Ford Escape Hybrid (2012 year). Manual — part 32

• Restraint system warning light and back-up tone.
• The electrical wiring for the airbags, crash sensor(s), safety belt

pretensioners, front safety belt usage sensors, driver seat position
sensor, front passenger sensing system, and indicator lights.

How does the Personal Safety System™ work?

The Personal Safety System can adapt the deployment strategy of your
vehicle’s safety devices according to crash severity and occupant
conditions. A collection of crash and occupant sensors provides
information to the Restraints control module (RCM). During a crash, the
RCM may activate the safety belt pretensioners and/or either one or both
stages of the dual-stage airbag supplemental restraints based on crash
severity and occupant conditions.

The fact that the pretensioners or airbags did not activate for both front
seat occupants in a collision does not mean that something is wrong with
the system. Rather, it means the Personal Safety System determined the
accident conditions (crash severity, belt usage, etc.) were not
appropriate to activate these safety devices. Front airbags are designed
to activate only in frontal and near-frontal collisions (not rollovers, side
impacts or rear impacts) unless the collision causes sufficient
longitudinal deceleration. The pretensioners are designed to activate in
frontal, and in side collisions and rollovers.

Driver and passenger dual-stage airbag supplemental restraints

The dual-stage airbags offer the capability to tailor the level of airbag
inflation energy. A lower, less forceful energy level is provided for more
common, moderate-severity impacts. A higher energy level is used for
the most severe impacts. Refer to Airbag supplemental restraints
section in this chapter.

Front crash severity sensor

The front crash severity sensor enhances the ability to detect the
severity of an impact. Positioned up front, it provides valuable
information early in the crash event on the severity of the impact. This
allows your Personal Safety System to distinguish between different
levels of crash severity and modify the deployment strategy of the
dual-stage airbags and safety belt pretensioners.

Driver’s seat position sensor

The driver’s seat position sensor allows your Personal Safety System to
tailor the deployment level of the driver dual-stage airbag based on seat
position. The system is designed to help protect smaller drivers sitting
close to the driver airbag by providing a lower airbag output level.

Seating and Safety Restraints

130

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, like infants
in rear-facing child seats, 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.

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, move
the seat all the way back.

WARNING: When possible, all children 12 years old and under
should be properly restrained in a rear seating position.

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 passenger seat-mounted side airbag when the passenger
seat is empty.

When the front passenger seat is occupied and the sensing system has
turned off the passenger’s frontal airbag, the “pass airbag off” indicator
will light and stay lit to remind you that the front passenger frontal
airbag is off. See Front passenger sensing system in the airbags section
of 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.
Refer to Safety restraints section in this chapter.

Seating and Safety Restraints

131

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.

Safety belt energy management retractors

The front and rear 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 limiting the load on the occupant. Refer to Energy
management feature in this chapter.

Determining if the Personal Safety System is operational

The Personal Safety System uses a warning light in the instrument
cluster or a back-up tone to indicate the condition of the system. Refer
to the Warning lights and chimes section in the Instrument Cluster
chapter. Routine maintenance of the Personal Safety System is not
required.

The restraints control module (RCM) monitors its own internal circuits
and the circuits for the airbag supplemental restraints, crash sensor(s),
safety belt pretensioners, front safety belt buckle sensors, driver seat
position sensor, and front passenger sensing system. In addition, the
RCM also monitors the restraints warning light in the instrument cluster.
A difficulty with the system is indicated by one or more of the following.
• The warning light will either flash or stay lit.
• The warning light will not illuminate immediately after ignition is

turned on.

• A series of five beeps will be heard. The tone pattern will repeat

periodically until the problem and warning light are repaired.

If any of these things happen, even intermittently, have the Personal
Safety System serviced at an authorized dealer immediately. Unless
serviced, the system may not function properly in the event of a
collision.

Seating and Safety Restraints

132

SAFETY BELT SYSTEM

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 the vehicle is moving. The passenger cannot protect the

child from injury in a collision.

WARNING: All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver,
should always properly wear their safety belts, even when an air

bag supplemental restraint system (SRS) is provided.

WARNING: It is extremely dangerous to ride in a cargo area,
inside or outside of a vehicle. In a collision, 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 safety belts. Be sure everyone in your vehicle is in a
seat and using a safety belt properly.

WARNING: In a rollover crash, an unbelted person is
significantly more likely to die than a person wearing a seat belt.

WARNING: Each seating position in your vehicle has a specific
safety belt 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 safety belt 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.

Seating and Safety Restraints

133