Other than the obvious?! I have a 1985 camaro, and I can yank and yank on them and they don't cinch up. I'm wondering how I know they'll stop me in an accident. How much work/money am I into if I replace them?

Thanks

 

I believe the way they are designed, it's takes quite an abrupt force to lock them - more abrupt than one can generally get out of a "yank". However, you can swap in 4th gen belts if you are concerned without a ton of effort. Redo your headliner at the same time (since it has to come out anyway) and kill 2 birds with one stone.

 

The car has to be in motion for it to work properly.

The take up reel in the headliner has a weight that works with inertia and engages a brake. If you step on the brake and lean forward, that weight should stop the seat belt from moving - it doesn't take a whole lot of speed to check this out.

 

slam into a pole at 10mph :P

 

Alright, thanks guys. (not you, Chevy8588 ) I'll check it out.

 

lol, sorry, couldnt resist

 

I believe there was a recall on seatbelts in '85... not sure what the reason for it was.

 

There's a couple of threads on it...

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...lt-recall.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...l-84-90-a.html

 

Good thread, I was wondering the same.

 

Oooh! Thanks for the heads-up.

 

the seat belts in my iroc tighten up on me when i take off quickly from a dead stop. i then have to try to lean back even farther and pull the belt to loosen it back up a little. is that normal??

 

Good post. I had the same question. I tried to yank on the lap belt but it did not latch. i will try it in motion today.