Safety Belt System: Belt-Minder®

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2007 Ford Ranger. 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. The feature provides additional reminders by intermittently sounding a chime and illuminating the safety belt warning indicator in the instrument cluster when the driver's and front passenger's 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 large front seat occupants as determined by the front passenger sensing system.

Both the driver's and passenger's safety belt usages are monitored and either may activate the Belt-Minder® feature. The warnings are the same for the driver and 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 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 WARNING DEVICES article or the Owner's Literature.

If...	Then...
The driver's and front passenger's 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.
The driver's or front passenger's safety belt 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 belts are buckled.
The driver's or front passenger's safety belt 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.