Hey all,

I'm in the process of going over the car and sorting out a few faults and want to sort out my seatbelts. At the moment neither of the front belts work, the passenger seatbelt won't retract whereas the drivers one will retract but won't lock up when you tug it, which I assumed it would because it would need to restrain your torso in an accident.

Basically the seat belts are an arrangement I've never seen on European cars so I don't quite know how they are supposed to work. I assume that the inertia reel in the roof is supposed to lock when you have an accident, so if i tug at the belt it should lock. I also assume that the reel by your hip does the same thing? If it doesn't lock, then I assume i need new belts....

Second question....

My seats don't lock into the upright position, i.e. you can push them forwards without lifting up the catch. Is this repairable?

Cheers

 

Not certain, but I think it is almost impossible for you to yank the belts fast enough to have them "lock up". They remain tensioned but allow full movement of the person wearing them. However, if they don't retract at all then the mechanism probably needs to be replaced anyway.

The seatbacks are similar. There is no need to use a "release" button on them. They move freely until the inertia latch takes hold. The button on the seat is there to release a seatback that will not move feely on its own.

This was not the case with earlier cars but I think your 87 should have been built this way. Hope this helps.

 

Many thanks for your help! The retraction on the drivers seat belt is a little weak anyway, new belts are on the way.

As for the seat backs I am still unclear. My drivers seat is reclined quite far back and there does not seem to be anyway to adjust it because it wont "lock" into position. The lever on the side of the seat allows it to go into fully reclined position, but if I try to get the seat into a more upright position it won't.

 

The way the inertia lock works is, when it feels negative g force it locks the belts. If you can pull your shoulder belt out while firm braking ,it is not working.

 

Thanks for the help guys.

I've gone and bought new belts anyway, I might as well put them in since the existing belts seem shot.