Seat Belt System; Emergency Locking Mode; Automatic Locking Mode - Mazda 626 Owner's Manual

Essential Safety Equipment

Seat Belt System

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 of the seat belt retractors are
designed to keep the lap/shoulder belts
out of the way when not in use.
The driver's seat belt has no
provisions for child-restraint systems
and has only an emergency locking
mode. The driver may wear it
comfortably, and it will lock during a
collision.
However, the front passenger's seat
and rear lap/shoulder belt retractors
2-14
Form No. 8P95-EA-00G
nn020-1IE
operate in two modes, emergency
locking mode and for child-restraint
systems, automatic locking mode.

Emergency locking mode

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

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
get the seat belt into the automatic
locking mode, pull it all the way out
and connect it as instructed on the