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Rear Retractable Seatbelts


BrandonS

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Has anyone actually done this?  I want to push the button and get new seatbelts.  My car currently only has two front lap belts and I'd like to safely carry the family around with me (wife and a car seat in the back).  I have the front measured and have those squared away, but I can't seem to find any information on standard, retractable, 3 point seat belt being put in the back of a 510.  I know there is a mounting hole in the C pillar from the factory.  I'm trying to figure out what the setup would look like.  I've read speculation that I may have to go with the retractor up at the mounting hole, but would prefer a lower mount.

 

If you've done this or have information it'd be greatly appreciated.

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I'm gonna guess the retractor is on top just because that's how my 180 is, but that's no guarantee. I'm also guessing when I say I dont think there's room for a lower retractor on those cars, all the ones I've seen have been pretty well full up in the lower area

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I need to remove the parcel tray to check if this is feasible, but maybe I can put the retractor down on the floor/trunk pan in front of the gas tank top of the shock brace/wheel well and run it up through a slot in the parcel shelf.  Put a shoulder loop on the stock bolt location and run the bottom anchor in behind the bottom cushion and below the top cushion.

 

I need to redo the parcel shelf anyway so I could do that with the seatbelt install.  I was thinking run the seatbelt through a grommet like below (maybe I can find a nice aluminum one) and it should look pretty decent.

 

 

DSC063121135929109.jpg

 

I think this may be the best way forward now that I think about it, but I would like to see what others have come up with as well!

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I'm sure most people wanting to do this are aware of all the mounting points.  When I was searching threads it would have been nice to have everything in one place, so I'm going to duplicate info into this thread.  I took the parcel tray out and removed the top of the rear seat and the fuel cell wall.  I found what I believe to be the top anchor (I didn't want to ruin anything being in a rush) and two bottom factory anchors.  For anyone looking to do this the bottom internal anchors are plugged, you can see the passenger side is still plugged.  So it looks to be pretty straight forward as far as anchors.   

 

I am now questioning if my idea would work.  I don't know how well the retractable seatbelt mechanism would cope with being 6" away from the shoulder buckle that would be at an angle.  Maybe I can mount it slightly foward of the shoulder mount at an angle to match the shoulder mounts angle.  I think I'm going to shoot an e-mail to the seatbelt company as well.  May as well get their input since they are the experts.  I also don't want to just mess this up since my kid is going to be attached to it.

 

vsRwCMU.jpg

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You are on the right track!  I'm pretty sure the countries that had optional or mandatory 3pt rear shoulder belts (not the USA) had the retractor unit bolted up to the lower C pillar captive nut, as you illustrate.  Maybe search for pics on JDM cars......??  The USA had 2pt lower lap belts only, utilizing those captive nuts under the seat bottom.

 

TJ

Denver 

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I’m guessing since those plugs were in both middle bolt holes my car never had them added. I did get ahold of the Seat Belt Planet guys. I chose them only because they had aviation buckles in black texture finish with chrome sides. In any case, I ran the idea of putting them below the parcel shelf through them. He emailed me back and said he’s pretty sure they have a solution but to call them and discuss it. I’ll give them a call next week and see what they have for an idea and keep this thread all the way to and through installing them.

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If you are intent on hiding the retractor unit, you will need to fabricate a mounting captive nut UNDER the parcel tray, right?  You need to take into consideration the angle of how the belt passes up thru the parcel tray, with that black plastic oval shaped trim piece (in your pic), cuz that will be the pressure point if in an accident (God forbid!).  The belt MUST move in & out without any issues.  Good luck with the project!

 

TJ

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