Rear seatbelt problem

For the first time, I rode in the rear seat of my 07 Accord sedan EX-L V6
and found a problem with all three seatbelts.

After I hooked them up, the shoulder straps just got tighter and tighter
under normal highway driving conditions- a constant 65 MPH. There was no
free play in them and the only way to loosen them was to open it, let it
retract all the way in, then pull out and refasten. as there is in the front
seatbelts.

What's that all about?

 

Safety regulations. Thank your friendly NHTSA. Not much you can do.

Can you not squish yourself into the seatback to release the belt from its
ratchet, then immediately use your thumb to pull the belt back out again?

 

Did you extend the belt all the way out when fastening it? That's a
"feature" for use with car seats where there should be no play or movement.
Try not pulling it out all the way when fastening it and it should work as
normal.

 

As TeGGer says, that's the design. Some auto shops carry clips designed to
prevent the boa constrictor effect of seatbelts. They are fastened on to
prevent the belts from taking up slack... but with the clips on the belts
won't retract either.

Mike

 

My m-i-l uses a pair of clothes pins. And it scares the crap out of
me because she leaves about 6 inches of slack in the belt. That's a
lot of room for some major deccelleration trauma to both the thorax
and the c-spine (basal skull fracture comes to mind).

--

- dillon I am not invalid

Men are like a carpet. Lay them well and you can
walk on them for years.

 

I agree - that is a lot of free-fall distance before the sudden stop. An
inch or two is likely to increase the bruising, but six inches (a three inch
free-fall) is like a three foot fall in a 10G collision, and 10 G's is not
even a big one. There is a reason modern belts are self adjusting.

At work we do a fair amount of tower work and safety is a constant issue.
Our fall-arrest harnesses have to be clipped to structure above us, and even
with the shock absorbing bungee (it rips out at a constant 800 lb pull) the
management of free-fall - and swing - is a major consideration. In class we
were taught that a six inch drop with the old-school body belts (which are
called "positioning belts" now) can be fatal.

Mike

 

I checked my 04, and it works as Seth describes. If I pull it all the way
out it 'ratchets' as it returns but must go all the way back in before it
releases. If I don't pull it out all the way it moves freely as I move
around.

 

When I race, I wear a HANS unit. My wife made me buy it. Yeah, it's
expensive (off the shelf units were over $900). Scott Brayton made me
a believer.

When I was climbing regularly, I took a fall of over 100 feet. What
"saved" me from more severe injuries was that, on the way down, I
pulled every piece of pro I had placed. It also helped that my second
had an arrester and let about 15 feet run out. Most of the nuts I had
place had rippers in them. But I hurt like hell for days. Which was
later explained by x-rays that showed three broken ribs.

--

- dillon I am not invalid

Men are like a carpet. Lay them well and you can
walk on them for years.

 

Yup, that does it-- just pulling the belt out far enough to latch it and it
works fine. Thanks.

One more thing, my rear seat left and center female belt connectors are
mounted next to each other -- but each will only accept its correct and
corresponding male connector.

 

Correct. One is marked CENTER, but it's damned hard to read, even in
daylight.
--

- dillon I am not invalid

Men are like a carpet. Lay them well and you can
walk on them for years.

 

See the owner's manual for your shiny new $30,000 toy--that's a feature,
too. Has been for many, many years now. And in fact--now, don't tell
anyone--they're LABELED for which is which.

 

Labeled? Oh sure, that's really helpful------ if it's broad daylight, you
have fighter pilot eyesight, your butt doesn't overhang both connectors and
your belly doesn't block your line of sight.

 

Labeled? Oh sure, that's really helpful------ if it's broad daylight, you
have fighter pilot eyesight, your butt doesn't overhang both connectors and
your belly doesn't block your line of sight.[/QUOTE]

They're also positioned very obviously.

Plus, the owner of the car knows what's going on--because he's read the
OWNER'S manual, you see. He's there to help.

 

They're also positioned very obviously.

Plus, the owner of the car knows what's going on--because he's read the
OWNER'S manual, you see. He's there to help.[/QUOTE]

And, failing all that:

"Hmm, doesn't work, let's try the other one."

When I'm reaching across the dogs to buckle them in (with a cover over
the seat), sometimes it's a little hard to figure which one is right.
But it only takes about 100 milliseconds to figure out which one is
wrong.
--

- dillon I am not invalid

Hi, I'm Michael Phelps and Olympic Gold isn't the only
Gold I'm thinking of.

Hi, I'm Michael Phelps and when I'm on Maui, Wowwie.

 

They're also positioned very obviously.

Plus, the owner of the car knows what's going on--because he's read the
OWNER'S manual, you see. He's there to help.[/QUOTE]

The problem with the owner's manual is it's many hundreds of pages long-- a
quarter of it is boilerplate "safety" warning warnings and disclaimers
inserted by lawyers to cover their ass against a lawsuit when some butthead
decides to drive his car off a pier and sues them because the OM didn't say
not to operate the car in the ocean. Fully a third of my OM concerns other
models or covers features not in my model. Thus, the useful info you need to
know is buried four layers deep where you'd never find it. My car even came
with a quick start guide-- itself dozens and dozens of pages long.