2022 FORD EcoSport Seat Belts User Information

In 2022, the FORD EcoSport got a new, more modern seat belt system that changed how safe compact SUVs are. With a strong commitment to passenger safety, the 2022 EcoSport had a new seat belt system that was made to keep people safe and comfortable. The new seat belts had smart sensors and pre-tensioners that made sure they fit the size of each person and retracted right away if the car suddenly stopped or hit something. This smart system was designed not only to keep people from getting hurt, but also to make driving more comfortable overall. The seat belts in the 2022 FORD EcoSport were a good example of the company’s commitment to safety innovation. They set a standard for safe and fun travel in their class and showed that FORD always puts the safety of its drivers and passengers first.

SeatBelts

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
WARNING: Always drive and ride with your seatback upright and the lap belt snug and low across the hips.
WARNING: To reduce the risk of injury, make sure children sit where they can be properly restrained.
WARNING: Never let a passenger hold a child on his or her lap while your vehicle is moving. The passenger cannot protect the child from injury in a crash.
WARNING: All occupants of your vehicle, including the driver, should always properly wear their seatbelts, even when an airbag supplemental restraint system is provided. Failure to properly wear your seatbelts could seriously increase the risk of injury or death.
WARNING: It is extremely dangerous to ride in a cargo area, inside or outside of a vehicle. In a crash, people riding in these areas are more likely to be seriously injured or killed. Do not allow people to ride in any area of your vehicle that is not equipped with seats and seatbelts. Be sure everyone in your vehicle is in a seat and using a seatbelt properly.
WARNING: In a rollover crash, an unbelted person is significantly more likely to die than a person wearing a seatbelt.
WARNING: Each seating position in your vehicle has a specific seatbelt assembly which is made up of one buckle and one tongue that are designed to be used as a pair. 1) Use the shoulder belt on the outside shoulder only. Never wear the shoulder belt under the arm. 2) Never swing the seatbelt around your neck over the inside shoulder. 3) Never use a single belt for more than one person.
WARNING: When possible, all children 12 years old and under should be properly restrained in a rear seating position. Failure to follow this could seriously increase the risk of injury or death.
WARNING: Seatbelts and seats can become hot in a vehicle that has been closed up in sunny weather; they could burn a small child. Check seat covers and buckles before you place a child anywhere near them.
WARNING: Front and rear seat occupants, including pregnant women, should wear seatbelts for optimum protection in an accident.

All seating positions in your vehicle have lap and shoulder seatbelts. All occupants of the vehicle should always properly wear their seatbelts, even when an airbag supplemental restraint system is provided.

The seatbelt system consists of:

• Lap and shoulder seatbelts.
• Shoulder seatbelt with automatic locking mode, (except driver seatbelt).
• Height adjuster at the front outboard seating positions.
• Seatbelt pretensioner at the front outboard seating positions.
• Belt tension sensor at the front outboard passenger seating position.

Seatbelt warning light and chime.
Crash sensors and monitoring system with readiness indicator.

The seatbelt pretensioners at the front seating positions are designed to tighten the seatbelts when activated. In frontal and near-frontal crashes, the seatbelt pretensioners may be activated alone or, if the crash is of sufficient severity, together with the front airbags. The pretensioners will activate when the Safety Canopy is deployed.

FASTENING THE SEATBELTS
The front outboard and rear safety restraints in the vehicle are combination lap and shoulder belts.

1. Insert the belt tongue into the proper buckle (the buckle closest to the direction the tongue is coming from) until you hear a snap and feel it latch. Make sure you securely fasten the tongue in the buckle.
2. To unfasten, press the release button and remove the tongue from the buckle.

Using the Sliding Clip

Slide the clip away from the seatbelt tongue so there is no loose webbing when an occupant or child restraint is fastened. You can also use the sliding clip to raise the seatbelt tongue and prevent it from rattling or to ease access to the seatbelt tongue.

Using Seatbelts During Pregnancy
WARNING
Always ride and drive with your seatback upright and properly fasten your seatbelt. Fit the lap portion of the seatbelt snugly and low across the hips. Position the shoulder portion of the seatbelt across your chest. Pregnant women must follow this practice. See the following figure.

Pregnant women should always wear their seatbelt. Position the lap belt portion of a combination lap and shoulder belt low across the hips below the belly and worn as tight as comfort allows. Position the shoulder belt to cross the middle of the shoulder and the center of the chest.

Seatbelt Locking Modes
WARNING

• You must replace the seatbelt if the automatic locking retractor or any other seatbelt function is not operating correctly. Failure to replace the seatbelt and retractor assembly could increase the risk of injury in a crash.
• All safety restraints in the vehicle are combination lap and shoulder belts. The driver seatbelt has the vehicle sensitive locking mode. The front outboard passenger and rear seat seatbelts have both the vehicle sensitive locking mode and the automatic locking mode.

Vehicle Sensitive Mode

• This is the normal retractor mode, which allows 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 about 5 mph(8 km/h) or more, the combination seatbelts lock to help reduce forward movement of the driver and passengers.
• In addition, the retractor is designed to lock if you pull the webbing out too quickly. If the seatbelt retractor locks, slowly lower the height adjuster to allow the seatbelt to retract. If the retractor does not unlock, pull the seatbelt out slowly then feed a small length of webbing back toward the stowed position. For rear seatbelts, recline the rear seat backrest or push the seat backrest cushion away from the seatbelt. Feed a small length of webbing back toward the stowed position.

Automatic Locking Mode
In this mode, the shoulder belt automatically pre-locks. The belt retracts to remove any slack in the shoulder belt. The automatic locking mode is not available on the driver seatbelt.

When to Use the Automatic Locking Mode
Use this mode when you install a child safety seat, except a booster seat, in the passenger front or rear seating positions. Properly restrain children 12 years old and under in a rear seating position whenever possible. See Child Safety.

How to Use the Automatic Locking Mode

1. Buckle the combination lap and shoulder belt.
2. Grasp the shoulder portion and pull downward until you pull the entire belt out. As the belt retracts, you will hear a clicking sound. This indicates the seatbelt is now in the automatic locking mode.

How to Disengage the Automatic Locking Mode
Unbuckle the combination lap and shoulder belt and allow it to retract completely to disengage the automatic locking mode and activate the vehicle sensitive (emergency) locking mode.

SEATBELT HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT

WARNING
Position the seatbelt height adjuster so that the seatbelt rests across the middle of your shoulder. Failure to adjust the seatbelt correctly could reduce its effectiveness and increase the risk of injury in a crash.

1. Pull the button and slide the height adjuster up or down.
2. Release the button and pull down on the height adjuster to make sure it is locked in place.

SEATBELT WARNING LAMP AND INDICATOR CHIME

This lamp illuminates and an indicator chime will sound if the driver seatbelt has not been fastened when the vehicle’s ignition is turned on.

Conditions of operation

If	Then
The driver seatbelt is not buckled before the ignition switch is turned to the on posi- tion…	The seatbelt warning lamp illuminates and the indicator chime sounds for a few seconds.
The driver seatbelt is buckled while the warning lamp is illuminated and the indic- ator chime is sounding…	The seatbelt warning lamp and indicator chime turn off.
The driver seatbelt is buckled before the ignition switch is turned to the on position…	The seatbelt warning lamp and indicator chime remain off.

SEATBELT REMINDER 

Belt-Minder™

• This feature supplements the seatbelt warning function by providing additional reminders that intermittently sound a chime and illuminate the seatbelt warning lamp when you are in the driver seat or you have a front seat passenger and a seatbelt is unbuckled.
  The system uses information from the front passenger sensing system to determine if a front seat passenger is present and therefore potentially in need of a warning. To avoid the system turning on the Belt-Minder feature for objects you place on the front passenger seat, only the front seat passengers receive warnings as determined by the front passenger sensing system.
  If the Belt-Minder warnings expire (warnings for about five minutes) for one passenger (driver or front passenger), the other passenger can still cause the Belt-Minder feature to turn on.

If…	Then…
You and the front seat passenger buckle your seatbelts before you switch the ignition on or less than 1–2 minutes elapse after you switch the ignition on…	The Belt-Minder feature will not activate.
You or the front seat passenger do not buckle your seatbelts before your vehicle reaches at least 6 mph (9.7 km/h) and 1–2 minutes elapse after you switch the ignition on…	The Belt-Minder feature activates, the seatbelt warning lamp illuminates and an indicator chime sounds for 6 seconds every 25 seconds, repeating for about 5 minutes or until you and the front seat passenger buckle your seatbelts.
The seatbelt for the driver or front passenger is unbuckled for about 1 minute while the vehicle is traveling at least 6 mph (9.7 km/h) and more than 1–2 minutes elapse after you switch the ignition on…	The Belt-Minder feature activates, the seatbelt warning lamp illuminates and an indicator chime sounds for 6 seconds every 25 seconds, repeating for about 5 minutes or until you and the front seat passenger buckle your seatbelts.

Deactivating and Activating the Belt-Minder Feature
WARNING
While the system allows you to switch it off, this system is designed to improve your chances of being safely belted and surviving a crash. We recommend you leave the system switched on. To reduce the risk of injury, do not switch the system on or off while driving your vehicle.

Note

• The driver and front passenger warnings switch on and off independently. When you perform this procedure for one seating position, do not buckle the other position as this will terminate the process.
• Read Steps 1–4 thoroughly before proceeding with the programming procedure.

Before following the procedure, make sure that

• The parking brake is set.
• The transmission is in park (P) or neutral (N).
• The ignition is off.
• The driver and front passenger seatbelts are unbuckled.

1. Switch the ignition on. Do not start the vehicle.
2. Wait until the seatbelt warning lamp turns off (about 1 minute). After Step 2, wait an additional 5 seconds before proceeding with Step 3. Once you start Step 3, you must complete the procedure within 30 seconds.
3. For the seating position you are switching off, buckle then unbuckle the seatbelt three times at a moderate speed, ending in the unbuckled state. After Step 3, the seatbelt warning lamp turns on.
4. While the seatbelt warning lamp is on, buckle and then unbuckle the seatbelt. After Step 4, the seatbelt warning lamp flashes for confirmation.
   
   • This will switch the feature off for that seating position if it is currently on.
   • This will switch the feature on for that seating position if it is currently off.

FAQs

Useful Links

View Full PDF:2022 FORD EcoSport |Auto User Guide
2022 FORD EcoSport Indicator Lights Instructions