2002 Mercury Villager Owner's Manual - Page 153

Seating and Safety Restraints Attaching safety seats with LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) attachments for child seat anchors Some child safety seats have two rigid or webbing mounted attachments that connect to two anchors at certain seating positions in your vehicle. This type of child seat eliminates the need to use seat belts to attach the child seat. For forward-facing child seats, the tether strap must also be attached to the proper tether anchor. See Attaching safety seats with tether straps in this chapter. Your vehicle has LATCH anchors for child seat installation at the seating positions marked with the child seat symbol: The anchors on both sides of the center of seat are provided only for child seats at the outboard seats, and are further apart than the pairs of lower anchors for child seat installation at other seats. A child seat with rigid LATCH attachments cannot be installed at the center seat. A child seat with LATCH attachments on belt webbing can be used at the center 3rd row seat unless a child seat at an outboard rear seat is attached to one of these lower anchors. Install a child seat onto the lower anchors at the center rear seat ONLY IF the child restraint manufacturer recommends that the child seat can be installed to anchors that are spaced up to 400 mm (15 in) apart. Never attach two LATCH 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. 153