system, which was designed to work with the airbag. If you are not a
person who meets the requirements stated in the NHTSA/Transport
Canada deactivation criteria turning OFF the airbag can increase the
risk of serious injury or death in a collision.

WARNING: If your vehicle has rear seats, always transport
children who are 12 and younger in the rear seat. Always use

safety belts and child restraints properly. DO NOT place a child in a
rear facing infant seat in the front seat unless your vehicle is equipped
with an airbag ON/OFF switch and the passenger airbag is turned OFF.
This is because the back of the infant seat is too close to the inflating
airbag and the risk of a fatal injury to the infant when the airbag
inflates is substantial.

The vast majority of drivers and passengers are much safer with an
airbag than without. To do their job and reduce the risk of life
threatening injuries, airbags must open with great force, and this force
can pose a potentially deadly risk in some situations, particularly when a
front seat occupant is not properly buckled up. The most effective way
to reduce the risk of unnecessary airbag injuries without reducing the
overall safety of the vehicle is to make sure all occupants are properly
restrained in the vehicle, especially in the front seat. This provides the
protection of safety belts and permits the airbags to provide the
additional protection they were designed to provide. If you choose to
deactivate your airbag, you are losing the very significant risk reducing
benefits of the airbag and you are also reducing the effectiveness of the
safety belts, because safety belts in modern vehicles are designed to
work as a safety system with the airbags.

Read all airbag warning labels in the vehicle as well as the other
important airbag instructions and warnings in this Owner’s Guide.

Seating and Safety Restraints

117

NHTSA deactivation criteria (excluding Canada)
1. Infant. An infant (less than 1 year old) must ride in the front seat
because:
• the vehicle has no rear seat;

• the vehicle has a rear seat too small to accommodate a rear-facing

infant seat; or

• the infant has a medical condition which, according to the infant’s

physician, makes it necessary for the infant to ride in the front so that
the driver can constantly monitor the child’s condition.

2. Child age 1 to 12. A child age 1 to 12 must ride in the front seat
because:
• the vehicle has no rear seat;

• although children ages 1 to 12 ride in the rear seat(s) whenever

possible, children ages 1 to 12 sometimes must ride in the front
because no space is available in the rear seat(s) of the vehicle; or

• the child has a medical condition which, according to the child’s

physician, makes it necessary for the child to ride in the front seat so
that the driver can constantly monitor the child’s condition.

3. Medical condition. A passenger has a medical condition which,
according to his or her physician:
• causes the passenger airbag to pose a special risk for the passenger;

and

• makes the potential harm from the passenger airbag in a crash greater

than the potential harm from turning OFF the airbag and allowing the
passenger, even if belted, to hit the dashboard or windshield in a
crash.

WARNING: This vehicle has special energy management safety
belts for the driver and right front passenger. These particular

belts are specifically designed to work with airbags to help reduce the
risk of injury in a collision. The energy management safety belt is
designed to give or release additional belt webbing in some accidents
to reduce concentration of force on an occupant’s chest and reduce the
risk of certain bone fractures and injuries to underlying organs. In a
crash, if the airbag is turned OFF, this energy management safety belt
might permit the person wearing the belt to move forward enough to
incur a serious or fatal injury. The more severe the crash, and the
heavier the occupant, the greater the risk is. Be sure the airbag is
turned ON for any person who does not qualify under the NHTSA
deactivation criteria.

Seating and Safety Restraints

118

Transport Canada deactivation criteria (Canada Only)

1. Infant: An infant (less than 1 year old) must ride in the front seat
because:
• my vehicle has no rear seat;
• the rear seat in my vehicle cannot accommodate a rear-facing infant

seat; or

• the infant has a medical condition which, according to the infant’s

physician, makes it necessary for the infant to ride in the front seat so
that the driver can monitor the infant’s condition.

2. Child age 12 or under: A child age 12 or under must ride in the
front seat because:
• my vehicle has no rear seat;
• although children age 12 and under ride in the rear seat whenever

possible, children age 12 and under have no option but to sometimes
ride in the front seat because rear seat space is insufficient; or

• the child has a medical condition that, according to the child’s

physician, makes it necessary for the child to ride in the front seat so
that the driver can monitor the child’s condition.

3. Medical condition: A passenger has a medical condition that,
according to his or her physician:
• poses a special risk for the passenger if the airbag deploys; and
• makes the potential harm from the passenger airbag deployment

greater than the potential harm from turning OFF the airbag and
experiencing a crash without the protection offered by the airbag

WARNING: This vehicle has special energy management safety
belts for the driver and right front passenger. These particular

belts are specifically designed to work with airbags to help reduce the
risk of injury in a collision. The energy management safety belt is
designed to give or release additional belt webbing in some accidents
to reduce concentration of force on an occupant’s chest and reduce the
risk of certain bone fractures and injuries to underlying organs. In a
crash, if the airbag is turned OFF, this energy management safety belt
might permit the person wearing the belt to move forward enough to
incur a serious or fatal injury. The more severe the crash, and the
heavier the occupant, the greater the risk is. Be sure the airbag is
turned ON for any person who does not qualify under the NHTSA
deactivation criteria.

Seating and Safety Restraints

119

SAFETY RESTRAINTS FOR CHILDREN

See the following sections for directions on how to properly use safety
restraints for children. Also see Airbag supplemental restraint system
(SRS) in this chapter for special instructions about using airbags.

Important child restraint precautions

WARNING: Always make sure your child is secured properly in
a device that is appropriate for their height, age and weight.

Child safety restraints must be purchased separately from the vehicle.
Failure to follow these instructions and guidelines may result in an
increased risk of serious injury or death to your child.

WARNING: All children are shaped differently. The
Recommendations for Safety Restraints are based on probable

child height, age and weight thresholds from NHTSA and other safety
organizations or are the minimum requirements of law. Ford
recommends checking with a NHTSA Certified Child Passenger Safety
Technician (CPST) and your pediatrician to make sure your child seat
is appropriate for your child, and is compatible with and properly
installed in the vehicle. To locate a child seat fitting station and CPST
contact the NHTSA toll free at 1-888-327-4236 or on the internet at
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov. Failure to properly restrain children in safety
seats made especially for their height, age, and weight may result in an
increased risk of serious injury or death to your child.

Recommendations for Safety Restraints for Children

Child size, height, weight, or age

Recommended
restraint type

Infants
or
toddlers

Children weighing 40 lb (18 kg) or less
(generally age four or younger)

Use a child safety
seat (sometimes
called an infant
carrier, convertible
seat, or toddler
seat).

Seating and Safety Restraints

120

Recommendations for Safety Restraints for Children

Child size, height, weight, or age

Recommended
restraint type

Small
children

Children who have outgrown or no longer
properly fit in a child safety seat
(generally children who are less than
4 feet 9 inches (1.45 meters) tall, are
greater than age four (4) and less than
age twelve (12), and between 40 lbs
(18 kg) and 80 lbs (36 kg) and upward
to 100 lbs (45 kg) if recommended by
your child restraint manufacturer)

Use a
belt-positioning
booster seat.

Larger
children

Children who have outgrown or no longer
properly fit in a belt-positioning booster
seat (generally children who are at least
4 feet 9 inches (1.45 meters) tall or
greater than 80 lb (36 kg) or 100 lb
(45 kg) if recommended by child
restraint manufacturer)

Use a vehicle
safety belt having
the lap belt snug
and low across the
hips, shoulder belt
centered across
the shoulder and
chest, and
seatback upright.

• You are required by law to properly use safety seats for infants and

toddlers in the U.S. and Canada.

• Many states and provinces require that small children use approved

booster seats until they reach age eight, a height of 4 ft 9 in
(1.45 meters) tall, or 80 lb (36 kg). Check your local and state or
provincial laws for specific requirements regarding the safety of
children in your vehicle.

• When possible, always properly restrain children twelve (12) years of

age and under in a rear seating position of your vehicle. Accident
statistics suggest that children are safer when properly restrained in
the rear seating positions than in a front seating position.

Seating and Safety Restraints

121

Recommendations for attaching child safety restraints for children

Restraint
Type

Child

Weight

Use any attachment method as indicated

below by “X”

LATCH
(lower
anchors
and
top
tether
anchor)

LATCH
(lower
anchors
only)

Safety
belt
and
top
tether
anchor

Safety
belt and
LATCH
(lower
anchors
and top
tether
anchor)

Safety
belt
only

Rear
facing
child seat

Up to
48 lb
(21 kg)

X

X

Forward
facing
child seat

Up to
48 lb
(21 kg)

X

X

X

Forward
facing
child seat

Over
48 lb
(21 kg)

X

X

WARNING: 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 vehicle seat all the way back. When possible, all children age 12
and under should be properly restrained in a rear seating position. If
all children cannot be seated and restrained properly in a rear seating
position, properly restrain the largest child in the front seat.

Seating and Safety Restraints

122

WARNING: Always carefully follow the instructions and
warnings provided by the manufacturer of any child restraint to

determine if the restraint device is appropriate for your child’s size,
height, weight, or age. Follow the child restraint manufacturer’s
instructions and warnings provided for installation and use in
conjunction with the instructions and warnings provided by the vehicle
manufacturer. A safety seat that is improperly installed or utilized, is
inappropriate for your child’s height, age, or weight or does not
properly fit the child may increase the risk of serious injury or death.

WARNING: Never let a passenger hold a child on his or her lap
while the vehicle is moving. The passenger cannot protect the

child from injury in a collision, which may result in serious injury or
death.

WARNING: Never use pillows, books, or towels to boost a child.
They can slide around and increase the likelihood of injury or

death in a collision.

WARNING: Always restrain an unoccupied child seat or booster
seat. These objects may become projectiles in a collision or

sudden stop, which may increase the risk of serious injury.

WARNING: Never place, or allow a child to place, the shoulder
belt under a child’s arm or behind the back because it reduces

the protection for the upper part of the body and may increase the risk
of injury or death in a collision.

WARNING: Do not leave children, unreliable adults, or pets
unattended in your vehicle.

Seating and Safety Restraints

123

Transporting children

Always make sure your child is secured properly in a device that is
appropriate for their age, height and weight. All children are shaped
differently. The child height, age and weight thresholds provided are
recommendations or the minimum requirements of law. The National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provides education and
training to ensure that all children ages 0 to 16 are properly restrained in
the correct restraint system. Ford recommends checking with a NHTSA
Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) and your
pediatrician to make sure your seat is appropriate for your child and
properly installed in the vehicle. To locate a child seat fitting station and
CPST contact the NHTSA toll free at 1-888-327-4236 or on the internet
at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov.

Follow all the safety restraint and airbag precautions that apply to adult
passengers in your vehicle.

If the child is the proper height, age, and weight (as specified by your
child safety seat or booster manufacturer), fits the restraint and can be
restrained properly, then restrain the child in the child safety seat or
with the belt-positioning booster. Remember that child seats and
belt-positioning boosters vary and may be designed to fit children of
different heights, ages and weights. Children who are too large for child
safety seats or belt-positioning boosters (as specified by your child safety
seat manufacturer) should always properly wear safety belts.

SAFETY SEATS FOR CHILDREN

Infant and/or toddler seats

Use a safety seat that is recommended for the size and weight of the child.

When installing a child safety seat:
• Review and follow the information

presented in the Airbag
supplemental restraint system
(SRS) section in this chapter.

• Carefully follow all of the

manufacturer’s instructions
included with the safety seat you
put in your vehicle. If you do not
install and use the safety seat
properly, the child may be injured
in a sudden stop or collision.

Seating and Safety Restraints

124

Airbags can kill or injure a child in a child seat. NEVER place a
rear-facing child seat in front of an active airbag. If you must use a
forward-facing child seat in the front seat, move the vehicle seat all the
way back.

Children 12 and under should be properly restrained in a rear seating
position whenever possible. If all children cannot be seated and
restrained properly in a rear seating position, properly restrain the
largest child in the front seat.

Installing child safety seats with combination lap and shoulder
belts

Check to make sure the child seat is properly secured before each use.
Children 12 and under should be properly restrained in a rear seating
position whenever possible. If all children cannot be seated and
restrained properly in a rear seating position, properly restrain the
largest child in the front seat.

When installing a child safety seat with combination lap/shoulder belts:
• Use the correct safety belt buckle for that seating position.
• Insert the belt tongue into the proper buckle until you hear a snap

and feel it latch. Make sure the tongue is securely fastened in the
buckle.

• Keep the buckle release button pointing up and away from the safety

seat, with the tongue between the child seat and the release button,
to prevent accidental unbuckling.

• Place vehicle seat back in upright position.
• Put the safety belt in the automatic locking mode. Refer to step 5

below.

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.

Perform the following steps when installing the child seat with
combination lap/shoulder belts:

Note: Although the child seat illustrated is a forward facing child seat,
the steps are the same for installing a rear facing child seat.

Seating and Safety Restraints

125

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.

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.

Seating and Safety Restraints

126

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, unbuckle the belt and 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
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.

Seating and Safety Restraints

127

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 one 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. Ford Motor Company recommends the use of a
child safety seat having a top tether strap. See Attaching child safety
seats with tether straps and Recommendations for attaching safety
restraints for children in this chapter for more information.

Seating and Safety Restraints

128

Your vehicle has LATCH lower anchors for child seat installation at the
following locations:

• Five passenger crew van

• Seven passenger wagon

• Eight passenger wagon

• Twelve passenger wagon

Seating and Safety Restraints

129

• Fifteen passenger wagon
The LATCH lower anchors are
located at the rear section of the
rear seat between the cushion and
seatback. 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.

If you install a child seat with rigid LATCH attachments, and have
attached the top tether strap to the proper top tether anchor, 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.

Seating and Safety Restraints

130

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

Combining safety belt and LATCH lower anchors for attaching
child safety seats

When used in combination, either the safety belt or the LATCH lower
anchors may be attached first, provided a proper installation is achieved.
Attach the tether strap afterward, if included with the child seat. Refer
to Recommendations for attaching safety restraints for children in
this chapter.

Attaching child safety seats with tether straps

WARNING: When using forward-facing child safety seats in
vehicles with only two seating positions or the forward-facing

child safety seat cannot be placed in the rear of the vehicle, move the
passenger seat as far back from the instrument panel as possible.

WARNING: Because the last row of seats in the 12 passenger
and 15 passenger configuration is not equipped with LATCH

anchors and is spaced closer to the row of seats in front, Do not use
forward-facing or rear-facing child seats (other than belt-positioning
boosters) in the last row.

Many forward-facing child safety seats include a tether strap which
extends from the back of the child safety seat and hooks to an anchoring
point called the top tether anchor. 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, or to obtain a
longer tether strap if the tether strap on your safety seat does not reach
the appropriate top tether anchor in the vehicle.

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

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.

Once the child safety seat has been installed using either the safety belt,
the lower anchors of the LATCH system, or both, you can attach the top
tether strap.

Seating and Safety Restraints

131

Perform the following steps to install a child safety seat with tether
anchors:

Front passenger seating position

The tether can be attached directly
to the rear of the front seat.

1. Adjust the front right-hand
passenger seat full forward.

Seating and Safety Restraints

132