2002 Ford Explorer Owner's Manual - Page 84

Seating and Safety Restraints 8. Allow the safety belt to retract to remove any slack in the belt. 9. Before placing the child in the seat, forcibly tilt 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 of movement for proper installation. 10. 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 two through nine. Check to make sure the child seat is properly secured before each use. Attaching child safety seats with tether straps Most new forward-facing child safety seats include a tether strap which goes over the back of the seat and hooks to an anchoring point. Tether straps are available as an accessory for many older safety seats. Contact the manufacturer of your child seat for information about ordering them. The rear seats of your vehicle are equipped with built-in tether strap anchors located behind the seats as described below. The tether anchors in your vehicle are the cargo tie-down loops closest to the back of the rear seat. They are in the following positions (shown from top view): 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. 1. Position the child safety seat on the rear seat cushion. 2. Route the child safety seat tether strap over the back of the seat. For vehicles with adjustable head restraints, route the tether strap under the head restraint and between the head restraint posts, otherwise route the tether strap over the top of the seatback. 84