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 all rear lap/shoulder belt retractors operate in two modes: emergency locking mode, and for child-restraint systems, automatic locking mode.

While we recommend you put all children in the rear seats, if you must use the front passenger seat for a child, slide the front passenger seat as far back as possible and make sure any child-restraint system is secured properly.

WARNING:

One or both front air bags may deploy, and the corresponding pretensioner(s) may also deploy at the same time. Like the air bags, the seat belt pretensioners will only function once. While it is safer to use a post-crash (a seat belt that was used in an accident) than no seat belt at all, using a seat belt with an expended pretensioner or load limiter loaded reduces the safety available to you. If the seat belt pretensioners are not replaced, the risk of injury in a collision will increase. Expended seat belt pretensioners and air bags must be replaced after any collision which caused them to deploy. Additionally, the load limiter will only limit loads on the chest once in a collision and this is another reason to have the front seat belts inspected. Always have an Authorized Mazda Dealer inspect the seat belt pretensioners and air bags after any collision.

CAUTION:

Belt retraction may become difficult if the belts and rings are soiled, so try to keep them clean. For more details about cleaning the seat belts, refer to “Cleaning the Lap/Shoulder Belt Webbing”.

PregnantWomen and Persons with Serious Medical Conditions

Pregnant women should always wear seat belts. Ask your doctor for specific recommendations.

The lap belt should be worn SNUGLYAND AS LOWAS POSSIBLE OVER THE HIPS.

The shoulder belt should be worn across your shoulder properly, but never across the stomach area.

Persons with serious medical conditions also should wear seat belts. Check with your doctor for any special instructions regarding specific medical conditions.

Emergency Locking Mode

In the emergency locking mode, the belt remains comfortable on the occupant and the retractor will lock in position during a collision. When the seat belt is fastened, it will always be in the emergency locking mode until it is switched to automatic locking mode by pulling it all the way out to its full length. If the belt feels tight and hinders comfortable movement while the vehicle is stopped or in motion, it may be in the automatic locking mode because the belt has been pulled too far out. To return the belt to the more comfortable emergency locking mode, wait until the vehicle has stopped in a safe, level area, retract the belt fully to convert it back to emergency locking mode and then extend it around you again.

If the belt is locked and cannot be pulled out, retract the belt once, and then try pulling it out slowly. If this fails, pull the belt strongly one time and loosen, then pull it out again slowly.

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 enable seat belt automatic locking mode, pull it all the way out and connect it as instructed on the child-restraint system. It will retract down to the child-restraint system and stay locked on it. See the section on child restraint.