Safety Belt System: Belt-Minder®

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2008 Mercury Mariner and 2008 Ford Escape. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

The Belt-Minder® feature is a supplemental warning to the safety belt warning function. This feature provides additional reminders that front safety belts are unbuckled by intermittently sounding a chime and illuminating the safety belt warning lamp in the instrument cluster.

Both the driver and passenger safety belts are monitored and either may activate the Belt-Minder® feature. The warnings are the same for the driver and the front passenger. If the Belt-Minder® warnings have expired (warnings for approximately 5 minutes) for one occupant (driver or front passenger), the other occupant can still activate the Belt-Minder® feature.

The Belt-Minder® feature uses information from the occupant classification sensor (OCS) system on the front passenger seat to determine if a front seat passenger is present and therefore potentially in need of a warning. The warning is activated if the OCS system senses weight exceeding a programmed set point.

The driver and front passenger Belt-Minder® feature is deactivated/activated independently. When deactivating/activating the Belt-Minder® for a seat, do not buckle the safety belts on the other seat, or the process will be terminated. To deactivate/activate the Belt-Minder® feature, refer to INSTRUMENT CLUSTER (IC), MESSAGE CENTER, AND WARNING CHIMES article.

If...	Then...
The driver safety belt and/or front passenger safety belt (if occupant present) is buckled and less than 1-2 minutes have elapsed since the ignition switch has been turned ON...	The Belt-Minder® feature will not activate.
The driver safety belt and/or front passenger safety belt (if occupant present) is not buckled when the vehicle has reached at least 5 km/h (3 mph) and 1-2 minutes have elapsed since the ignition switch has been turned to ON...	The Belt-Minder® feature is activated - the safety belt warning indicator illuminates and the warning chime sounds for 6 seconds every 30 seconds, repeating for approximately 5 minutes or until the safety belt(s) is buckled.
The driver safety belt and/or front passenger safety belt (if occupant present) becomes unbuckled for approximately one minute while the vehicle is traveling at least 5 km/h (3 mph) and more than 1-2 minutes have elapsed since the ignition switch has been turned to ON...	The Belt-Minder® feature is activated - the safety belt warning indicator illuminates and the warning chime sounds for 6 seconds every 30 seconds, repeating for approximately 5 minutes or until the safety belts are buckled.