Seat Belt Systems

Seat Belt Precautions

Seat belts help to decrease the possibility of severe injury during accidents and sudden stops. Mazda recommends that the driver and all passengers always wear seat belts.

All the seats have lap/shoulder belts. These belts also have retractors with inertia locks that keep them out of the way when not in use. The locks allow the belts to remain comfortable on users, but they will lock in position during a collision.

The rear outboard seat belt retractors operate in two modes, emergency locking mode and, for child-restraint systems, automatic locking mode.

Always wear your seat belt and make sure all occupants are properly restrained:

Not wearing a seat belt is extremely dangerous. During a collision, occupants not wearing seat belts could hit someone or things inside the vehicle or even be thrown out of the vehicle. They could be seriously injured or even killed. In the same collision, occupants wearing seat belts would be much safer.

Do not wear twisted seat belts:

Twisted seat belts are dangerous. In a collision, the full width of the belt is not available to absorb the impact. This puts more force on the bones beneath the belt, which could cause serious injury or death. So, if your seat belt is twisted, you must straighten the seat belt to remove any twists and to allow the full width of the belt to be used.

Never use one seat belt on more than one person at a time:

Using one seat belt for more than one person at a time is dangerous. A seat belt used in this way cannot spread the impact forces properly and the two passengers could be crushed together and seriously injured or even killed. Never use one belt for more than one person at a time and always operate the vehicle with each occupant properly restrained.

Do not operate a vehicle with a damaged seat belt:

Using a damaged seat belt is dangerous. An accident could damage the belt webbing of the seat belt in use. A damaged seat belt cannot provide adequate protection in a collision. Have an expert repairer (we recommend an Authorised Mazda Repairer) inspect all seat belt systems in use during an accident before they are used again.

Have your seat belts changed immediately if the pretensioner or load limiter has been expended:

Always have an expert repairer (we recommend an Authorised Mazda Repairer) immediately inspect the seat belt pretensioners and air bags after any collision. Like the air bags, the seat belt pretensioners and load limiters will only function once and must be replaced after any collision that caused them to deploy. If the seat belt pretensioners and load limiters are not replaced, the risk of injury in a collision will increase.

Positioning the Shoulder Portion of the Seat Belt:

Improper positioning of the shoulder portion of the seat belt is dangerous. Always make sure the shoulder portion of the seat belt is positioned across your shoulder and near your neck, but never under your arm, on your neck, or on your upper arm.

Positioning the Lap Portion of the Seat Belt:

The lap portion of the seat belt worn too high is dangerous. In a collision, this would concentrate the impact force directly on the abdominal area, causing serious injury. Wear the lap portion of the belt snugly and as low as possible.

Instructions for Use of Seat Belt Assemblies:

Seatbelts are designed to bear upon the bony structure of the body, and should be worn low across the front of the pelvis or the pelvis, chest and shoulders, as applicable; wearing the lap section of the belt across the abdominal area must be avoided.

Seatbelts should be adjusted as firmly as possible, consistent with comfort, to provide the protection for which they have been designed. A slack belt will greatly reduce the protection afforded to the wearer.

Care should be taken to avoid contamination of the webbing with polishes, oils and chemicals, and particularly battery acid. Cleaning may safely be carried out using mild soap and water. The belt should be replaced if webbing becomes frayed, contaminated or damaged.

It is essential to replace the entire assembly after it has been worn in a severe impact even if damage to the assembly is not obvious.

Belts should not be worn with straps twisted.

Each belt assembly must only be used by one occupant; it is dangerous to put a belt around a child being carried on the occupant's lap.

No modifications or additions should be made by the user which will either prevent the seat belt adjusting devices from operating to remove slack, or prevent the seat belt assembly from being adjusted to remove slack.

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Belt retraction may become difficult if the belts and rings are soiled, so try to keep them clean. For more details about cleaning the seat belts, refer to "Seat Belt Maintenance" (Search).

Ring

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Pregnant Women and Persons with Serious Medical Conditions

Pregnant women should always wear seat belts. Ask your doctor for specific recommendations.

The lap belt should be worn SNUGLY AND AS LOW AS POSSIBLE OVER THE HIPS.

The shoulder belt should be worn across your shoulder properly, but never across the stomach area.

Persons with serious medical conditions also should wear seat belts. Check with your doctor for any special instructions regarding specific medical conditions.

Emergency Locking Mode

When the seat belt is fastened, it will always be in the emergency locking mode.

In the emergency locking mode, the belt remains comfortable on the occupant and the retractor will lock in position during a collision.

If the belt is locked and cannot be pulled out, retract the belt once, and then try pulling it out slowly. If this fails, pull the belt strongly 1 time and loosen, then pull it out again slowly.

(Seat Belt with Automatic Locking Mode)

When the seat belt is fastened, it will always be in the emergency locking mode until it is switched to automatic locking mode by pulling it all the way out to its full length. If the belt feels tight and hinders comfortable movement while the vehicle is stopped or in motion, it may be in the automatic locking mode because the belt has been pulled too far out. To return the belt to the more comfortable emergency locking mode, wait until the vehicle has stopped in a safe, level area, retract the belt fully to convert it back to emergency locking mode and then extend it around you again.

Automatic Locking Mode

Always use the automatic locking mode to keep the child-restraint system from shifting to an unsafe position in the event of an accident. To enable seat belt automatic locking mode, pull it all the way out and connect it as instructed on the child-restraint system. It will retract down to the child-restraint system and stay locked on it. See the section on child restraint (Search).

Seat Belt

Fastening the Seat Belt

Insert the seat belt tongue into the buckle.

Seat belt tongue
Seat belt buckle

Position the lap belt as low as possible, not on the abdominal area, then adjust the shoulder belt so that it fits snugly against your body.

Take up slack
Keep low on hip bone
Too high

Before fastening the rear seat belt, make sure that the seat belt passes through the seat belt guide correctly and it is not twisted.

Unfastening the Seat Belt

Depress the button on the seat belt buckle. If the belt does not fully retract, pull it out and check for kinks or twists. Then make sure it remains untwisted as it retracts.

Button

If a belt does not fully retract, inspect it for kinks and twists. If it is still not retracting properly, have it inspected at an expert repairer (we recommend an Authorised Mazda Repairer).

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Front Shoulder Belt Adjuster

The front seat belts have a front shoulder belt adjuster. If the seat belt contacts your neck or it slips off the shoulder, adjust the seat belt height.

To raise

To heighten the seat belt, move the front shoulder belt adjuster upward.

To lower

To lower the seat belt, hold the front shoulder belt adjuster and lower the seat belt with the knob of the front shoulder belt adjuster pressed.

After adjusting, press the front shoulder belt adjuster downward and make sure that it is securely locked.

Seat Belt Warning Systems

If it detects that the occupant seat belt is unfastened, the warning light or beep alerts the occupant.

Refer to Seat Belt Warning Indication/Warning Light (Front seat) (Search).

Refer to Seat Belt Warning Light (Rear seat) (Red) (Search).

Refer to Seat Belt Warning Beep (Search).

Seat belt indicator light (rear seat) (green)

The light turns on when the rear seat belt is fastened while the ignition is switched ON, and it turns off after a certain period.

Seat Belt Pretensioner and Load Limiting Systems

For optimum protection, the front seat belts and rear outboard seat belts are equipped with pretensioner and load limiting systems. For both these systems to work properly you must wear the seat belt properly.

Pretensioners:

When a collision is detected, the pretensioners deploy simultaneously with the air bags.

The pretensioners deploy simultaneously with the air bags when a roll-over is also detected.

For deployment details, refer to the SRS Air Bag Deployment Criteria (Search).

The seat belt retractors remove slack quickly as the air bags are expanding. Any time the air bags and seat belt pretensioners have fired they must be replaced.

A system malfunction or operation conditions are indicated by a warning.

Refer to Air Bag/Seat Belt Pretensioner System Warning Indication/Warning Light (Search).

In addition, the pretensioner system for the front passenger, like the front and side passenger air bag, is designed to only deploy when the front passenger air bag deactivation switch is turned to the ON position.

For details, refer to Front Passenger Air Bag Deactivation Switch (Search).

Load limiter:

The load limiting system releases belt webbing in a controlled manner to reduce belt force on the occupant's chest. While the most severe load on a seat belt occurs in frontal collisions, the load limiter has an automatic mechanical function and can activate in any accident mode with sufficient occupant movement.

Even if the pretensioners have not fired, the load limiting function must be checked by an expert repairer (we recommend an Authorised Mazda Repairer).

Wear seat belts only as recommended in this owner's manual:

Incorrect positioning of the seat belts is dangerous. Without proper positioning, the pretensioner and load limiting systems cannot provide adequate protection in an accident and this could result in serious injury. For more details about wearing seat belts, refer to "Fastening the Seat Belt" (Search).

Have your seat belts changed immediately if the pretensioner or load limiter has been expended:

Do not modify the components or wiring, or use electronic testing devices on the pretensioner system:

Modifying the components or wiring of the pretensioner system, including the use of electronic testing devices is dangerous. You could accidentally activate it or make it inoperable which would prevent it from activating in an accident. The occupants or repairers could be seriously injured.

Properly dispose of the pretensioner system:

Improper disposal of the pretensioner system or a vehicle with non-deactivated pretensioners is dangerous. Unless all safety procedures are followed, injury could result. Have an expert repairer (we recommend an Authorised Mazda Repairer) safely dispose of the pretensioner system or scrap a pretensioner system equipped vehicle.

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The pretensioner system may not operate depending on the type of the collision. For details, refer to the SRS Air Bag Deployment Criteria (Search).
Some smoke (non-toxic gas) will be released when the air bags and pretensioners deploy. This does not indicate a fire. This gas normally has no effect on occupants, however, those with sensitive skin may experience light skin irritation. If residue from the deployment of the air bags or the pretensioner system gets on the skin or in the eyes, wash it off as soon as possible.

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