After 2+ years of ownership I was finally bitten by an engineering bug. My very wonderful senior (77 year old) mother wanted to go for a ride. I got her into the back passenger side seat and shut the door for her. I went around and got into the driver's seat and put my seatbelt on and started the car. By then my father had gotten into the front passengers seat. As I was messing with the radio (turning the rock down) I heard my mother say something about the difficult seat belt. As I started to turn around to help out of the corner of my eye I saw my father swatting the air hoping to catch the belt for his seat. Immediately I realized the calamity of what was occuring but just like in the movies, everything went into slow motion and the words "Noooooooo" could not come out quick enought. Very quickly the reality hit and all I could do was laugh and pictured driving around with my mother in the car for all eternity. I was crying I was laughing so hard. The long and short of it is that thanks to raptor75's fantanstic DIY I was able to remove the back seat, dissemble the seat belt and rebuild everything. Total cost: $20 minutes labor. Have a good laugh please.

 

raptor's DIY is a good read for everyone. you never know when a passenger might do the same and it's nice to be prepared instead of spending a lot of time and money to replace the seatbelt.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-fix-front-seat-belt-rear-buckle-102760/

 

so....your telling me......that your mom used the front passenger seat belt!!!!

 

Wait..so what happened?? Your mom sat down and then your dad did what? With who?

I don't understand your story.

 

point = if someone goes in the back seat and sees the front seatbelt but thinks it's theirs and buckle it you're SOL.

 

My mom grabbed the front seat belt thinking that it was for the back seat. When I turned to see what she was complaining about I saw that my father (now in the front passenger seat) was trying to grab the seatbelt that was no longer there. The spooky thing is that it all happened so quick. Bottom line is that if the person in the back thinks it's their's you are SOL. The good news is that the DIY took only 20 minutes. Next time, and I now believe there will be a next time, I'm sure I can do the repair in 5 minutes. Worse case is that you'll have to purchase the recepticle ($25-30) and replace it yourself. In NO case should anyone pay the dealer to do it! It's only one bolt, very easy.