2011 Lincoln MKT Owner Guide 1st Printing - Page 194

Seating and Safety Restraints Front passenger sensing system For airbags to do their job they must inflate with great force, and this force can pose a potentially deadly risk to occupants that are very close to the airbag when it begins to inflate. For some occupants, this occurs because they are initially sitting very close to the airbag. For other occupants, this occurs when the occupant is not properly restrained by safety belts or child safety seats and they move forward during pre-crash braking. The most effective way to reduce the risk of unnecessary injuries is to make sure all occupants are properly restrained. Accident statistics suggest that children are much safer when properly restrained in the rear seating positions than in the front. The front passenger sensing system can automatically turn off the passenger front airbag. The system is designed to help protect small (child size) occupants from airbag 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 passenger front airbag and seat-mounted side airbag when the passenger seat is empty to prevent unnecessary replacement of airbag(s) after a collision. For warnings about properly restraining children, refer to Important SRS precautions later in 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. 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 frontal collisions, and in side collisions and rollovers. This helps increase the effectiveness of the safety belts. In frontal collisions, the safety belt pretensioners can be 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 194 2011 MKT (mkt) Owners Guide, 1st Printing USA (fus)