Safety Belt Warning System: Belt-Minder®

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2006 Mercury Milan, 2006 Lincoln Zephyr, and 2006 Ford Fusion. 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 by intermittently sounding a chime and illuminating the safety belt warning indicator, in the instrument cluster, when the driver and front passenger safety belt is unbuckled.

The Belt-Minder® feature uses information from the front passenger sensing system to determine if a front seat passenger is present and therefore potentially in need of a warning. To avoid activating the Belt-Minder® feature for objects placed in the front passenger seat, warnings will only be given to front seat occupants over a certain weight, as determined by the front passenger sensing system.

Both the driver and passenger safety belt usages 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.

When 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.

The Belt-Minder® feature uses 2 different warning chimes. During the first minute of activation, the warning chime will sound once every second. The remaining warning chimes will sound twice every second while the system is activated.

To activate or deactivate the Belt-Minder® feature, refer to WARNING DEVICES or the Owner's Literature.

BELT-MINDER FEATURE REFERENCE

If...	Then...
The driver or front passenger safety belt is not buckled before 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 safety belts are buckled.
The driver or front passenger safety belt becomes unbuckled for approximately one minute while the vehicle is traveling at least 5 km (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.
The driver and front passenger safety belts are buckled before the ignition switch is turned to the ON position or less than 1-2 minutes have elapsed since the ignition switch has been turned ON.	The Belt-Minder® feature will not activate.