Hi everyone. First thanks to those of you who replied promptly and helpfully in the past. I hope this helps some of you...

So I picked my Aunt and her boyfriend up at the airport, she was in the back he was in the front. He never wears a seatbelt so the front buckle was hanging right in front of her.

She - not being the most technically inclined individual - of course, puts the front buckle in the rear latch. Stuck.

The threads I found on here involved non-warranty-covered repairs and replacements of the buckles. After some study of the other belt mechanism and some tinkering and force, I released the latch! Here's how I did it:

Insert a thin metal object (butter knife works) into BOTH sides of the buckle, and lightly pound with a mallet until they won't sink any further. Use the mallet and a blunt object to pound on the button a bit and voila! A good tug on the belt and you have your seatbelts back. Cost: $0, Time: 2 minutes.

I don't guarantee that this doesn't comprimise the safety/reliability of the belt system in the back seat, but everything looks intact and works fine. I pulled as hard as I could on the latched proper back belt and it held just fine.

Good luck dealing with this obvious design bug, and don't forget to test out the new rx8's in the showroom to see if they've fixed the problem

 

An excellent (and much needed!) fix - moving to the DIY forum!

S

 

Wow, what an awesome idea!

 

wish i had heard of this earlier. here's a link to another DIY for the same problem.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...0&page=1&pp=15

 

Thats brilliant. Why didn't someone think of this sooner? Can't wait to give this a whirl (is it weird that I'm hoping its NOT fixed? )

 

Interesting, I had tried inserting a thin metal blade when mine was stuck but did not drive it in with a mallet and only did one side. This would explain why I failed. My only concern is not to damage any of the internals. when I disassembled the belt latch there were small flimsy pieces which acted upon the larger more sturdy pieces that hold the belt in. You don't want to damage any of these to the point that it could cause the buckle to fail in the case of an accident.

 

I just tried this fix. It worked, but it did end up destroying the rear buckle mechanism, which I'll need to replace. It's still worth doing, though, because it frees up the front seat buckle without harm, and because in terms of safety, you'd want to replace that rear latch anyway. No telling how damaged it got even if it seems to work.

 

Tried the fix but I didn't have the room to fit something in both sides.


I used a straightened hoseclamp. Pushed hard on the button. I sprayed it with some lubricant and slipped the clamp in the difficult side (opposite the button) and it "popped". Wiggled it out. Tried out the correct seatbelt with it, no apparent damage.