How Do You Remove a Seat Belt in a Car?

No ideas but it sounds a wee bit flimsy.

I can't find anything. Considering current car designs, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if removal is impossible without destroying the seats, or being very time consuming..........................removing seats from vehicle, removing upholstery, etc.

I'm not sure if this would work, but you may want to look into aftermarket belts that mount on the sidewall, and just cutting out the old ones. Not an endorsement, just an illustration.

http://www.carpartswholesale.com/v5/?Ntt=chevrolet+trailblazer+seat+belt+us-sbelt&src=seeit

I absolutely agree with lyn on this. GA for you.

Seat belt position and the force exerted on them are a few of the conditions monitored by the car's control module. The ECM uses inputs from these and other sensors to decide when to, for example, deploy the airbag, turn off the fuel pump...

Unless you are very well versed in this system, allow the dealer (who sees cars like yours all the time) to install your seat covers.

I guess we can safely assume that the people that sell the seat covers don't include these pesky little tidbits of information in their literature.

We are not certain that our OP schematiclion24 purchased the correct seat cover for the car. That may be the actual source of the trouble.

There are so many different configurations for auto interiors anymore, I can understand that even if the package says it will install correctly there will be some snags.

I have two types of vehicles, old and older.................these problems don't come up.

I am with you on the old cars. I am sort of fond of them myself.

I had to Wiki 'Seatbelt'... I couldn't remember what they were.

Whenever the bench seat gives up the factory cover, an old blanket will last me for two or three years. No seatbelts to trim around.

The first three cars I owned didn't have seat belts.

I installed seat belts in my '55 Ford in 1964 when they were invented.

Two of your first three cars also ate oats.

I did not understand the OP to say he wanted to modify or permanently remove the seat belt, just temporarily while installing the seat cover. All of the seat belts I've looked at have the tensioner at the top end, which I agree should not be tampered with. On the bottom end they are simply bolted to the floor, usually with a torx head bolt. Simply unbolting the end, threading it through the seat cover hole and bolting it back down, possible with some thread locker does not seem like it would compromise safety to me. -- JHF

Tensioner at the top, and sewn together with the lap belt at the buckle on the other end.

No, sewn to a steel bracket that is bolted to the floor. I can't see why removing the bolt and replacing it would compromise safety any more than removing the bolt(s) that hold the brake caliper in place to replace the pads compromises safety. -- JHF

The end opposite the tensioner of the shoulder belt is "...sewn to a steel bracket that is bolted to the floor."?

The how do you get into it?

Not much experience on Chevy, on my 2010 Ford Flex, 2006 F-350, 2002 Crown Vic, 1999 Grand Marquis, 1984 T'bird, 2001 Dodge 3500, the top end ends in the tensioner, in the B pillar on the Fords, in the seat back in the Dodge. The belt goes through a flat plate that is the male end of the buckle and inserts into the female end of the buckle. I floats for adjustment. The one piece belt then goes to the floor bracket. As another poster mentioned it is sewn to that bracket, but the bracket is bolted to the floor.

All I am suggesting is rather than disassemble the tensioner to thread the seat belt from the outside of the seat cover, un-bolt the other end and thread it from the inside. -- JHF

CB, I totally agree with you and the *KISS* approach, "keep it simple stupid". GA from me. DJ

The integrated seatbelts in GM vehicles can be very annoying. The seatbelts were installed along with inertia sensing devices that makes the belt and the seat one unit to properly restrain the occupant without the added mass of the seat itself.

A seatbelt mounted to the vehicle puts unnecessary restraint on the occupant, as the added mass of the seat is also being restrained by the belt. That could be a considerable amount if a vehicle has 8 or 12-way power seats.

Consider a small adult or child restrained by a belt mounted to the B-pillar in which the seat has equal or more mass than the occupant themselves. In an integrated seatbelt, the hardware holding the seat to the chassis takes the brunt of the overall force rather than being shared by the seatbelt. In a traditional seatbelt arrangement, the occupant is wedged between the belt and the seat with the seat moving forward violently in extreme cases. That results in the traditional broken clavicle, extreme abrasions, and/or separated shoulders.

BTW, just cut a hole in the seat cover and have the person in your home who does the sewing make a nice velcro closure for the back side down the seam of the cover.

Not to make light of the intent of your post, seats themselves are designed to give in an accident. I know this because I smacked my face into the front seat in an accident. My face survived without an issue, not so much as a bloody nose.

I did, however, pull a hamstring when I planted my feet on the floor in a misguided attempt to further restrain myself. Nearly half my body mass took its toll on the muscle. My glasses were toast as well, launched forward to the front seat area. I often wonder how much damage those stuffed animals in the rear window can cause in an accident.

A) You modify the seat cover to allow the seat belt to fit through it, then take your car and seat cover to the dealer and ask them to install it for you.

B) Modify the seat cover to include a zipper on the side and something similar to a button hole where the seat belt comes through.

C) Get a different type of seat cover such as the beaded type that just sits on top of the seat.

Return the seat covers for the right ones, they will have a cutout and velcro fastener. Or make the covers fit by the previous posts suggesting to cut and add velcro. The manufactors state this important fact in the advertisments. You just got the wrong ones.

My Corvette was the same way.....I had to get the right ones to look and fit nicely.

Who built this death trap??? As a former NHRA racer, I am shocked by the thought that a car manufacturer would condsider hooking a restraint to a seat, not the car body. This would never pass an NHRA tech. Of course a two point belt would also be illegal, so....

Does your NHRA racer have an air bag to suplant the belt?

These seats have an interesting engineering design behind them. They actually do less damage to the occupant from the seat belt itself in the event of a crash. The seats themselves are designed as part of the chassis (structural member).

With the ever increasing weight of new seats (power everything, heat, a/c, etc) the force against the belt itself was to an extreme point. By moving the belt assembly to the seat itself, the mass/force restrained was greatly reduced.

In case you didn't bother to read this post, I'll repeat it here.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE OR MODIFY THE RESTRAINT SYSTEM IN YOUR VEHICLE FOR ANY REASON!!!!!!!!!!!

If you insist on doing this, take it to the dealer. He will then be liable for any deaths or injuries that occur due to improper removal and re-installation of a safety restraint device.

The days of the shade tree mechanic are over. Some things SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED BY THE VEHICLE OWNER, since the death of someone other than the "mechanic" may be the result.

The days of the shade tree mechanic are over.

Unless we drive old cars/trucks. I can still find me a shady spot in the driveway and fix mine.

Well, what do you consider old? These systems have been around for over fifteen years in some makes.

Five more and they are antiques.

!986 GMC truck

1997 Toyota Camry

1999 Dodge Caravan

All of them old enough that I don't care what the seats look like. If I did, the seatbelts are external from the seats and pretty easy.

The truck I've had apart and can fix most anything on. The other two, just brakes and stuff, no engine work....................I'm sure I could figure it out, but I don't feel like it.

I have an acquaintance who is an Associate Professor at Punjab University (India), and he is spending a few years here in Fargo ND, participating in some sort of PhD exchange program. He is a brilliant mechanical engineer and an all around nice fellow, but I would not trust him with a potato gun. The man is all thumbs.

"What if that shadetree mechanic happens to have an education in electrical engineering?" Can he handle a spud gun?

I don't think I would want to point at liability for my family member's death, or mine as the main reason to not do this.

The dealership "should" know what they are doing, but in my experience they only do half of the time. The rest of the time they just open a book (or computer) and figure it out as they go along. Disassembling this advanced seat belt system is definitely not a good idea.

Best leave it as it was found. A seat cover is no reason to risk life and limb.

My post on the proper procedure was taken from the service manual for the specific auto in question. The disassembly and assemply is common @ re-upholstery shops etc. IF none of the restraint system parts are being replaced due to defect in themselves it is a relatively simple procedure. The pictures are for illustrative purposes only. You should have it done by a professional as there are specific torque specs required in the reassembly.

Sorry Lyn, I have to digress with you on this one. Who's going to have my families' welfare closer to heart, me, or the dealer? Just having the liability on someone else's' conscience does not do my conscience any good.

I totally understand your comments from a legal standpoint, but for me and mine, at the very least, I'm going to double-check any work done on a safety related item on my vehicles. That's if I allow someone other than myself to do the work, which I normally don't.

But, on an open forum such as this, your comments are probably in the right direction, but I still felt the need to respond.

Tom D.

I think it's the same philosophy/reasoning why doctors don't operate on their families. It isn't the level of care, it is the outcome for the doctor should he make a mistake.

Fine, you and lonster are capable of making your own (although maybe misguided) decisions about who repairs the life saving equipment mounted on your vehicles.

However, on an open forum, I would never suggest that someone of unknown skills remove and replace ANY safety related item.

The OP was not REPAIRING their restraint system. I would never "repair" a safety restraint. IF they are defective they should be replaced in a professional facility.

How is removing and replacing a seat belt any different from repairing one?

I concur.

But as others have mentioned, just because the tech works for the dealer, doesn't mean they have the necessary skills, and they certainly don't have the same regard for me or my loved ones lives as I do.

Tom

See you guys later.

Just as an aside, our OP schematiclion24 has not yet returned to review this thread.

We can be like a dog chewing on a bone. Woof!

I didn't read the entire thread but...if you're anywhere near the manufacturer I'd offer your truck up as a model for them to design with. I've done this before with Harley aftermarket guys. Who knows you might get a freebie out of the deal and a custom fit that works without you altering anything yourself.

Good luck and DO NOT tamper with the belts!

It sounds like that the retractor in built in to the seat back, so why not just remove the opposite end of the belt? By removing the one bolt that attaches it to the hard point and then feed the loose end of the belt through the seat cover, install the seat cover, reattach the belt with the bolt, torque tighten the bolt to factory specs. Just be sure that the bolt is tighten to specs. It really can't be that complicated. DJ

My point, exactly! -- JHF P.S. GA from me.

Yeah, really. You know, wheels are safety equipment as well. We wouldn't want anyone taking those off, would we? And wiper blades. My god, one could fail at any time and render vision incomplete! Don't even get me started on door latches! You had better take that vehicle into the dealer to have those lubricated according to the maintenance schedule in your owner's manual!

We don't want people maintaining and repairing and modifying their vehicles all willy-nilly. We had better support the auto-repair industry. What are you trying to do, take food out of their kids' mouths? What are you, some kind of commie-pinko?

Please move your bed away from the wall. -- JHF

Please engage brain before typing.

I thought it was all sarcasm. If so, it really does make sense.

We will if you will,

judging by your posts on this thread I won't hold my breath

"I won't hold my breath"

Why don't you hold it for about a week, smart a$$.

Ok, without sound too insulting:

Do not touch the restraint system! There are specifications and performance data which justify its placement in the vehicle for your safety.

The cost of the seat cover cannot compare to the cost of your life!

Keep it simple, cut an opening in the seat cover to accommodate the shoulder belt bracket, install either velco along both sides of the opening to refasten the seat cover or have the seat cover re-sewn by an upholstery professional.

Yeah, upholstery professional...an upholstery engineer...to put a seat cover on...better contact a professional.

that waaaaas insulting

hope that doesn't sound too sarcaaaaastic

There is a fine picture here. Keep in mind that the tensioner is fired by an explosive. Disconect the battery half an hour before you begin. There is a shorting plug available to prevent static electricity from firing the device. http//forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?p=1087010 Maybe it is better to remove the stationary end from the side of the seat frame and thread it through a hole in the seat cover.

Fired by an explosive?!? The seatbelt?!? So every time I jam on the breaks and my seat belt locks me back I need to have my explosives replaced?

UR nutz!

Dear Amonous #2. No I didn't misspell it.

The seat belt is tightened by a ballistic charge in the event of a wreck of the magnitude that would deploy the air bags. For a demonstration, go to youtube and search "toyota seat belt bang" for a short video clip. Brakes by the way.

Kind of a pun...breaks...get it? Meaning the seat belt breaks when it fires. Don't go ballistic on me.

It's anonymous, buy the weigh.

Man...nobody gets me.

"Man...nobody gets me."

Nobody wants you.

Even a babbling idiot needs to bounce conversation off of a wall. Consider yourself the idiot's wall.

The only thing you need to get an account on this site is an email address anyway, so the anonymity is built in.

No, I prefer to hang out with the people who like to have intellectual conversations and provide sage advice. Usually, though, we end up in conversations like this one with dried-up old farts who get all pissed off when someone calls them on their rude and ineffective commentary to someone's (maybe) valid question. Throwing rude comments back at an OP to "do their own homework" or "don't you know how to search the internet?" gets really old, really fast.

I have to wade through so much crap just to get to real answers it's almost pathetic. If you don't have anything constructive to say, then shut the hell up and let someone who really wants to help do so.

We don't need 50 traffic cops out here telling the peons we're too stupid and need to hire professionals, blah, blah, blah.

Teach Me Sensi

After giving serious thought about this thread and "If" the Belt Retractor is built into the seat back assembly and the belt penetrates through the original upholstery, then I have to retract my post (#37). And then, highly recommend that you, Do Not Install any After "Market Seat Covers"! No matter which way you install (it) or them. If, for some reason there should be an accident and the seat belt restraining system failed for any reason, Any Good Lawyer, working for the Insurance Companies, will argue and probably demonstrate that the "After Market Seat Covers" impeded the function of the Seat Belt Restraining System and win the case. Which, will leave you out of any Claim for Personal Injury Damages. And this is only,"If".

I'm done here. DJ