2006 Mercury Grand Marquis Owner Guide 2nd Printing - Page 107

Seating and Safety Restraints When the front passenger seat is occupied and the sensing system has turned off the passenger's frontal airbag, the "pass airbag off" indicator will light and stay lit to remind you that the front passenger frontal airbag is off. See Front passenger sensing system in the airbags section of this chapter. 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 airbag 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 at the front outboard seating positions are designed to tighten the safety belts firmly against the occupant's body during a frontal or near-frontal collision, and in side collisions when the vehicle is equipped with side airbags. This maximizes the effectiveness of the safety belts and helps properly position the occupant relative to the airbag to improve protection. In frontal collisions, the safety belt pretensioners can be either activated alone or, if the collision is of sufficient severity, together with the front airbags. Front safety belt energy management retractors The front outboard 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. Determining if the Personal Safety Systemி is operational The Personal Safety System௢ uses a warning light in the instrument cluster or a back-up tone to indicate the condition of the system. Refer to the Warning light section in the Instrument cluster chapter. Routine maintenance of the Personal Safety System௢ is not required. The Restraints control module (RCM) monitors its own internal circuits and the circuits for the airbag supplemental restraints, crash sensor(s), safety belt pretensioners, front safety belt buckle sensors, and the driver seat position sensor. In addition, the RCM also monitors the restraints warning light in the instrument cluster. A difficulty with the system is indicated by one or more of the following. 107 2006 Grand Marquis (grn) Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt) USA (fus)