Content .. 4 5 6 7 ..

Mazda B4000 4WD Truck (2004 year). Instruction - part 6

WARNING: This vehicle has special energy management safety
belts for the driver and right front passenger. These particular
belts are specifically designed to work with air bags to help
reduce the risk of injury in a collision. The energy management
safety belt is designed to give or release additional belt
webbing in some accidents to reduce concentration of force on
an occupant’s chest and reduce the risk of certain bone
fractures and injuries to underlying organs. In a crash, if the air
bag is turned OFF, this energy management safety belt might
permit the person wearing the belt to move forward enough to
incur a serious or fatal injury. The more severe the crash, and
the heavier the occupant, the greater the risk is. Be sure the air
bag is turned ON for any person who does not qualify under the
NHTSA deactivation criteria.

Transport Canada gives permission to install airbag cut-off
switches in the following terms:

1. Infant: An infant (less than 1 year old) must ride in the front seat

because:

• my vehicle has no rear seat;

• the rear seat in my vehicle cannot accommodate a rear-facing infant

seat; or

• the infant has a medical condition which, according to the infant’s

physician, makes it necessary for the infant to ride in the front seat so
that the driver can monitor the infant’s condition.

2. Child age 12 or under: A child age 12 or under must ride in the

front seat because:

• my vehicle has no rear seat;

• although children age 12 and under ride in the rear seat whenever

possible, children age 12 and under have no option but to sometimes
ride in the front seat because rear seat space is insufficient; or

• the child has a medical condition that, according to the child’s

physician, makes it necessary for the child to ride in the front seat so
that the driver can monitor the child’s condition.

3. Medical condition: A passenger has a medical condition that,

according to his or her physician:

• poses a special risk for the passenger if the air bag deploys; and

• makes the potential harm from the passenger air bag deployment

greater than the potential harm from turning OFF the air bag and
experiencing a crash without the protection offered by the air bag

Seating and Safety Restraints

WARNING: This vehicle has special energy management safety
belts for the driver and/or right front passenger. These
particular belts are specifically designed to work with air bags
to help reduce the risk of injury in a collision. The energy
management safety belt is designed to give or release additional
belt webbing in some accidents to reduce concentration of force
on an occupant’s chest and reduce the risk of certain bone
fractures and injuries to underlying organs. In a crash, if the air
bag is turned OFF, this energy management safety belt might
permit the person wearing the belt to move forward enough to
incur a serious or fatal injury. The more severe the crash, and
the heavier the occupant, the greater the risk is. Be sure the air
bag is turned ON for any person who does not qualify under the
Transport Canada deactivation criteria.

SAFETY RESTRAINTS FOR CHILDREN

See the following sections for directions on how to properly use safety
restraints for children. Also see Air bag supplemental restraint system
(SRS) in this chapter for special instructions about using air bags.

Important child restraint precautions

NOTE:You are required by law to use a child-restraint system in the U.S.
and Canada. Many states require that children use approved booster
seats until they are eight years old. Check your local and state or
provincial laws for specific requirements regarding the safety of children
in your vehicle.

WARNING: Never let a passenger hold a child on his or her lap
while the vehicle is moving. The passenger cannot protect the
child from injury in a collision.

NOTE:Always follow the instructions and warnings that come with any
infant or child restraint you might use.

WARNING: Air bags can kill or injure a child in a child seat.
Never place a rear facing child seat in front of an active air bag.
If you must use a forward facing child seat in the front seat,
position the vehicle seat fully rearward and turn the passenger
air bag off.

Seating and Safety Restraints

WARNING: An air bag can kill or injure a child in a child seat.
Child seats should never be placed in the front seats, unless
passenger air bag switch is turned off, See Passenger air bag
on/off switch

WARNING: Rear facing child seats should NEVER be placed in
the front seats unless the passenger airbag switch is turned off.
Also, slide the front seat forward until the rear facing child seat
contacts the dash board for maximum support. (All other
children and forward facing child seats and booster seats should
be on front seats that are slid back as far away as possible from
the dashboard.

WARNING: Do not install a child seat in a center facing jump
seat.

Children and safety belts

If the child is the proper size, restrain the child in a safety seat.

Children who are too large for child safety seats (as specified by your
child safety seat manufacturer) should always wear safety belts.

Follow all the important safety restraint and air bag precautions that
apply to adult passengers in your vehicle.

If the shoulder belt portion of a combination lap and shoulder belt can
be positioned so it does not cross or rest in front of the child’s face or
neck, the child should wear the lap and shoulder belt. Moving the child
closer to the center of the vehicle may help provide a good shoulder belt
fit.

WARNING: Do not leave children, unreliable adults, or pets
unattended in your vehicle.

Seating and Safety Restraints

WARNING: Placing a child, 12 years or younger, in the front
seat is dangerous. The child could be hit by a deploying air bag
and be seriously injured or even killed. Never place a child
safety seat in a center facing rear jump seat. If you must place
a child safety seat in a front seating position, make sure the
passenger airbag is turned off. See Turning the airbag Off in
this section. Never use a rear-facing child restraint system in
the front seat with an air bag that could deploy.

Child booster seats

Children outgrow a typical convertible or toddler seat when they weigh
40 pounds and are around 4 years of age. Although the lap/shoulder belt
will provide some protection, these children are still too small for
lap/shoulder belts to fit properly, which could increase the risk of serious
injury.

To improve the fit of both the lap and shoulder belt on children who
have outgrown child safety seats, Mazda recommends use of a
belt-positioning booster.

Booster seats position a child so that safety belts fit better. They lift the
child up so that the lap belt rests low across the hips and the knees
bend comfortably. Booster seats also make the shoulder belt fit better
and more comfortably for growing children.

When children should use booster seats

Children need to use booster seats from the time they outgrow the
toddler seat until they are big enough for the vehicle seat and
lap/shoulder belt to fit properly. Generally this is when they weigh about
80 lbs (about 8 to 12 years old).

Booster seats should be used until you can answer YES to ALL of these
questions:
• Can the child sit all the way back

against the vehicle seat back with
knees bent comfortably at the
edge of the seat without
slouching?

• Does the lap belt rest low across the hips?
• Is the shoulder belt centered on the shoulder and chest?

Seating and Safety Restraints

• Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?

WARNING: Booster seats must be installed only in seating
positions equipped with a combination lap/shoulder belt.

Types of booster seats

There are two types of belt-positioning booster seats:
• Those that are backless.

If your backless booster seat has a
removable shield, remove the
shield and use the lap/shoulder
belt. If a seating position has a
low seat back and no head
restraint, a backless booster seat
may place your child’s head (top
of ear level) above the top of the
seat. In this case, use a
high-backed booster seat.

• Those with a high back.

If, with a backless booster seat,
you cannot find a seating position
that adequately supports your
child’s head, a high back booster
seat would be a better choice.

Both can be used in any vehicle in a seating position equipped with
lap/shoulder belts if your child is over 40 lbs.

The shoulder belt should cross the chest, resting snugly on the center of
the shoulder. The lap belt should rest low and snug across the hips,
never up high across the stomach.

If the booster seat slides on the vehicle seat, placing a rubberized mesh
sold as shelf or carpet liner under the booster seat may improve this
condition.

The importance of shoulder belts

Using a booster without a shoulder belt increases the risk of a child’s
head hitting a hard surface in a collision. For this reason, you should
never use a booster seat with a lap belt only. It is best to use a booster
seat with combination lap/shoulder belts.

WARNING: Follow all instructions provided by the
manufacturer of the booster seat.

WARNING: Never put the shoulder belt under a child’s arm or
behind the back because it eliminates the protection for the
upper part of the body and may increase the risk of injury or
death in a collision.

WARNING: Never use pillows, books, or towels to boost a
child. They can slide around and increase the likelihood of
injury or death in a collision.

SAFETY SEATS FOR CHILDREN

Child and infant or child safety seats

Use a safety seat that is recommended for the size and weight of the
child. Carefully follow all of the manufacturer’s instructions with the
safety seat you put in your vehicle. If you do not install and use the
safety seat properly, the child may be injured in a sudden stop or
collision.

When installing a child safety seat:
• Review and follow the information

presented in the Air Bag
Supplemental Restraint System
section in this chapter.

• Use the correct safety belt buckle

for that seating position (the
buckle closest to the direction the
tongue is coming from).

• Insert the belt tongue into the

proper buckle until you hear a
snap and feel it latch. Make sure the tongue is securely fastened in the
buckle.

WARNING: Do not install a child seat in a center facing jump
seat.

• Keep the buckle release button pointing up and away from the safety

seat, with the tongue between the child seat and the release button,
to prevent accidental unbuckling.

• Place seat back in upright position.
• Put the safety belt in the automatic locking mode. Refer to Automatic

locking mode (passenger side front seat).

• LATCH lower anchors are recommended for use by children up to 22

kg (48 pounds) in a child restraint. Top tether anchors can be used
for children up to 27 kg (60 pounds) in a child restraint, and to
provide upper torso restraint for children up to 36 kg (80 pounds)
using an upper torso harness and a belt-positioning booster.

Mazda recommends the use of a child safety seat having a top tether
strap. Install the child safety seat in a seating position with LATCH and
tether anchors. For more information on top tether straps and anchors,
refer to Attaching safety seats with tether straps in this chapter. For
more information of LATCH anchors refer to Attaching safety seats with
LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) attachments in this
chapter.

Seating and Safety Restraints

WARNING: Carefully follow all of the manufacturer’s
instructions included with the safety seat you put in your
vehicle. If you do not install and use the safety seat properly,
the child may be injured in a sudden stop or collision.

Installing child safety seats with combination lap and shoulder
belts (front outboard passenger seat only)

1. Position the child safety seat in

a seat with a combination lap
and shoulder belt.

WARNING: If there is a tether on the child safety seat, attach
it to the tether anchor point. Refer to Attaching child safety
seats with tether straps

in this chapter.

WARNING: Air bags can kill or injure a child in a child seat.
Never place a rear facing child seat in the right front seat
unless the air bag on/off switch is turned OFF. If you place a
forward-facing child seat in the right front seat, turn the air bag
on/off switch to OFF. See Passenger air bag on/off switch in
this chapter.

WARNING: Rear facing child seats should NEVER be placed in
the front seats unless the passenger air bag switch is turned
off. Also, slide the front seat forward until the rear facing child
seat contacts the dash board for maximum support. (All other
children and forward facing child seats and booster seats should
be on front seats that are slid back as far away as possible from
the dashboard.)

Seating and Safety Restraints

2. Pull down on the shoulder belt

and then grasp the shoulder
belt and lap belt together.

3. While holding the shoulder and

lap belt portions together, route
the tongue through the child
seat according to the child seat
manufacturer’s instructions. Be
sure the belt webbing is not
twisted.

4. Insert the belt tongue into the

proper buckle (the buckle
closest to the direction the
tongue is coming from) for that
seating position until you hear
and feel the latch engage. Make
sure the tongue is latched
securely by pulling on it.

Seating and Safety Restraints

5. To put the retractor in the

automatic locking mode, grasp
the shoulder portion of the belt
and pull downward until all of
the belt is extracted and a click
is heard.

6. Allow the belt to retract. The belt will click as it retracts to indicate

it is in the automatic locking mode.

7. Pull the lap belt portion across

the child seat toward the buckle
and pull up on the shoulder belt
while pushing down with knee
on the child seat.

8. Allow the safety belt to retract

to remove any slack in the belt.

9. Before placing the child in the

seat, forcibly tilt 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. There should be
no more than one inch of
movement for proper installation.

10. Try to pull the belt out of the retractor to make sure the retractor is

in the automatic locking mode (you should not be able to pull more
belt out). If the retractor is not locked, unbuckle the belt and repeat
steps two through nine.

Seating and Safety Restraints

11. See Attaching child safety seats with tether straps in this chapter.

Check to make sure the child seat is properly secured before each use.

Attaching child safety seats with tether straps

Most new forward-facing child safety seats include a tether strap which
goes over the back of the seat and hooks to an anchoring point. Tether
straps are available as an accessory for many older safety seats. Contact
the manufacturer of your child seat for information about ordering a
tether strap.

The tether anchors in your vehicle are located on the back of the front
seat cushion.

The tether strap anchors in your vehicle are in the following positions
(shown from top view):
• Bucket seats

• 60/40 seats

WARNING: Attach the tether strap only to the appropriate
tether anchor as shown. The tether strap may not work
properly if attached somewhere other than the correct tether
anchor.

Seating and Safety Restraints

WARNING: This anchor information applies to child safety
seats equipped with tether straps. For child safety seats
equipped with LATCH anchors, refer to Attaching safety seats
with LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children)
attachments for child seat anchors

in this chapter.

WARNING: Never attach two child safety seat tethers to a
single tether anchor. In a crash, on anchor may not be strong
enough to hold two child safety seat attachments and may
break, causing serious injury or death.

1. Position the child safety seat on the front seat cushion.

2. Route the child safety seat tether strap over the back of the seat.

3. Locate the correct anchor for the selected seating position.

The tether anchor is located on the
rear lower portion of the passenger
seat.

Seating and Safety Restraints

4. Clip the tether strap to the

anchor.

WARNING: If the tether strap
is clipped incorrectly, the child
safety seat may not be
retained properly in the event
of a collision.

Center seating location 60/40
seats with folding armrest

When installing a child safety seat in the center position, route the tether
strap over the center arm rest and clip it to the center anchor.

Seating and Safety Restraints

100

See next page for center seating location of vinyl 60/40 seat.

WARNING: If the tether strap is clipped incorrectly, the child
safety seat may not be retained properly in the event of a
collision.

5. Refer to the Installing child safety seats in combination lap and

shoulder belt seating positions section of this chapter for further
instructions to secure the child safety seat.

6. Tighten the child safety seat tether strap according to the

manufacturer’s instructions.

WARNING: If the safety seat is not anchored properly, the risk
of a child being injured in a collision greatly increases.

Attaching safety seats with LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for
Children) attachments for child seat anchors

Some child safety seats have two rigid or webbing mounted attachments
that connect to two anchors at certain seating positions in your vehicle.
This type of child seat eliminates the need to use seat belts to attach the
child seat. For forward-facing child seats, the tether strap must also be
attached to the proper tether anchor. See Attaching safety seats with
tether straps in this chapter.

Your vehicle may be equipped with LATCH anchors for child seat
installation at the following seating positions:

• Bucket seats

Seating and Safety Restraints

101

• 60/40 seats

represents LATCH anchors.

represents tether strap anchors.

To improve child seat protection, use the tether anchor when using the
LATCH to install a child safety seat. See Attaching child safety seats
with tether straps in this section.

WARNING: Never attach two LATCH 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.

WARNING: Do not put the LATCH type seat in the center seat
position — it only has one possible anchor point and the seat
will not be properly attached.

WARNING: If there are two LATCH seats to install — you can
only mount one LATCH seat in this vehicle with the LATCH
anchor bars. You need to mount the second seat with the center
seat belt using the lap belt method and the child safety seat
tether (if equipped).

WARNING: Do not attach two seats to one LATCH anchor bar.

Seating and Safety Restraints

102

The lower anchors for child seat
installation are located at the rear
section of the front passenger seat
between the cushion and seat back.
The LATCH anchors are below
locator symbols on the seat back.
Two plastic LATCH guides may be
purchased from your local Mazda
dealer (part number 1F60–57–751).
They snap onto the latch lower
anchor in the vehicle to help attach
a child seat with rigid latch
attachments. It will hold the seat
foam away and expose the anchor
making attachment of the child seat
easier.

Make sure you attach the proper
child safety seat tether after
securing the LATCH.

WARNING: If the tether strap
is clipped incorrectly, the child
safety seat may not be
retained properly in the event
of a collision.

Follow the child seat manufacturer’s instructions to properly install a
child seat with LATCH attachments.

WARNING: Attach LATCH lower attachments of the child seat
only to the anchors shown.

Seating and Safety Restraints

103

Content .. 4 5 6 7 ..