Fixing seat belt buckle that is on backwards

msg221

Well-known member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #1

I know that this can happen sometimes, where somehow the buckle on the seatbelt gets turned around. I know you fix it by folding the seat belt webbing in half (I saw someone do it at a seat check last year) and then forcing the buckle over the fold, but for the life of me, I could not fix it last night. I was trying to install a Monterey in my friend's Sienna in the third row last night and the lap portion of the belt gets twisted and I think it's because the buckle part of the seat belt got twisted and is now backwards.

I tried finding a vidoe on You Tube of how to fix it, because I am more of a visual person and wanted to see how it's done, but couldn't find anything.

Can someone give me detailed instructions on how to fix this? It sounds and looked easy when I first saw it done, but I must be inept because I couldn't fix it yesterday! Thank you!!!

 

J

Jessica61624

New member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #2

I do it by folding it over just a little to start with. Um I'm not good at details sorry

 

crunchierthanthou

New member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #3

I start with a little fold, not entirely in half. Fold over a little lip, and then keep working more and more webbing over as you move the latch plate up and down over the folded part. Eventually you'll get it flipped around. I'm almost certain there's a video or at least pictorial.

 

Brianna

New member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #4

You fix it the same way you would fix a crotch buckle that worked itself upside down

 

VoodooChile

New member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #5

If you get it, want to come do mine?
I've got a backwards latch plate that's driving me nuts! I figured I'd have to take it to a dealer.

 

msg221

Well-known member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #6

crunchierthanthou said:

I start with a little fold, not entirely in half. Fold over a little lip, and then keep working more and more webbing over as you move the latch plate up and down over the folded part. Eventually you'll get it flipped around. I'm almost certain there's a video or at least pictorial.

Click to expand...

Is there a certain way? For example, should I start at the top and work down? And which way do I fold it? So that the fold is toward me or away? (See now why I need a video!)


I am so obsessed with getting that stupid thing fixed because it's driving me nuts as well! I am giving my friend a ride home from work today so if it's not fixed, I'm camping out in her driveway until I fix that thing!

I think my friend was going to have to put her nephew (he's 7) in a backless booster this morning if they couldn't fix it last night. I swear I was almost going to try it on mine, except flipping it backwards, just to see how it works. I'd do it in my backseat because even if I couldn't fix it back so it's right, I can still use LATCH to install my seat until I could get it fixed.

 

Lys

Senior Community Member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #7

I usually pull the seat belt all the way out so I can get it to lock and leave it really long. Then I fold the seat belt over at an angle so it's just stuck inside the latchplate. Then I pull it really hard down the length of the belt. SLOWLY, watching that it continues to fold in half. Then when the seatbelt is folded in half inside the latchplate, I hold it flat in the opposite position of the way it was twisted.
I have found you need the length and the locking part to be able to get it untwisted. My kids used to get my Pilot seatbelts twisted all the time.

 

smackeen

New member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #8

I usually fold the belt into a triangle and work the buckle over that.

 

C

ca2003

New member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #9

crunchierthanthou said:

I start with a little fold, not entirely in half. Fold over a little lip, and then keep working more and more webbing over as you move the latch plate up and down over the folded part. Eventually you'll get it flipped around. I'm almost certain there's a video or at least pictorial.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I did to fix mine when it happened but it took me a while to get it fixed. The first few times I tried I just kept giving up and it wasn't that important because I don't normally have people in the back seat of my car. Then one day a few months after I initially noticed it, I just kept playing with it until I got it out.

I know it seems like it should be so simple and easy but for me it definitely took some time and patience. Good luck!

 

Keeanh

Well-known member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #10

Second post in this thread:
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=161343

HTH

Keep everything "relaxed" and feed the belt through. If it's a locking latchplate, start with the latchplate underneath the fold so that you're pulling up. If you do it the other way, you're encouraging the latchplate to lock.

 

Pixels

New member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #11

If it's a sliding latchplate, I always start at the bottom. Move the latchplate as far down on the belt as you can, and then you can pull against the anchored belt.

If it's a locking latchplate, you have to start with the latchplate as far up the belt as you can get it. You do not want to be fighting a self-locking latchplate while also working the fold over.

 

Keeanh

Well-known member

• Oct 18, 2011

• #12

Maybe our locking latchplates are different.

With mine, they lock if you start at the top. I know it's counter-intuitive because that's opposite to how they work when you're sitting in the seat or installing a car seat. But if you start at the top and pull the buckle down, the movement of the belt will pull the locking bar UP against the friction point.