2000 Ford Ranger Owner's Manual - Page 74

Seating and safety restraints The front outboard safety restraints in the vehicle are combination lap and shoulder belts. The front passenger outboard safety belt has two types of locking modes described below: Energy Management Feature • This vehicle has a seat belt system with an energy management feature at the front outboard seating positions to help further reduce the risk of injury in the event of a head-on collision. • This seat belt system has a retractor assembly that is designed to pay out webbing in a controlled manner. This feature is designed to help reduce the belt force acting on the occupant's chest. After any vehicle collision, the seat belt system at all outboard seating positions (except driver, which has no "automatic locking retractor" feature) must be checked by a qualified technician to verify that the "automatic locking retractor" feature for child seats is still functioning properly. In addition, all seat belts should be checked for proper function. BELT AND RETRACTOR ASSEMBLY MUST BE REPLACED if the seat belt assembly "automatic locking retractor" feature or any other seat belt function is not operating properly when checked according to the procedures in Workshop Manual. Failure to replace the Belt and Retractor assembly could increase the risk of injury in collisions. Vehicle sensitive mode The vehicle sensitive mode is the normal retractor mode, allowing free shoulder belt length adjustment to your movements and locking in response to vehicle movement. For example, if the driver brakes suddenly or turns a corner sharply, or the vehicle receives an impact of approximately 8 km/h (5 mph) or more, the combination safety belts will lock to help reduce forward movement of the driver and passengers. Automatic locking mode In this mode, the shoulder belt is automatically pre-locked. The belt will still retract to remove any slack in the shoulder belt. The automatic locking mode is not available on the driver safety belt. 74