I have a 91, and yes, I know there was a recall. My question, I tried to use the allen wrench behind the driver's seat to manually crank back the seatbelt, but no go. It feels jammed. Any ideas? I'm gonna get pulled over cuz I have no seatbelt!

 

you can take it in to the dealer and have it fixed for free. I wouldnt worry about being pulled over as much as not having a working seat belt.

 

time for harneses

 

Use a screwdriver and hammer to loosen it, alternately with the allen wrench.

Slide the buckle back and leave it attached.

Tell me how this goes.

 

I know that Mazda will fix it, it just takes them forever to get the parts. I need a seatbelt in the interim! I will try the screwdriver thing, but if it breaks, I'm comin after ya!! j/k

 

The screwdiver was to be used to hit the buckle part.

dont hit the rotating part

just get it past the suck part.

 

I have a 1990 convertible, does the recall apply to this model as well? What did the recall cover. Better yet, please link me to the recall pages. Google is denying me success. Thanks.

 

The recall is for the "attack rodent" seat belts in the coupes. You don't have them.

 

Are we talking about the sliding part in the door frame? OR how the center console wont retract the actual seat belt when its unhooked?
Mine wont retract it when I unbuckle it from the "rodent".

 

You got it all wrong, they're called automatic seat squirrels

 

I can't believe Mazda ever made automatic seat belts. What a horrible idea that was. Glad that the vert avoided the hassle. Thanks for the info.

I was interested, because the return on my seatbelts is far from snappy. In fact, they don't retrieve unless I take basically all the 'weight' off the springs manually. Is there a fix for tired retrieve springs?

 

just a quick question...are the automatic seatbelts known to be safe?? what was the recal? i got into a pretty big accident rear ending a caprice and i had the automatic seatbelt on. no lap belt. and it worked great! was i lucky? or do they work good?
~matt

 

So that recall does not apply to verts? I have a '91 vert and I have read of seatbelt recalls before, but I could not figure out what they could have screwed up so that they would need a recall.

Kris

 

They work fine, there is just a bad rail design in the belt mech.

 

is there any way to rip out the whole auto seatbelt stuff and put in an a pillar from a 86-88 rx-7 so as to make it look clean for a pillar gauge? will the 86-88 pillar fit?

 

Well, this is not going well. I tried the screwdriver method, and no go. I then tried to hook up the two wires that give power to the motor, and it started to work, but now, the actual cable that moves the "squirrel" now is sticking out! My seatbelt is lost forever! I am ripping out the interior panels around it to work on it on Saturday. Hopefully, I can figure out somethin....

 

This is actaully what I expected...

Although i had forgotten to mention it..
yes yes...

Likely story I know..

This is what I should have mentioned.
Its what heppened to me.

Cut the exposed graphite grease covered plastic cable.

Thenn manually slide the RODENT to the back and plant it firmply at the "engaged" position.

then the seatbelt can be used until you get the car fixed.

Call the dealer, tell them you work on these cars and that you have a driver side seatbelt that is broken.

That you disabled the mech, and to please pre-order the part.

You will being the car in on the day they call you to tell you that the part is there.

This way they dont have the car for days.
and / or you dont have to make two trips.

Make sure that before AND after they change the mech, you check the pillar cover for damage.

have them order a new one if its loose or cracked.
This is highly likely.

I've been here many times.