belt TESLA MODEL S 2016 Owner's Manual

Correct Driving PositionThe seat, head support, seat belt and airbagswork together to maximize your safety. Using
these correctly ensures greater protection.
Position the seat so you can wear the seat belt correctly, while being as far away from the
front airbag as possible:
1. Sit upright with both feet on the
floor and
the seat back reclined no more than 30
degrees.
2. Make sure you can easily reach the pedals and that your arms are slightly bent whenholding the steering wheel. Your chest
should be at least 10 inches (25 cm) from
the center of the airbag cover.
3. Place the shoulder section of the seat belt mid-way between your neck and your
shoulder. Fit the lap section of the belt tightly across your hips, not across your
stomach.
Model S seats include integrated head
supports that cannot be adjusted or removed.
Adjusting the Driver

Folding Rear Seats
Model S has a split rear seat that can fold
forward.
Note: If Model S is equipped with the optional
executive rear seats, these seats do not fold
forward.
Before folding, remove items from the seats
and the rear foot well. To allow the rear seat
backs to fold completely
flat, you may need to
move the front seats forward.
To fold a rear seat, press the corresponding
lever and fold the seat forward.
Raising Rear Seats
Before raising a rear seat, make sure that the
seat belts are not trapped behind the backrest.
Pull the seat back upward until it locks into place.
To
confirm that the seat back is locked in the
upright position, try pulling it forward.
Warning: Always ensure the seat backs
are locked in their upright position.
Failure to do so increases the risk of injury.
Head Supports
Seats include integrated head supports that
cannot be adjusted or removed.
Seat Heaters
The front seats are equipped with heating
pads that operate at three levels from 3
(highest) to 1 (lowest). To operate the seat
heaters, see Climate Controls on page 104.
If Model S is equipped with the optional cold weather package, you can also control seat
heaters in all rear seating positions, as well as
heated wipers and washer nozzles by by
touching Controls > Cold Weather (see
Controls on page 94).
Seat Covers Do not use seat covers on Model S. Doing so
could restrict deployment of the side air bags
if an accident occurs. It can also reduce the
accuracy of the occupant detection system.
Front and Rear Seats
18Model S Owner

Wearing Seat Belts
Using seat belts and child safety seats is the
most
effective way to protect occupants if a
collision occurs. Therefore, wearing a seat belt is required by law in most jurisdictions.
Both the driver and passenger seats are
equipped with three-point inertia reel seat
belts. Inertia reel belts are automatically
tensioned to allow occupants to move
comfortably during normal driving conditions.
To securely hold child safety seats, all
passenger seating positions are equipped with
an automatic locking retractor (ALR) that, by
pulling the seat belt beyond the length
needed for a typical adult occupant, locks the
belt into place until the seat belt is unbuckled
(see Installing Seat Belt Retained Child Seats
on page 24).
The seat belt reel automatically locks to prevent movement of occupants if Model Sexperiences a force associated with hard
acceleration, braking, cornering, or an impact in a collision.
The seat belt reminder on the
instrument panel alerts you if a seat
belt for an occupied seat is not
fastened. If the belt remains unfastened, the reminder
flashes and
an intermittent chime sounds. If all
occupants are buckled up and the
reminder stays on, re-fasten seat
belts to ensure they are correctly
latched. Also remove any heavy
objects (such as a briefcase) from an
unoccupied seat. If the reminder
light continues to stay on, contact
Tesla.
To Fasten a Belt
1. Ensure correct positioning of the seat.
2. Draw the belt out smoothly, ensuring the belt lays flat across the pelvis, chest and
mid-point of your collar bone, between
the neck and shoulder.
3. Insert the latch plate into the buckle and press together until you hear a click
indicating it is locked in place.
4. Pull the belt to check that it is securely fastened.
5. Pull the diagonal part of the belt toward the reel to remove excess slack.
To Release a Belt
Hold the belt near the buckle to prevent the
belt from retracting too quickly, then press the
button on the buckle. The belt retracts
automatically. Ensure there is no obstruction
that prevents the belt from fully retracting.
The belt should not hang loose. If a seat belt
does not fully retract, contact Tesla.
Wearing Seat Belts When Pregnant
Do not put the lap or shoulder sections of the
seat belt over the abdominal area. Wear the lap section of the belt as low as possibleacross the hips, not the waist. Position theshoulder portion of the belt between the
breasts and to the side of the abdomen.
Consult your doctor for
specific guidance.
Warning: Never place anything between
you and the seat belt to cushion the
impact in the event of an accident.
Seat Belts
Seating and Safety Restraints19

Seat Belt Pre-tensionersThe front seat belts are equipped with
pre 

Warning: Avoid contaminating a seat
belt

Guidelines for Seating Children
Your Model S seat belts in the front and second row seats are designed for adults and larger
children. You must restrain infants and small children in the second row seats only, and you must use a suitable child safety seat appropriate for the child

Seating Larger Children
If a child is too large to
fit into a child safety
seat, but too small to safely fit into the
standard seat belts, use a booster seat
appropriate for the child

Testing a Child Safety Seat
Before seating a child, always make sure the
child safety seat is not loose:
1. Hold the child safety seat by the belt path and try to slide the safety seat from side
to side and front to back.
2. If the seat moves more than one inch (2.5 cm), it is too loose. Tighten the belt or
reconnect the LATCH retained child safety
seat.
3. If you are unable to reduce slack, try a
different seat location or try another child
safety seat.
Warnings - Child Safety Seats
Warning: Extreme hazard! Do not seat a
child on the front passenger seat even if
you are using a child safety seat. This seat
has an airbag in front of it. Although this airbag is disabled when Model S detects a
lightweight passenger, do not rely on technology to protect your child.Warning: Child restraint systems are
designed to be secured in vehicle seats
by lap belts or the lap belt portion of a lap-shoulder belt. Children could be
endangered in a crash if their child restraints are not properly secured in the
vehicleWarning: According to accident statistics,
children are safer when properly
restrained in the rear seating positions
than in the front seating positions.Warning: Do not use a forward facing child safety seat until your child weighs
over 20 lbs (9 kg) and can sit
independently. Up to the age of two, a
child

Location of AirbagsAirbags are located in the approximate areas shown here. Airbag warning information is printed
on the sun visors.
Model S is equipped with an air bag and lap/shoulder belt at both front outboard seating
positions. The air bag is a supplemental restraint at those seating positions. All occupants,
including the driver, should always wear their seat belts whether or not an air bag is also provided at their seating position to minimize the risk of severe injury or death in the event of a crash.
1. Passenger knee airbag
2. Passenger front airbag
3. Side airbags
4. Curtain airbags 5. Driver

Passenger Front Airbag
Model S has an occupancy sensor in the front
passenger seat that controls the status of the
airbags based on the weight of the occupant.
Passenger airbag status displays in the top
right corner of the touchscreen to indicate
whether the airbag will
inflate (on) or notinflate (off) if a collision occurs.
Note: The occupancy sensor system meets the regulatory requirement of FMVSS 208 and
automatically detects when
inflating the
passenger front airbags would be unnecessary
or potentially harmful.
Front passenger seat
occupancy*Passenger airbag
statusEmptyOFFInfant in child safety
seat (up to 20 lbs/
9kg)OFFChild or small
occupant
(20-100 lbs/9-45 kg)ON or OFFHeavy object/
occupantON*Values are approximate. Occupants whose weight is close to the low weight threshold
can cause the status to occasionally turn on
and
off depending on seating position and
physique.
Note: It takes approximately six seconds after
you power on Model S for the occupancy
sensor to report accurate status of the front
passenger airbag. As a result, when you
firstpower on Model S, the status defaults to PASS
AIRBAG ON, even in situations when it should
be OFF because the seat is either empty or
carrying a weight of 20 lbs (9 kg) or less.
However, after the six second initialization, the status should display as PASS AIRBAG OFF. If
it fails to do so, contact Tesla service
immediately and seat passengers in the rear
seating positions only.
If the status shows the airbag as permanently
on, even when the seat is empty and the seat belt is unbuckled, contact Tesla immediately.
To make sure the sensing system can correctly detect occupancy status, eliminate the
following: