I noticed the rear seat belts on a friends 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis did not stop when I pulled the seat belts out quickly. They worked in ALR mode for installing child car seats but didn't work for emergency stops or so it seems. The rear middle seat belt stops if pulled quickly as if in an emergency stop. Do the two rear side passenger seat belts function differently than the rear middle seat belt? I brought it to a mechanic and then to a Ford dealership and they stated they are working properly and would only engage in an accident. I'm not sure I agree with this and want to be sure the seat belts are safe. Do these rear seat belts have some mechanism that would only engage during a hard stop such as a weigh that would shift due to the momentum of the stop which would then engage the restraint system? The mechanic I brought it to purhcased a new seat belt and installed it and it still functions the same as the old.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

pulling it by hand won't engage lock, so you can move while belt is on, otherwise you would lock youself in the seat!!!!

 

Check your email. I have the owners manual and would be willing to scan it.

 

I understand pulling it slowly wouldn't engage the lock but all other seat belts I've tested in other types of vehicles has the ELR mode where if the seatbelt is pulled very quickly as if in an emergency stopping situation the lockign mechanism would engage. In my case this is not happenign and I'm not sure if it's by design in this car or if there is a serious issue with the seatbelt mechanism. The dealer said it's functioning properaly but I'm not sure I agree.

Not sure if someone has the same vehicle and can test the functionality of the reat belts. The middle rear belt locks if pulled quickly by hand and so do the two front seats, which is what caused me to question the two outside rear seat belts.