Principles of Operation

The safety belt system fitted to the Cougar utilizes the conventional lap and diagonal three point fixing.

The front and rear seat safety belts use a conventional static type buckle which is attached to the seat frame of each front seat and directly to the floor pan underneath the rear seats.

The safety belt buckle which is attached to the driver seat is fitted with a switch, which is connected through the wiring harness to a warning indicator which is housed within the instrument cluster and a buzzer (depending on market options) which is contained within the central timer module. When the ignition is first turned on the warning indicator will illuminate only if the safety belt is not fastened. If the safety belt is fastened before the ignition is turned on the circuit is broken and the indicator will remain off.

The safety belt retractors, which are mounted within the base of the B-pillars, incorporate a torsion bar load limiting device. This device consists of a retractor reel which is mounted onto a spindle (torsion bar) which once the sensor has locked the retractor reel and a predetermined load is applied, twists and pays out additional webbing into the system. The deceleration force required to initiate this sequence is approximately the same as that required to initiate air bag deployment. The torsion bar load limiting device will only react if the safety belt is in use at the time of the impact.

The rear safety belts which are mounted adjacent to the rear suspension turrets, do not use torsion bar load limiting retractors. The retractor reel sensor system for Cougar is more sensitive than current NAAO derived systems.

It should be considered that during any event which utilizes the full capability of the safety belts, the webbing may have elongated and the torsion bar may have twisted. For this reason, if a vehicle is involved in an accident which results in the deployment of the air bag(s), all the safety belts that were in use at the time of the accident MUST NOT be reused, NEW safety belts MUST be installed.

Emergency Locking Retractor (ELR)
The retractors in all seat positions feature ELR. During any period of sudden deceleration, or under torsional load when cornering at speed, a sensor weight within the safety belt retractor moves a locking pawl against the teeth on the retractor reel, which then locks the retractor preventing any further release of webbing. As soon as the load applied onto the retractor through the safety belt webbing is removed the locking pawl releases the retractor reel and normal movement is returned to the retractor.

Automatic Locking Retractor (ALR)
Automatic locking retractors (ALR) retractors are installed in all passenger seat positions. The safety belt webbing on these are clearly marked to show their operating feature. The ALR feature is initiated by pulling all of the webbing from the retractor with the buckle fastened, when the webbing is then released as it retracts the retractor locks allowing travel in only one plane thus producing a fixed length restraint and preventing the safety belt from introducing slack, making any child seat it may be restraining insecure. The ALR mode of the retractor is disengaged by allowing the unfastened webbing to fully retract on to the reel.