Front Passenger Seatbelt Buckle

[Rotary Potato]

I had the dogs in the car today, and had to plug their doggy seatbelts into the car. The one in the front passenger seat is now jammed in there & won't release.

How much of a pain in the backside is this going to be?

My plan would be to take the buckle out. I'm guessing the seat has to come out? How is it held in?

Also ... does anyone happen to have a spare kicking about? It'd probably be quicker to just swap the whole buckle unit and then work out how to extract the dog's seatbelt from the old buckle with no time pressure.

[FarmyardPants]

That can happen when the tongue being inserted isn’t compatible. Had the same in my Volvo with a dog restraint. I had to dismantle the buckle and release it with a screwdriver. This might be difficult to do non-destructively!

[Byker28i]

I had the same, dog buckle works fine in the rear seats, not the front.

The bolt is a pain to get to, needing to remove the front seat, and even then the bolt is a pain to remove.
I took the plastic covers off and released it that way

[Rotary Potato]

Thanks guys. Good to know I'm not the only one to be caught out by that.

Dave - how do you disassemble the buckle? Nothing looked immediately obvious ...

[Lefty]

It’s a Cerbera. You know full well it means body off and while you’re there you may as well redo the chassis and rewire it.

[FarmyardPants]

I would first try sliding something thin in there, like a knife or feeler gauges to see if you can release it. Otherwise you’ll have to separate the halves with a Stanley knife or similar and glue them back together - hence my non-destructive comment

[Rotary Potato]

Lefty said:

It s a Cerbera. You know full well it means body off and while you re there you may as well redo the chassis and rewire it.

Well done. That made me chuckle. I'm hoping we're not quite at that stage yet ...

[Rotary Potato]

FarmyardPants said:

I would first try sliding something thin in there, like a knife or feeler gauges to see if you can release it. Otherwise you ll have to separate the halves with a Stanley knife or similar and glue them back together - hence my non-destructive comment

Feeler guages! Good shout. I have a set in the shed, but it had never occurred to me to try them.

[Lefty]

Rotary Potato said:

Lefty said:

It s a Cerbera. You know full well it means body off and while you re there you may as well redo the chassis and rewire it.

Well done. That made me chuckle. I'm hoping we're not quite at that stage yet ...

Sorry

I have no real advice but wish you luck

[Byker28i]

Rotary Potato said:

Thanks guys. Good to know I'm not the only one to be caught out by that.

Dave - how do you disassemble the buckle? Nothing looked immediately obvious ...

Sorry, I separated the two halves, looks like someone had done the same before, then glued them back together

The alternative was to take out the seat, to get to the bolt, but I suspected I'd still have to take it apart. Go gentle as there's not many bits in there, but there is a spring, which can ping the mechanism apart, which then took me a little time to work out how to reassemble.

Thin blade, such as a thick feeler gauge is probably a good suggestion, wish I'd thought of that

Edited by Byker28i on Thursday 11th June 10:25