Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:35:13 -0700
Reply-To: Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Safety tip of the day: Check your rear seatbelts!
In-Reply-To: <5009B4F7.6020406@turbovans.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
"Assembled, finished, and packed in the USA" of the finest Chinese parts
they can get I'm sure! Two point seat belts are cheap, except for OEM if
you can even get them.
Stuart
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans [mailto:scottdaniel@turbovans.com]
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 12:44 PM
To: Stuart MacMillan
Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Safety tip of the day: Check your rear seatbelts!
'belt' - which belt/s ?
had to read the whole thing to find out it's about rear seat belts.
what I find on them all the time is someone has pulled it out to full
length, jamming the plastic 'holder thing' against the buckle,
and then it's a small trick to get it back like to belongs, so length is
adjustable again.
wow, 19 dollars a set for seat belts ..
Scary cheap. Wonder where those are made ?
Genuine OE belts cost hundreds I believe.
At least vanagon seat belt latches are not very prone to getting jammed up
with bits of food, hair, and chewing gum.
lol. There was a problem for a while, perhaps in the late 80's/early 90's
where Honda front seat belts weren't working like they should...
Honda did some research on it, and concluded that americans are slobs, and
get junk like food and hair in their front seat belt latch mechanisms.
Happens on some older volvo's too.
glad you got yours fixed !
scott
On 7/20/2012 9:35 AM, Stuart MacMillan wrote:
Well, as I dig deeper and deeper, I keep finding things POs have screwed
up, but this is the worst, it could kill someone.
The plastic clip covers on the adjustable side of the belt were all taped
up, and a mess. I took the tape off and found that on one the metal piece
that the belt loops around was re-assembled improperly and then taped up.
If the belt had ever been needed the clip would have pulled right off. The
other clip was so rusty the belt couldn't be adjusted at all. They were
completely useless.
Take a minute to inspect your rear seat belts to make sure they adjust
easily as well as for fraying, especially the passenger side belt, which
runs around the seat mechanism.
I replaced them with belts from
http://www.seatbeltsplus.com/product/1511-60.html for $19 a set.
Stuart
'85 Westy