1996 Mercury Cougar Owner's Manual - Page 12

Safety Belts with Locking Cinch Tongue for Rear Outboard Seating Positions Your vehicle is equipped with safety seat belts containing a cinch tongue at the rear outboard seating positions. The locking cinch tongue will slide up and down the belt webbing when the belt is in the stowed position or while putting seat belts on. When the locking cinch tongue of the lap/shoulder combination seat belt is latched into the buckle, the cinch tongue will allow the lap portion to become shorter, but locks the webbing in place to restrict it from becoming longer. Before you can reach and latch a combination lap and shoulder belt having a cinch tongue into the buckle, you may have to lengthen the lap belt portion of it. To lengthen the lap belt, pull some webbing out of the shoulder belt retractor. While holding the webbing below the tongue, grasp the tip (metal portion) of the tongue so that it is parallel to the webbing and slide the tongue upward. Provide enough lap belt length so that the tongue can reach the buckle. NOTE: If you grasp the tongue by the tongue cover to lengthen the belt, the tongue cover will grab the webbing, making it difficult to slide. 12