Seat belts

[Coopstar]

Hello all. Just had my second proper drive tonight on way to work. What a hoot, top down, nice A road, brilliant.
Anyway, point is all is well except the seat belt doesnt seem to be 'hugging me' and goes slack if I lean forward etc.
Is it possible the folded down roof is causing this or is it possible the belt is KO'd?
I suspect the roof myself ( I will try with roof up before you all say!), just wondered if anyone else has experiencede this.
Also, just wanted to say hello.

[jason1788]

Hi Coop. Mine's the same. There is a thread here somewhere about taking the mechanism apart and lubing it. But if, like mine, the webbing is stiff then they are probably beyond help. Hello by the way. I'm local to you, so maybe catch up with you sometime.

>> Edited by jason1788 on Thursday 26th May 23:01

[Coopstar]

Where you from mate. Im in a little place called Bluntisham, near St Ives (assume you know I mean Cambs not Cornwall!)

[tahiti450]

Hi and welcome.
At the risk of stating the obvious, I soon noticed after getting mine that, unless you are careful to push the folded hood well back, the fabric can foul the belts as they pass through the top carrier behind the headrest and prevent the belt from self tensioning. This can also happen when the seat if well back and / or the back reclined, when the seat back can pinch the belt against the carpet. I am always particularly careful to make sure both belts are fully free after lowering the roof etc before setting off - as a loosly worn belt is worse than useless in the event of a collision and can exacerbate or cause additional injuries.

[parrot of doom]

Yep, plastic window sometimes rubs against the top of the belt causing it to go slack. One to watch out for

Of course if thats not the problem, get the tensioners checked out post-haste.

[M@H]

TADTS... some people have fabricated little covers to sit over the top of the seatbelt top mount and stop the roof from trapping the belt when folded down.

Cheers,
Matt

[carinatauk]

Best to get them sorted asap. Their your only safety device!

[radzoule]

I find the belts hard to locate (my passengers more so) and wondered whether a loop strap from the headrest which kept them against the seat when unclipped would make life a little easier. Has anyone seen such a modification, or have any views?

[crackedfinger]

looping against the headrest may snap in an accident causign the belt to be too long when you need it. Don't thinkt he seats are that srtong inside to attach seatbelts to.

[The Surveyor]

I used to get this on my Griffith, and it was being caused by the belt binding between the top of the seat and the underside of the headrest.

Easily cured by lifting the headrest half an inch to allow it to slot in and out

Something else to try..

[tacoma]

Hello and welcome matey, same problem but i now make a point of moving thefolded down hood.

Further question for those on the dark side... When taking the car on the track do you need to upgrade the seta belts? Which belts can you use to upgrade and where would the mounting points be etc.

thanks in advance

mike

[chris43]

radzoule said:

I find the belts hard to locate (my passengers more so) and wondered whether a loop strap from the headrest which kept them against the seat when unclipped would make life a little easier. Has anyone seen such a modification, or have any views?

I have the same problem in easily locating the belt that always disappears down the side of the seat with the door closed and the same on the passenger side.
Someone, somewhere must have thought of a mod for this.
Is that someone out there??

[Nick_Chim]

This may be a little obvious, but being quite tall, my default seat position in most cars is full rearwards and full tilt back - in my Chim, doing this traps the vertical portion of the belt causing it not to reel back in efficiently => going slack. I therefore tilt one click forward and problem solved!
Oh, and when parked on an incline, the drivers side reel inertia switch locks and doesn't allow the belt to be pulled - TADTS I am told!!

[M@H]

tacoma said:

Further question for those on the dark side... When taking the car on the track do you need to upgrade the seta belts? Which belts can you use to upgrade and where would the mounting points be etc. thanks in advance mike

You don't need to upgrade them however with the normal belts you will get thrown about the car a bit more on cornering. the only real "upgrade" would be to fit a set of harnesses (therefore the best mounting point for these would be a roll bar ) I would have thought that the rear rollbar mounts could be used to fit a harness, as well as the existing seatbelt floor mounts.

Cheers
Matt.

(I haven't upgraded to harnesses for my occaisional track use as when on the road they are a bit of a pain as you cant lean forwards to see at junctions etc)

>> Edited by M@H on Tuesday 31st May 14:12

[tacoma]

Thanks Matt,

I had tought about the hassle of fittinga and de-fitting harnesses for track days but hadn't thought about the inconvenience of junctions etc. It would be a mare not to be able to reach the CD player!!!

thanks Matt

mike

[Coopstar]

Thanks for all the responses.
Since posting however, I have found that it is the folded hood qhich catches, a simple check that this is clear before driving and problem solved. A reasonable bank holiday driving around, brilliant!

[jem]

Nick_Chim said:

This may be a little obvious, but being quite tall, my default seat position in most cars is full rearwards and full tilt back - in my Chim, doing this traps the vertical portion of the belt causing it not to reel back in efficiently => going slack. I therefore tilt one click forward and problem solved! Oh, and when parked on an incline, the drivers side reel inertia switch locks and doesn't allow the belt to be pulled - TADTS I am told!!

A small piece of piping that the seat belt runs inside between the seat and carpet upright which it's trappe by - sorted