child seat FORD TAURUS 2006 4.G Owners Manual

Seating and Safety Restraints 77
Seating 77
Safety restraints 80
Airbags 95
Child restraints 104
Tires, Wheels and Loading 116
Tire Information 116
Tire Inflation 118
Vehicle loading 130
Trailer towing 136
Recreational towing 139
Driving 140
Starting 140
Brakes 144
Traction control 147
Transmission operation 148
Roadside Emergencies 154
Getting roadside assistance 154
Hazard flasher switch 155
Fuel pump shut-off switch 155
Fuses and relays 156
Changing tires 162
Lug Nut Torque 167
Jump starting 168
Wrecker towing 173
Customer Assistance 174
Reporting safety defects (U.S. only) 182
Cleaning 183
Table of Contents
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2006 Taurus(tau)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)

Special instructions
For your added safety, your vehicle is fitted with sophisticated electronic
controls.
Please read the sectionSupplemental restraint system (SRS)
in theSeating and Safety Restraintschapter. Failure to follow
the specific warnings and instructions could result in personal injury.
Front seat mounted rear-facing child or infant seats should
NEVERbe placed in front of an active passenger air bag.
Cell phone use
The use of Mobile Communications Equipment has become increasingly
important in the conduct of business and personal affairs. However,
drivers must not compromise their own or others’ safety when using
such equipment. Mobile Communications can enhance personal safety
and security when appropriately used, particularly in emergency
situations. Safety must be paramount when using mobile communications
equipment to avoid negating these benefits.
Mobile Communication Equipment includes, but is not limited to cellular
phones, pagers, portable email devices, in-vehicle communications
systems, telematics devices and portable two-way radios.
A driver’s first responsibility is the safe operation of the vehicle.
The most important thing you can do to prevent a crash is to
avoid distractions and pay attention to the road. Wait until it is safe to
operate Mobile Communications Equipment.
Middle East/North Africa vehicle specific information
For your particular global region, your vehicle may be equipped with
features and options that are different from the ones that are described
in thisOwner’s Guide;therefore, a supplement has been supplied that
complements this book. By referring to the pages in the provided
supplement, you can properly identify those features, recommendations
and specifications that are unique to your vehicle.Refer to this
Owner’s Guide for all other required information and warnings.
2006 Taurus(tau)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Introduction
7

These are some of the symbols you may see on your vehicle.
Vehicle Symbol Glossary
Safety Alert
See Owner’s Guide
Fasten Safety BeltAir Bag-Front
Air Bag-SideChild Seat
Child Seat Installation
WarningChild Seat Lower
Anchor
Child Seat Tether
AnchorBrake System
Anti-Lock Brake SystemBrake Fluid -
Non-Petroleum Based
Powertrain MalfunctionSpeed Control
Master Lighting SwitchHazard Warning Flasher
Fog Lamps-FrontFuse Compartment
Fuel Pump ResetWindshield Wash/Wipe
Windshield
Defrost/DemistRear Window
Defrost/Demist
2006 Taurus(tau)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Introduction
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•Bin mat (snap-in)
•Cupholders (front and rear)
•Coin holder slots
•Compact disc changer (if equipped)
•Tissue holder
•Rear ashtray (see your Ford, Lincoln Mercury dealer to obtain rear
ashtray
Use only soft cups in the cupholder. Hard objects can injure you
in a collision.
If your vehicle is equipped with the column shift and a bench seat, it has
a center console in the center front seating position.
The center console has similar features as the full console. To open the
storage compartment, raise the armrest and pull the strap on the seat up
and toward the front of the vehicle. The rear seat area is provided with
dual cupholders.
POWER WINDOWS
Do not leave children unattended in the vehicle and do not let
children play with the power windows. They may seriously injure
themselves.
When closing the power windows, you should verify they are free
of obstructions and ensure that children and/or pets are not in
the proximity of the window openings.
Press and hold the bottom part of
the rocker switch to open the
window. Press and hold the top part
of the rocker switch to close the
window.
2006 Taurus(tau)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Driver Controls
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allows your Personal Safety System
to distinguish between different
levels of crash severity and modify the deployment strategy of the
dual-stage airbags and safety belt pretensioners.
Driver’s seat position sensor
The driver’s seat position sensor allows your Personal Safety System
to
tailor the deployment level of the driver dual-stage airbag based on seat
position. The system is designed to help protect smaller drivers sitting
close to the driver airbag by providing a lower airbag output level.
Front passenger sensing system
For airbags to do their job they must inflate with great force, and this
force can pose a potentially deadly risk to occupants that are very close
to the airbag when it begins to inflate. For some occupants, like infants
in rear-facing child seats, this occurs because they are initially sitting
very close to the airbag. For other occupants, this occurs when the
occupant is not properly restrained by seat belts or child safety seats and
they move forward during pre-crash braking. The most effective way to
reduce the risk of unnecessary injuries is to make sure all occupants are
properly restrained. Accident statistics suggest that children are much
safer when properly restrained in the rear seating positions than in the
front.
Air bags can kill or injure a child in a child seat.NEVERplace a
rear-facing child seat in front of an active air bag. If you must
use a forward-facing child seat in the front seat, move the seat all the
way back.
Always transport children 12 years old and under in the back
seat and always properly use appropriate child restraints.
The front passenger sensing system can automatically turn off the
passenger front airbag. The system is designed to help protect small
(child size) occupants from airbag deployments when they are
improperly seated or restrained in the front passenger seat contrary to
proper child-seating or restraint usage recommendations. Even with this
technology, parents areSTRONGLYencouraged to always properly
restrain children in the rear seat. The sensor also turns off the airbag
when the passenger seat is empty to prevent unnecessary replacement of
airbag(s) after a collision.
When the front passenger seat is occupied and the sensing system has
turned off the passenger’s frontal airbag, the “pass airbag off” indicator
2006 Taurus(tau)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
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•A series of five beeps will be heard. The tone pattern will repeat
periodically until the problem and warning light are repaired.
If any of these things happen, even intermittently, have the Personal
Safety System
serviced at your dealership or by a qualified technician
immediately. Unless serviced, the system may not function properly in
the event of a collision.
Safety belt precautions
Always drive and ride with your seatback upright and the lap
belt snug and low across the hips.
To reduce the risk of injury, make sure children sit where they
can be properly restrained.
Never let a passenger hold a child on his or her lap while the
vehicle is moving. The passenger cannot protect the child from
injury in a collision.
All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver, should always
properly wear their safety belts, even when an air bag
supplemental restraint system (SRS) is provided.
It is extremely dangerous to ride in a cargo area, inside or
outside of a vehicle. In a collision, people riding in these areas
are more likely to be seriously injured or killed. Do not allow people to
ride in any area of your vehicle that is not equipped with seats and
safety belts. Be sure everyone in your vehicle is in a seat and using a
safety belt properly.
In a rollover crash, an unbelted person is significantly more likely
to die than a person wearing a seat belt.
Each seating position in your vehicle has a specific safety belt
assembly which is made up of one buckle and one tongue that
are designed to be used as a pair. 1) Use the shoulder belt on the
outside shoulder only. Never wear the shoulder belt under the arm.
2) Never swing the safety belt around your neck over the inside
shoulder. 3) Never use a single belt for more than one person.
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Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
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Seating and Safety Restraints
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Always transport children 12 years old and under in the back
seat and always properly use appropriate child restraints.
Combination lap and shoulder belts
1. Insert the belt tongue into the
proper buckle (the buckle closest to
the direction the tongue is coming
from) until you hear a snap and feel
it latch. Make sure the tongue is
securely fastened in the buckle.
2. To unfasten, push the release
button and remove the tongue from
the buckle.
Energy management retractors
Your vehicle has a seat belt system equipped with energy management
retractors at the driver and front outboard passenger seating positions.
An energy management retractor is a device which pays out webbing in a
controlled manner. This feature is designed to help further reduce the
risk of force-related injuries to the occupant.
Seat belt systems equipped with an energy management retractor must
be replaced if they were in use during a frontal collision which resulted
in deployment of the frontal airbags. Refer to theSafety belt
maintenancesection in this chapter.
The front and rear safety restraints in the vehicle are combination lap
and shoulder belts. The front passenger outboard and rear outboard seat
safety belts have two types of locking modes described below:
2006 Taurus(tau)
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Seating and Safety Restraints
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Vehicle sensitive mode
This is the normal retractor mode, which allows free shoulder belt length
adjustment to your movements and locking in response to vehicle
movement. For example, if the driver brakes suddenly or turns a corner
sharply, or the vehicle receives an impact of approximately 5 mph
(8 km/h) or more, the combination safety belts will lock to help reduce
forward movement of the driver and passengers.
Automatic locking mode
In this mode, the shoulder belt is automatically pre-locked. The belt will
still retract to remove any slack in the shoulder belt. The automatic
locking mode is not available on the driver safety belt.
This mode should be usedany timea child safety seat is installed in the
vehicle. Children 12 years old and under should be properly restrained in
the rear seat whenever possible. Refer toSafety restraints for children
orSafety seats for childrenlater in this chapter.
How to use the automatic locking mode
•Buckle the combination lap and
shoulder belt.
•Grasp the shoulder portion and
pull downward until the entire
belt is pulled out.
•Allow the belt to retract. As the belt retracts, you will hear a clicking
sound. This indicates the safety belt is now in the automatic locking
mode.
2006 Taurus(tau)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
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How to disengage the automatic locking mode
Ford Motor Company recommends that all safety belt assemblies
and attaching hardware should be inspected by a qualified
technician after any collision. Safety belt assemblies not in use during a
collision should also be inspected and replaced if either damage or
improper operation is noted.
Disconnect the combination lap/shoulder belt and allow it to retract
completely to disengage the automatic locking mode and activate the
vehicle sensitive (emergency) locking mode.
After any vehicle collision, the seat belt system at all outboard
seating positions (except driver, which has no “automatic locking
retractor” feature) must be checked by a qualified technician to verify
that the “automatic locking retractor” feature for child seats is still
functioning properly. In addition, all seat belts should be checked for
proper function.
BELT AND RETRACTOR ASSEMBLY MUST BE REPLACED if
the seat belt assembly “automatic locking retractor” feature or
any other seat belt function is not operating properly when checked
according to the procedures in Workshop Manual.
Failure to replace the Belt and Retractor assembly could
increase the risk of injury in collisions.
Safety belt pretensioner
Your vehicle is equipped with safety belt pretensioners at the driver and
front outboard passenger seating positions.
The safety belt pretensioners are designed to activate when the safety
belt is fastened during certain frontal or near-frontal collisions, or in
certain side collisions that result in side airbag activation (if the vehicle
is equipped with side airbags). A safety belt pretensioner is a device
which tightens the webbing of the lap and shoulder belts in such a way
that they fit more snugly against the body.
When the front airbags are activated, the safety belt pretensioners for
the driver and right front passenger seating positions will be activated
when the respective safety belt is properly buckled. If a side airbag is
2006 Taurus(tau)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
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Reasons given... Consider...
“I was in a hurry”Prime time for an accident.BeltMinder

reminds us to take a few seconds to buckle up.
“Safety belts don’t
work”Safety belts,when used properly,reduce risk of
deathto front seat occupants by45% in cars,
and by60% in light trucks.
“Traffic is light”Nearly 1 of 2 deaths occur in single-vehicle
crashes,many when no other vehicles are around.
“Belts wrinkle my
clothes”Possibly, but a serious crash can do much more
than wrinkle your clothes, particularly if you are
unbelted.
“The people I’m
with don’t wear
belts”Set the example, teen deaths occur 4 times more
often in vehicles with TWO or MORE people.
Children and younger brothers/sisters imitate
behavior they see.
“I have an airbag” Airbags offer greater protection when used with
safety belts. Frontal airbags are not designed to
inflate in rear and side crashes or rollovers.
“I’d rather be
thrown clear”Not a good idea.Peoplewho areejected are 40
times more likely to DIE.Safety belts help
prevent ejection, WE CAN’T “PICK OUR CRASH”.
Do not sit on top of a buckled safety belt to avoid the
BeltMinder
chime. Sitting on the safety belt will increase the
risk of injury in an accident. To disable (one-time) or deactivate the
BeltMinder
feature please follow the directions stated below.
One time disable
If at any time the driver/front passenger quickly buckles then unbuckles
the BeltMinder
feature for that seating position, the BeltMinder
is
disabled for the current ignition cycle. The BeltMinder
feature will
re-enable during the same ignition cycle if the occupant buckles and
remains buckled for approximately 30 seconds. Confirmation is not given
for the one time disable.
Deactivating/activating the BeltMinderfeature
The driver and front passenger BeltMinder
are
deactivated/activated independently. When deactivating/activating
one seating position, do not buckle the other position as this will
terminate the process.
2006 Taurus(tau)
Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt)
USA(fus)
Seating and Safety Restraints
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