LuvBug03
04-29-2006, 12:50 PM
As most of you already know Im looking for a seat for my mom's car, a 93 chevy astro. I found out it would be upwards of $900 to replace the 4 seatbelts, 80+ for parts for the stalk that is torn. She has never been in any sort of accident and none of them are broken or frayed(minus the one stalk) so they dont have to be replaced according to the auto guy, but I still worry about their safety cause its an older car and been through kids. This isnt doable right now though so I will have to work with what she has until I can get it fixed.
So that seat is out of commision until it can be fixed, which leaves us with 3 other seats- 1 rear captain's and 2 front captains(driver and passenger). I noticed the seatbelt on the rear passenger was twisted and came to find it happened because the retractor and bottom lap belt attachment are seperate on the bolt and must have rotated around before they were reattached so they stay together. Now the issue is that the belt is not only twisted but loose on its bolt(probably the way it should be, it makes it swivel, but its the first time for me to look at her van belts so closely) but the retractor and bottom lap belt attachment are pull tied together(black heavy duty one, but still a pull tie). Is that even ok? I mean the retractor and lapbelt attachment are seperate and I have no idea how they are normally kept together. On the other seat the bolt is tight and they dont swivel(neither does the stalk, but on all the other seats the stalks swivel some) and I can barely see into it to see if there is any sort of pull tie or anything.
Is this safe? I should probably have the auto guy from the dealer look at it right? I figure if it is suppose to be pull tied like that then they could cut it and untwist the belt then redo it with a new one?
I swear this van is so not carseat friendly lol!
So next question. I know the rear is safer, but with the questionable twisted belt and the one that is broken, would he be safer in the front passenger seat until things are fixed? She doesnt have airbags(I thought she did but she doesnt) and the passenger seatbelt has an auto locking switch, but I question its safety as well because I have no experience with seatbelts that switch like that(though it does switch and stay switched).
What do you think?
So that seat is out of commision until it can be fixed, which leaves us with 3 other seats- 1 rear captain's and 2 front captains(driver and passenger). I noticed the seatbelt on the rear passenger was twisted and came to find it happened because the retractor and bottom lap belt attachment are seperate on the bolt and must have rotated around before they were reattached so they stay together. Now the issue is that the belt is not only twisted but loose on its bolt(probably the way it should be, it makes it swivel, but its the first time for me to look at her van belts so closely) but the retractor and bottom lap belt attachment are pull tied together(black heavy duty one, but still a pull tie). Is that even ok? I mean the retractor and lapbelt attachment are seperate and I have no idea how they are normally kept together. On the other seat the bolt is tight and they dont swivel(neither does the stalk, but on all the other seats the stalks swivel some) and I can barely see into it to see if there is any sort of pull tie or anything.
Is this safe? I should probably have the auto guy from the dealer look at it right? I figure if it is suppose to be pull tied like that then they could cut it and untwist the belt then redo it with a new one?
I swear this van is so not carseat friendly lol!
So next question. I know the rear is safer, but with the questionable twisted belt and the one that is broken, would he be safer in the front passenger seat until things are fixed? She doesnt have airbags(I thought she did but she doesnt) and the passenger seatbelt has an auto locking switch, but I question its safety as well because I have no experience with seatbelts that switch like that(though it does switch and stay switched).
What do you think?