2002 Ford Windstar Owner Guide 2nd Printing - Page 141

Seating and Safety Restraints 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 seat all the way back. Always transport children 12 years old and under in the back seat and always properly use appropriate child restraints. The passenger occupant classification sensor can automatically turn off the passenger front air bag and side air bag (if equipped). The system is designed to help protect small (child size) occupants from air bag deployments when they are improperly seated or restrained in the front passenger seat contrary to proper child-seating or restraint usage recommendations. Even with this technology, parents are STRONGLY encouraged to always properly restrain children in the rear seat. The sensor also turns off the air bag(s) when the passenger seat is empty to prevent unnecessary replacement of the air bag(s) after a collision. Front safety belt usage sensors The front safety belt usage sensors detect whether or not the driver and front outboard passenger safety belts are fastened. This information allows your Personal safety system to tailor the air bag deployment and safety belt pretensioner activation depending upon safety belt usage. Refer to Safety belt section in this chapter. Front safety belt pretensioners The safety belt pretensioners are designed to tighten the safety belts firmly against the occupant's body during a collision. This maximizes the effectiveness of the safety belts and helps properly position the occupant relative to the air bag to improve protection. The safety belt pretensioners can be either activated alone or, if the collision is of sufficient severity, together with the air bags. Front safety belt energy management retractors The front safety belt energy management retractors allow webbing to be pulled out of the retractor in a gradual and controlled manner in response to the occupant's forward momentum. This helps reduce the risk of force-related injuries to the occupant's chest by limiting the load on the occupant. Refer to Energy management feature section in this chapter. 141