Ford Contour (2000 year). Manual - part 20

Seating and safety restraints

78

Combination lap and shoulder
belt

Insert the tongue into the slot in
the buckle to fasten.

Push the red release button and
remove the tongue from the slot to
unfasten.

The passenger safety restraints in
the vehicle are combination lap and
shoulder belts. The front and rear
seat passenger safety belts have
two types of locking modes.

Using safety restraints properly

Each seating position in your
vehicle has a specific safety

belt assembly which is made up of
one buckle and one tongue that
are designed to be used as a pair.

Use the shoulder belt on the
outside shoulder only. Never wear
the shoulder belt under the arm.

Never swing it around your neck
over the inside shoulder.

Never use a single belt for more
than one person.

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Seating and safety restraints

79

Automatic locking mode

In this mode, the shoulder belt is
automatically prelocked; however,
the belt will react to remove any
slack in the shoulder belt.

The automatic locking mode is not
available on the driver’s safety belt.

When to use the automatic
locking mode

• When a tight lap and shoulder
belt fit is desired.

• Any time a child safety seat is
installed in the vehicle. For
information on the proper use of a
child safety seat, refer to Child
safety seats later in this chapter.

Vehicle sensitive (emergency)
locking mode

The vehicle sensitive mode is the
normal retractor mode which locks
the belts in response to vehicle
movement. For example, if the
driver brakes suddenly, turns a
corner sharply or your vehicle
receives an impact of 8 km/h 
(5 mph) or more the combination
safety belts will lock to help reduce
the forward movement of the
driver and passengers.

The retractor can be made to lock
by pulling sharply on the belt.

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Seating and safety restraints

80

Using automatic locking mode

The automatic locking mode must
be used when installing a child
safety seat in any passenger seat.

1. Buckle the combination lap and
shoulder belt.

2. Grasp the shoulder belt portion
and pull downward until the entire
belt is extracted.

3. Allow the belt to retract. As the
belt retracts, you will hear a
clicking sound. This indicates that
the safety belt is now in the
automatic locking mode.

Canceling automatic locking
mode

Disconnect the combination lap
and shoulder belt and allow it to
completely retract. This will cancel
the automatic locking mode and
activate the vehicle sensitive
(emergency) locking mode.

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Seating and safety restraints

81

Front seat safety belt height
adjustment

To lower the height of the shoulder
belt:

1. Push the control down.

2. Slide down.

To raise the height of the shoulder
belt:

1. Slide up.

2. Pull down on the height adjuster
to make sure that it is locked in
place.

Position the shoulder belt
height adjuster so that the

belt rests across the middle of
your shoulder. Be sure the
shoulder belt is properly
positioned on your shoulder each
time you use the belt. If the
shoulder belt is off your shoulder,
on your upper arm or neck, there
is a greater risk of severe injury in
a collision.

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