Safety Belt Buckle Pretensioners, Safety Belt Retractor Pretensioners and Adaptive Load Limiting Safety Belt Retractors - Remote Deployment

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2010 Mercury Milan, 2010 Lincoln MKZ, and 2010 Ford Fusion. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

WARNING: Never disassemble or tamper with safety belt buckle/retractor pretensioners or adaptive load limiting retractors or probe the electrical connectors. Failure to follow this instruction may result in the accidental deployment of the safety belt pretensioners or adaptive load limiting retractors which increases the risk of serious personal injury or death.

WARNING: Deploy all supplemental restraint system (SRS) devices (air bags, pretensioners, load limiters, etc.) outdoors with all personnel at least 9.14 meters (30 feet) away to make sure of personal safety. Due to the loud report which occurs when an SRS device is deployed, hearing protection is required. Failure to follow these instructions may result in serious personal injury.

NOTE: A typical safety belt buckle and retractor disposal is shown in illustration that is similar for all vehicles.

Make a container to house the safety belt buckle or retractor for deployment.
- NOTE: The tires must be of sufficient size to accommodate the safety belt buckle or retractor.
  
  Obtain a tire and wheel assembly and an additional 4 tires (without wheels) of the same size.
- With the tire and wheel assembly on the bottom, stack the tires.
- Securely tie all of the tires together.
  
  Fig 1: Identifying Passenger And Seat Side Air Bag Modules Position On Wheels
  Courtesy of FORD MOTOR CO.
Depower the SRS . For additional information, refer to SUPPLEMENTAL RESTRAINT SYSTEM (SRS) DEPOWERING AND REPOWERING .
Remove the safety belt buckle or retractor. For additional information, refer to the appropriate procedure in SAFETY BELT SYSTEM .
- When deploying a safety belt buckle pretensioner, install a nut and bolt of sufficient length and of the same diameter as was used to retain it to the seat.
NOTE: If the safety belt buckle or retractor does not have a hard-wired pigtail, it will be necessary to cut the wires and connector(s) from the vehicle wire harness and reconnect to the safety belt buckle or retractor.

Cut each of the safety belt buckle or retractor wires near the electrical connector that connects to the vehicle wire harness.
Remove any sheathing (if present) and strip the insulation from the ends of the cut wires.
Make a jumper harness to deploy the safety belt buckle or retractor.
- Obtain 2 wires (20 gauge minimum) at least 9.14 m (30 ft) long and strip both ends of each wire.
- At one end of the jumper harness, connect the wires together.
NOTE: Typical safety belt retractor pretensioner shown in illustration, other safety belt buckle pretensioners and load-limiting retractors similar.

Using the end of the jumper harness that the wires are not connected together, attach each wire of the jumper harness to each wire of the safety belt buckle or retractor. Use tape or other insulating material to make sure that the leads do not make contact with each other.

Fig 2: Identifying Jumper Wire Harness Connection With Safety Belt Buckle Or Retractor
Courtesy of FORD MOTOR CO.
NOTE: Make sure to maintain the connections to the safety belt buckle or retractor.

Tip the stack of tires on its side and place the safety belt buckle or retractor inside the center tire, making sure that there are 2 tires beneath the tire containing the safety belt buckle or retractor and 2 tires (including the tire and wheel assembly) above the tire containing the safety belt buckle or retractor.
Place the tire stack upright, with the wheel on top.

Fig 3: Identifying Passenger And Seat Side Air Bag Module Position On Tire
Courtesy of FORD MOTOR CO.
Remain at least 9.14 m (30 ft) away from the safety belt buckle or retractor.
From the end of the jumper harness that is not connected to the safety belt buckle or retractor, disconnect the 2 wires of the jumper harness from each other.
Deploy the safety belt buckle or retractor by touching the ends of the 2 wires of the jumper harness to the terminals of a 12- volt battery.
To allow for cooling, wait at least 10 minutes before approaching the deployed safety belt buckle or retractor.
Dispose of the deployed safety belt buckle or retractor in the same manner as any other part to be scrapped.