The seatbelt unlocked itself!

I'm not sure if where to put this. Feel free to move to the correct place.

I have a Frontier installed LBP in my 04 Sedona. It's in the 2nd row bench outboard. It's been installed with the seatbelt for a few months now. It's very tightly installed. I was buckling DD in today and noticed the shoulder portion of the seat belt was completely slack. I don't know how long it's been like that. I'm 100% positive I locked the seatbelt when I installed it. It's the kind you pull all the way out and it click-click-clicks back in. The seat still felt tight because of the top tether.

I re-installed the seat in the preschool parking lot. The seatbelt seemed to lock ok, but I'm very worried about it.

Have you ever heard of this happening? Is my seatbelt mechanism broken? Is there some kind of test that can be done to insure it's working properly?

Do you have any reason to think your kiddo didn't unbuckle it while fiddling around?

4boysmom said:

Do you have any reason to think your kiddo didn't unbuckle it while fiddling around?

Click to expand...

The vehicle seat belt was still buckled. The problem is that somehow the seatbelt wasn't locked so you could just pull on the shoulder belt and it would freely release and retract. Does that make sense? She's still using the seat in harness mode.

Melanie said:

The vehicle seat belt was still buckled. The problem is that somehow the seatbelt wasn't locked so you could just pull on the shoulder belt and it would freely release and retract. Does that make sense? She's still using the seat in harness mode.

Click to expand...

Yes that makes sense but wasn't how I first read it.

hmmm... I'd check the seatbelt every single time for the same amount of time as it was installed before you noticed it... if it happens again, I'd take it in to have the seatbelt looked at to see if the locking mechanism has something wrong with it (and in the meantime, install it in another side)

if it doesn't happen again... well, no one knows why it happened... be glad you caught it.

But I'd definitely watch it in case it is something that reoccurs.

Is there any chance that another person, perhaps an adult, accidentally unbuckled it at some point... and then attempted to reinstall the seat? If there is such a chance, would he own up to it?

You can use a locking clip rather than locking your seatbelt if you don't want to or cannot move it to the other side for some reason. If you are super worried, that would be a sure "fix" until you can get the belt fixed.

Hmm... I know you said you are 100% positive that you locked the belt before, so I'm sure you probably did but I want to mention this as a remote possibility, because I've seen people do this before. When "locking" the belt, they pulled fast/suddenly on it, and the belt didn't move any more, so they assumed the belt was locked. Instead, what they really did was activate the emergency locking feature, which is what happens in a crash when your belt suddenly locks. This is different from actually putting the belt in locking mode by slowly pulling the belt all the way out then letting it back in.

Again, this might not be the case, but I wanted to mention it anyway. If you can't get to the root of the problem, I'd definitely have it inspected to find out if it's malfunctioning.

Qarin said:

If there is such a chance, would he own up to it?

Click to expand...

LOL at the gender specificity of the pronoun in an otherwise gender-neutral post.

This happened with J's Nautilus in MomBoss' Odyssey. The best thing we could come up with was that it was installed so tightly, that the seatbelt slipped back in far enough (over time) to be in the zone where it unlocks (they don't usually have to fully retract). But...that shouldn't happen with LBP, should it?

I've had this happen with my Radians, twice. Gone to put a kid in and found the belt unlocked. What we worked out was that my husband had made hard stops both times-- the hard stop was enough to cause our belts to lock, and when the belts locked they unlocked afterward. So now after any hard stop I check and re-lock the belts if necessary.

once I went to a tech,who was ok, and he actually thought he locked Nolans seat belt on his radian but he didnt I caught it later that day thank god.

One of my seatbelts in my passat is out of whack, it doesn't lock correctly anymore, I do not install seats with it on that side now. (the guide is broken too lol but that is no biggie)

It is not unheard of for the seatbelt to unlock itself in the case of a seat like the Radian where there is a very low beltpath. All seatbelts have what is referred to as a "dead zone" - ie, the length between where the seatbelt unlocks, and where it is completely wound on to the retractor again. In some vehicles the dead zone is larger than others - my Saturn Ion had a large dead zone and the seatbelt wouldn't stay locked with a radian once the belt was tightened enough.

That being said, with the Frontier and long belt path, there is no way on God's green earth that the seatbelt should unlock on it's own. (An ALR belt should *not* unlock after a fast stop - it's not how the retractor is designed.) If you're 100% certain that the belt was switched to locked mode, I would install the seat in a different location - or with LATCH if kiddo is under the weight limit for it. If there is the slight possibility that it had just seemed locked due to pulling it out quickly, then I'd have no problem continuing to use that location and just double check it periodically. The LBP of the Frontier usually uses enough seatbelt that even if it did come unlocked the same trip as you happened to crash, you wouldn't be left with a crazy loose installation. In the event that it actually did unlock again, I'd move the seat to a different location or re-install with LATCH and then if at all possible wouldn't use that seatbelt for any occupant until the dealership looked at it.

And if it did happen to "fake" you out due to being pulled out too quick, don't worry about it - you caught it, and it happens to everybody. I'm in the habit of listening for the click-click sound, and still will double check that it's locked. I've had belts seem like they're locked when I'm initially locking them and discovered with my first check that they weren't actually locked. (I usually let about 6" go in and then pull on it again as my first check along with listening for the clicks - but you can't hear the clicks in every vehicle.) Some seatbelts are just really sensitive to how you pull on them. As long as you realize what's going on and it's locked when you're done installing the seat, it's no big deal. :thumbsup:

snowbird25ca said:

That being said, with the Frontier and long belt path, there is no way on God's green earth that the seatbelt should unlock on it's own. (An ALR belt should *not* unlock after a fast stop - it's not how the retractor is designed...

Click to expand...

I agree. If the belt is unlocked, either it wasn't locked to begin with or the locking mechanism is defective.

I'd just use a locking clip if you install there for now.

Qarin said:

Is there any chance that another person, perhaps an adult, accidentally unbuckled it at some point... and then attempted to reinstall the seat? If there is such a chance, would he own up to it?

Click to expand...

There's no way it was unbuckled and rebuckled. My kiddo that uses the seat is a rule follower. She'd freak out if she thought it wasn't buckled. The other child is RF and isn't able to get her hand between the seats. My hubby...well there would be no reason for him to fool with it. I don't think his big hands would fit and he knows better than to touch seats . In order to get this seat in you also have to recline the vehicle seat, do the belt and get behind the seat and push very hard to get it back upright. Even if someone wanted to...there's no way they'd have the know how to do all of this.

I know anything is possible, but I just can't fathom that I didn't lock the belt. It's been a few months since I installed it in there. The clicking sound is very noticeable in this vehicle. And with the way I have to push the veh seat back up it seems like I would've noticed somewhere along the way.

Of course, the van is no longer under warranty. I hate to think what the dealership will charge to check it out. I also don't have much faith in the Kia dealerships around here. I wonder if a body shop would be a better choice? I hadn't thought about it until now, but this is the first seat I've installed in the second row with a seatbelt. Until recently both car seat kids were light enough for latch. So maybe it's always had a problem. The kicker is while I could work around a defective seatbelt, I may be getting rid of this vehicle soon. I can't in good conscience sell it knowing the seat belt could be defective.

Am it allowed to use a locking clip with the Frontier? I haven't used one in forever. It would go on the side where the seatbelt buckles, right? Are there any risks to using it? Would it be less safe than using the other seatbelt without the locking clip?

Melanie said:

T In order to get this seat in you also have to recline the seat, do the belt and get behind the seat and push very hard to get it back upright. Even if someone wanted to...there's no way they'd have the knowhow to do all of this.

Click to expand...

Well.... you don't have to do all that if all you do is re-thread the seatbelt and buckle it, rather than worrying about getting it tight, while you wonder what's so hard about installing car seats and surely your wife will never notice...

I think I'll take your word for it that he wouldn't do that, though.

Qarin said:

Well.... you don't have to do all that if all you do is re-thread the seatbelt and buckle it, rather than worrying about getting it tight, while you wonder what's so hard about installing car seats and surely your wife will never notice...

I think I'll take your word for it that he wouldn't do that, though.

Click to expand...

I could so see a lot of people doing that. Mostly people of the male gender. But DH really knows better.

Melanie said:

Of course, the van is no longer under warranty. I hate to think what the dealership will charge to check it out. I also don't have much faith in the Kia dealerships around here. I wonder if a body shop would be a better choice? I hadn't thought about it until now, but this is the first seat I've installed in the second row with a seatbelt. Until recently both car seat kids were light enough for latch. So maybe it's always had a problem. The kicker is while I could work around a defective seatbelt, I may be getting rid of this vehicle soon. I can't in good conscience sell it knowing the seat belt could be defective.

Am it allowed to use a locking clip with the Frontier? I haven't used one in forever. It would go on the side where the seatbelt buckles, right? Are there any risks to using it? Would it be less safe than using the other seatbelt without the locking clip?

Click to expand...

I'm not 100% positive on the locking clip issue with the Frontier. I'm pretty sure they don't ship with them, but I think Britax may have clarified that it was ok to use one with the Frontier - I would call them to ask though before doing it..

If there is something functionally wrong with the retractor causing it to switch from ALR back to ELR, I wouldn't really be trusting that the ELR would function normally in a collision either. The switchable mechanism is mechanical in nature, so if one piece isn't working properly, I'd worry about problems in assembly or something and I wouldn't trust that seatbelt assembly to lock properly until it had been looked at... Being that a locking clip is only a pre-crash positioner, you still need a functioning seatbelt in order for it to perform properly. Given the tremendous role seatbelts have in a collision, I just wouldn't want to take the chance if it's possible that something is defective somewhere in the mechanism. This may be a conservative approach, but I'm of the "better safe than sorry" camp and when faced with a history of a retractor acting in a way it's not designed to, the only person who is in the position of being able to assess with certainty if that seatbelt will function properly or not is a properly trained mechanic.

So if you're sure it was locked, I'd make some phone calls tomorrow. Call the dealership and ask them how much they charge, and call a body shop and ask them - though first I'd ask what kind of experience they have with seatbelts and whether or not they're able to replace them with original equipment belts if required - I'm sure there are some body shops who aren't fully aware in regards to replacing seatbelts...

If you have a short term work around, I'd just use it for now and that gives you some time to find out your best options. If you plan on selling privately, then have it checked before you sell it - and if it's going to be a trade-in, I would just make sure the dealership knew about it.

Thanks Snowbird..and everyone else too. Thanks for pointing out that the other parts of the seatbelt performance might be compromised. I wasn't aware of the mechanics.

I can move seats around and use LATCH in that spot for now. It's just not the preferred set up. I guess this is one more thing to add to the list of Kia problems on a 5 year old van w/45k miles....Go Kia!