finally i got the new seatbelts and retractors i have awsome red buckle buttons now thank god

So this is why my seatbelts in my 83 don't retract guess I will take that into GM and get it fixed.

My son picked up a 1987 Camaro Z-28 in early Nov with 54500 kms (33865 miles) on the odometer. We took it to the stealership for a fuel pump replacement etc. and while we were there, the service advisor told us about the seat belt button recall. As he didn't have the parts, he had to order them, and they were still available. The following weekend we took it in for the button replacement, and after 1.5 hrs the service advisor told us that there was a problem. Apparently the mechanic broke the piece that the red button actually connects to. So I asked to speak to this mechanic, and the mechanic told me that it was so brittle that the plastic just broke. I called "BS" as he was waving a big screwdriver around, and told him that if he actually knew how to do this job he wouldn't be using that particular tool. He wasn't too happy with our little talk. After a bit of fast talking the service advisor tried to make it good by getting another seat belt, but as luck would have it, GM doesn't have parts for this car anymore!! So, I took the recall buttons, and latched the drivers side seat belt into the passenger side seat belt buckle to get me home. 15 minutes later the three remaining buttons were done. A short stay at the local junk yard produced donor parts for the broken drivers side seat belt buckle, and about an hour after that, I was all set. The next day I took the old buttons to the stealership, and told the service advisor that he owes me for doing the job, great rate of $120.00 per hour, I didn't get paid.

It pays to do things yourself, when Goodwrench shirted people can't!!!!

A little bit of an offensive statement to those of us who wear Goodwrench shirts that are not morons. GM has a special tool that is specifically for replacing the seatbelt buttons in this recall. I keep it right in my toolbox, and no, it is not a large screwdriver.

so were the retractors recalled as well or just the push buttons?

I believe there are two separate recalls depending on car/year. This recall thread has all the info but it'll take a while to read it all.

I had the retractors replaced on my 83. 83 had the old style receivers so the recall for the buttons on them does not apply to it. However, I've updated to the newer style receivers and I just bought the repair kit for it that comes with all new buttons. its something like 5 bucks from the dealer, not the 20 that people are selling them for on fleabay.

on my 86 camaro the driver seatbelt receiver is destroyed and will not even clip together. The passenger is stuck together and wont come apart. If I buy that repair kit will that fix my problems?

last month I went to my dealership (Desert Auto Plaza, El Centro, CA.) and they told me that there was never a seatbelt recall. So I'm going to print out a form that shows all the recalls for my 86 IROC-Z. Hopefully they dont give me the run around agian.

Challenge them to a cash bet, before they see you have paperwork to back it up.

Didn't the plastic parts of the seat belts get recalled?

Something like the sun could damage them, make them fade and crack and break?

Caz thats what happened to mine

I thought that a recall only lasted 10 years though, so I never bothered to take mine in to get fixed!

Safety Recalls NEVER expire.

Sweet! I know what I'm doing tomorrow after school! I've wanted new ones of those damn things for sometime now!

Gross.....

... I'll let you know what happens tommorrow.

Look what I found. http://nhthqnwws112.odi.nhtsa.dot.go...-90V105-NN.PDF

I'm going in after school tomorrow, I didn't have time to stop by today, but those papers are good proof to help us all get new seat belt assemblies. Good find!

Also, the metal clips come out all the time, and I dont have one for my passenger seat and my passengers have trouble buckling up all the time.

i just got some 4th gen seat belts and replaced them...cost 20 bucks

So I just spent a half an hour on the phone with customer service and they couldn't find anything to verify that the recall was still in effect even though its a safety recall, and they want me to mail to them the 109 page PDF that Chevy86 IROC-Z posted so they can confirm that my car is in fact still apart of this recall, but the document clearly states this:

1990 Model F Manufactured at Van Nuys Vin Breakpoints LL100001 to LL134987

The last 8 digits of my vin number are LL117029 so its definitely included, now I'm pissed.

I just want the recall to be honored and my seatbelts fixed!

Their hope is that if you make you jump through enough hoops, you'll give up & drop it. They see the dollar signs of items. They forget that the time their employees dealing with their customers is a dollar sign too. It would be cheaper for them to just send you the parts & be done with it.

I suppose in the long run, they profit by the # of people that give up vs the # that don't.

A local Chevy dealership sent me to a Pontiac dealership. He refused to acknowledge that my printout showed my VIN was included. It became "Leave, or we are calling the police to have you removed." How's that for Customer Service?

Is this recall just about the Seat belt buckles or what???My seatbelt wont hold me still when i break hardly,there is no use of my seatbelts,Is this involved in my recall too???Btw i drive a 1985 Trans am

Will anybody reply to my question pleasE??lol

ye. Just the seat belts, but there are other recalls that are just as recent as 2006.

I went to the Chevy dealer today and the service department typed my vin number into the computer. The results were that there was no recalls for my IROC. I told the guy that there was a huge total of Camaro's that had the defect and he told me that I was a lucky one that didnt get effected with the recall. I told him "that sucks." He asked why and I told him that my seatbelt buckles are getting white and looking sort of fragile. He then said "your Camaro is very old, almost a quarter of a century.Thats why they are looking bad." So I said "perhaps mine dont have the UV protectant." To make a long story short, I had to walk out empty handed. I dont know what else to do.

Im clueless too,i would probably report it to the NHTSA or whatever,this is just plain stupid,it really starting to piss me off

Well thats what some people have dont on here, and some have told them that they would call news stations and talk about it, and I was just thinking of telling them something like....

"You know how bad the Toyota recalls are? Well this seat belt recall is going to get the same kind of attention if you dont honor it, I will call every major news corporation on the east coast and let them know that GM is also not concerned with saftey just like Toyota!"

But that might be too harsh....lol

I was also debating on calling the NHTSA and telling them that they aren't honoring the recall either, its not like its a big deal, I just want my seat belts fixed.

The whole plastic brace is falling apart on my front ones, and its so bad that I've resorted to taping my drivers seat belt.

Plus the metal clips keep falling off, which is also part of the recall.....

The rear seat belts are alright though I guess.....

But yeah, this is really pissing me off.....

SERIOUSLY?!?!

They give us a crap customer service..no lie!!

Honestly,I think all the third gen owners should do something about this,this is just ridiculous!!Lets all come together and call up the news lol,Naaah i am serious,we just have to make this a big deal!!!

Third Gen OWNERS UNITE!!!

Lemme clarify......

I went to the Pontiac dealership & PONTIAC is the ones who refused to acknowledge the print out I had. Chevy just put me off on to Pontiac, since I was there about a Pontiac.

If you've got the metal clips, your car has already been fixed under the recall. The recall adds new buttons, springs, and the metal clip.

The paper that I read said that the metal clips was a part of the recall.

Plus, I have all the paper work for the car from the previous owners, and theres no papers saying that the recall was ever performed, so I know that these seat belts are original to the car.

And if they were fixed, then they would have the UV Stabilizer in the in the plastics, and well from the picture that I posted above, I don't think its in there.

And you can really tell when you look at the bottom of the plastic component of the seatbelt brace, the parts where the seat kept it concealed from the sun, its in perfect shape, because the UV rays that damage the plastics, that prompted the recall, never got to those areas.

And I'm pretty sure that the recall states FAULTY metal clips that make it hard or difficult to buckle up, or problems unbuckling.

And well everytime I have a passenger in the car, they always complain about those two things.

Need I go on?

As soon as I get off from work on Monday, Ima call NHTSA. Just like Dave Chapelle said, "THIS IS RIDICULOUS."

Let me know how it goes, I'm thinking about calling them too. I just want me seat belts fixed. They shouldn't be falling apart, thats all that I know.

And if I have to, then I'll take the metal clips off of them and take the car back in.

They might try and reject me for the recall if the clips are there, and if what Drew is saying is true.....but that doesn't account for the fact that the UV stabilizer is still missing from the plastic support braces on the seat belt assemblies, and they need to be replaced.

And I don't think that it should matter if it was already done, if something happens again because of a problem thats been previously identified, then it should be fixed.

Don't they test these products to see how they should stand up to normal wear and tear?

I'm also pretty sure that a red plastic piece shouldn't fade to a lame pink from normal wear and tear, it was from the lack of the UV Stabilizer that was identified as MISSING from the seatbelt assemblies.

Not my fault, not the PO's fault either....GM's fault.

I already left a message on the tol free number that they have on thier website. Hopefully they will ring the necks of the service personnal down at my local GM dealer. It was funny though because the service guy had told me that I should sell my IROC and use that money as a down payment. I told him him that was a good idea but that he would have to co-sign for me since I have terrible credit. His comment was "ohh, you can stay with your IROC." I made him feel like a dummy. Chevy86 IROC-Z to GM Service rep. ....

No, you can stop there, but you're wrong.

The buckles didn't come with the metal clips from the factory. They were added as part of the recall fix. You can just take my word for that, or you can research it with the search feature.

Second, the only part that the recall addresses is the button and spring in the female end of the seatbelt. The cosmetic sleeve and the plastic housing weren't covered at any point. There was a time period when GM couldn't get the recall kit, and some dealers installed complete female assemblies, but that was a very small window of time, and generally does not apply.

The plastic sleeve you seem so concerned about is cosmetic. The belt that runs through it and the anchor are what keep you from flying through the windshield in a collision, and are the only concern of GM's lawyers. So if you're raising a stink with the NTSB or NHTSA over a cosmetic problem, you're wasting your efforts. You'd be further ahead to just find a junkyard sleeve for your existing belt, and buy the kit/install the parts yourself.

Hello livewire!!

Yes, you could say that it was a bit offensive to the Goodwrench shirted people as a whole, maybe I should have been more specific, and named the guy!! However, my luck of the draw with Goodwrench shirted people has been to say the least, a bit of a nightmare, when it comes to the "few" times that I take any of my vehicles in for service!!

You say that you have a tool in your tool box to do this specific job? I did the job myself with a 1/8 inch wide flat tip, two inch long screw driver!! It just takes a little bit of "TLC" while doing the job, believe me, I've broken my fair share of things "fixing" them also!! That's why the "TLC" comes into play, certain parts are scarce, and breaking them could mean the difference between driving the car, and towing the car!!

Bottom line here is, I probably got a moron "parts changer", and not a "mechanic" working on my car that day!!



I should have done this ( ) to the guy working on my car!!!

Hello FireInMe17!!

Drew's right....post #386.....the metal clips come in the recall kit, but they only go on certain years, or if the leadin ramp of the female part of the seat belt buckle is showing sings of cracking, IIRC, according to the actual recall letter!!



You can go to the junk yard, and find a set of seat belts in a third gen Camaro/Firebird, and if the car has them, carefully remove the metal clips, and put them on your car. If your seat belt buckle is breaking apart, it's time to get another one!!! The plastic cover, if done right will split down the sides along the seam. Then you can remove it and replace it with another one that you have carefully removed from a donor seat belt of your colour choice!! Use a good epoxy glue, or if you can, heat seal it together!!

The plastic around the actual buckle mechanism is just basically a "dust cover", and helps to prevent the buckle from being accidently unlatched at the wrong time!!! It has nothing really to do with the functioning of the buckle!!

This just in.... http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ just called me. They told me that if a recall has been issued, all vehicles that are listed as affected are verified by its VIN number. Here's the catch. Lets say a recall was issued exactly 10 years ago and your one day passed the 10 years, then you as the owner of the vehicle will have to pay. The dealer is no longer responsible for a free repair. This was confirmed by the NHTSA. Since the dealer is no longer responsible after the 10 years, the customer service rep. can either tell you that the recall is not true or expired (depending on his mood). So after complaining about my Chevy dealer, NHTSA gave me the number to GM. I called GM and they triple verified my VIN number and told me that there was no recall for my IROC. I told them about the recent recall for the exterior lights and gas issue and they said that according to my VIN, my IROC wasnt one of the affected recalls. I feel better, but I feel bad because I wanted a new set of seat belts. Ohh welllll. Cant have em all right?

does ANYONE know if this is still going on?? my passenger side seatbelt just gave out for no reason.....and i cant buy a new one because they said its a saftey issue. how do i get ahold of GM?

actually wait i just noticed the post above..but still how do i get ahold of GM?? failing seatbelts is bad......

GM 1-800-462-8782

thank you

Calling GM will do nothing. I got the run around from GM last summer with recall numbers in hand. They said i'm still covered by the recall, but they coudln't find any service number to coordinate it, and that they probably couldn't get the parts. I told him i was willing to do the labor, i just wanted the kit, and they had me call the GM hotline. After calling them, they also confirmed that i was covered, but couldln't figure out for the life of them what exactly the recall was for. All they could come up with was a general title covering the seatbelts. If anyone knows anything that i haven't tried, please let me know, or a dealership that will cover this considering others were getting covered under warranty last summer when i was being denied. Obviously the parts are out there. All the hotline lady could do was call back and tell me to go to the dealer for a free inspection of my seatbelts. They didn't promise to do anything, and you know as well as I do that they would find nothing, or at least nothing that they would/could cover. Any more info on this at this point would be great, got a '92 that I'd also like the recall done to. Thanks.

Jon

The NHTSA told me that ALL dealerships have 10 years to replace any defects that they issue free of charge. Now if the recall is more than 10 years old, then you as the owner are liable for all charges if you choose to continue with the repair. Follow this link here ( http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ ) and file a complaint. They will contact GM and ask why is there a problem with your request of service pertaining to a safety recall that is valid according to your vin number.

So, went into a GM dealership today (here in Canada), they verified the recall still exists, and is still open and applies to my vehicle. He pulled up the Recall #0A15A and came up with part number 14097930 Push Button Kit. Only problem is the part they call for is apparently no longer available? Anyone else have this issue? Obviously people are still having it done here, so anyone have the replacement part number on hand? Or any other suggestions other than calling GM like the dealer recommended.

Hello z28_87Camaro!!

I had my "seat belt button recall" repair done to my 1987 Camaro Z-28 in Nov 2009 here in Chilliwack!! It took a couple of days to get the parts, but they are still available!! Get your dealer parts guy to search again, they may be available in other provinces, or he could get them through the states!!

The part number that you have is the correct one!!

If your parts guy can't find it for you, call Mertins GM in Chilliwack, and ask for Collin in parts, tell him what your looking for, and tell him "Dan, with the two 1987 Camaros" sent you!! I'll call him tomorrow to give him a heads up!!

If they are still available, he can find them for you!!

GM Parts department: Transfer to Service
GM Service department: "There are no open recalls on your vehicle."
(Me) "The 109 page document on this recall affecting MY car (Last 8 VIN fell within range) is garbage?"
(Him) "My computer doesn't show any recalls."
(Me) "So the recall expired?"
(Him) "That's exactly right sir."

Called GM Customer service
(Them) "There are no recalls on your vehicle."
(Me) "So there's nothing you are going to do about my seat belt that is falling apart and may potentially cause me to fly through my windshield in the event of an accident?"
(Them) "There is nothing we can do."

Great.

Your getting fed BS. The only thing that changes about SAFETY recalls, is if GM has to fix them for free (10 year cutoff, I believe) or not. And some don't even realize the "free" part.

Or just telling you that, thinking if they don't hafta do it for free, it no longer exists.

Thanks Dan,

I'll give Collin a shout tomorrow.
Hopefully he has better luck than the guys here.