8. Remove remaining slack from the belt.
Force the seat down with extra weight,
e.g., by pressing down or kneeling on
the child restraint while pulling up on
the shoulder belt in order to force slack
from the belt. This is necessary to
remove the remaining slack that will
exist once the extra weight of the child
is added to the child restraint. It also
helps to achieve the proper snugness
of the child seat to your vehicle.
Sometimes, a slight lean toward the
buckle will additionally help to remove
remaining slack from the belt.
9. Attach the tether strap (if the child seat
is equipped). See Using Tether
Straps later in this section.
10. Before placing the child in the seat,
forcibly move the seat forward and
back to make sure the seat is securely
held in place. To check this, grab the
seat at the belt path and attempt to
move it side to side and forward and
back. There should be no more than
1 inch (2.5 centimeters) of movement
for proper installation.
Ford recommends checking with a NHTSA
Certified Child Passenger Safety
Technician to make certain the child
restraint is properly installed. In Canada,
check with your local St. John Ambulance
office for referral to a Certified Passenger
Seat Technician.
Using Lower Anchors and Tethers
for Children (LATCH)
WARNINGS
Never attach two 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.
Depending on where you secure a
child restraint, and depending on the
child restraint design, you may block
access to certain safety belt buckle
assemblies or LATCH lower anchors,
rendering those features potentially
unusable. To avoid risk of injury, occupants
should only use seating positions where
they are able to be properly restrained.
The LATCH system is composed of three
vehicle anchor points: two lower anchors
located where your vehicle seat back and
seat cushion meet (called the seat bight)
and one top tether anchor located behind
that seating position.
LATCH compatible child safety seats have
two rigid or webbing mounted
attachments that connect to the two lower
anchors at the LATCH equipped seating
positions in your vehicle. This type of
attachment method eliminates the need
to use safety belts to attach the child seat,
however the safety belt can still be used
to attach the child seat. For forward-facing
child seats, the top tether strap must also
be attached to the proper top tether
anchor, if a top tether strap has been
provided with your child seat.
18
Fiesta (CCT)
Child Safety
