SWANSWAY CUPRA Dealership

Odd seatbelt adjustment problem

jnbeck

Guest
Hi,

So we just bought ourselves a Mk2 Leon TDI. As I'm quite tall I need to have the seat quite far back and I prefer the seat to be lowered using the lever at the side. The problem is, when I'm in a comfortable driving position, the seatbelt sits about 1 inch from my chest. Now as far as I know a seatbelt by law should (and of course for safety) come over the shoulder from a rear position and keep in constant contact with your chest and then pull in around the waist where it fits into the receiver. Obviously I'm concerned that should anything go wrong, the belt is not going to lock the way it is supposed to do as I'm going to travel one or two inches forward before it even thinks about locking.

The actual belt receiver by the seat seems way to long and too far forward, why on earth is there not a 'swivel' on the receiver to take into account seat recline adjustment?

Would it be possible to retro fit another receiver which is shorter (therefore lowering the 'receiving angle' bringing it closer to me) and has a pivot as standard?

I find it utterly unacceptable for a seatbelt to not fit correctly at any seat position the driver may want to sit in, if the seat adjustment is there to use, surely the seatbelt should be able to accomodate that?

Any other tall drivers had the same problem?

Any advice on a fix appreciated, thank you.
 
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Is the backrest of the seat upright enough? I have seen some people driving with the backrest way to far reclined. You do know that the steering wheel goes up/down as well as in/out..........
 
you can adjust the height of the belt on the side, maybe bringing it down a touch could help? failing that get in the gym until your bulging chest touches the seatbelt at any angle it's placed? :)
 
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Having the seat too far back also leaves the driver at the risk of 'submarining', which basically means that if you hit something, you effectively slide underneath the seatbelt rather than being retained by it. My mate used to have his seat almost laid down in his MG Metro, until he had to apply his brake a bit sharpish and realised there was nothing actually holding him on to the seat.

Unfortunately I don't think a shorter receiver is available, it needs to be that long for the pretensioner to work.
 
DerbyForget said:
you can adjust the height of the belt on the side, maybe bringing it down a touch could help? failing that get in the gym until your bulging chest touches the seatbelt at any angle it's placed? :)
Click to expand...
If I bring it down on the pillar it brings the belt over my shoulder but it's at the top of my arm instead of over my collar bone, kind of thing. Ha yes, a bulging chest may help, maybe I should get some man boobs courtesy of HRT.
 
Nath. said:
Is the backrest of the seat upright enough? I have seen some people driving with the backrest way to far reclined. You do know that the steering wheel goes up/down as well as in/out..........
Click to expand...
The seat is quite far back but not stupidly so, steering wheel is set perfect. The prblem is I'm tall, pulling the seat forward would help but then my legs would be up and wrapped around the steering wheel controls etc.
 
Slimy said:
Having the seat too far back also leaves the driver at the risk of 'submarining', which basically means that if you hit something, you effectively slide underneath the seatbelt rather than being retained by it. My mate used to have his seat almost laid down in his MG Metro, until he had to apply his brake a bit sharpish and realised there was nothing actually holding him on to the seat.

Unfortunately I don't think a shorter receiver is available, it needs to be that long for the pretensioner to work.
Click to expand...
This is my exact worry, if I get into trouble I will indeed slide straight under or, I'll go forward and get the worlds biggest smack in the face from the airbag which isn't really a good experience either. The problem is not just the should belt, the lap belt is miles away from my lap, the receiver is WAY too long and to far forward. If this was 2 inches shorter, had a pivot so it could swivel closer to me, then there would be no issue at all.

The seat could go further back, but then the belt would be miles from me. If a car is designed to have a seat that goes back to a certain point then it's restraint system should be able to match it.

Edit... The receiver on the drivers side is longer than that of the passenger side, are these receivers a part of the seat chassis or are they bolted on?

Thanks
 
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i have exactly the same problem to get the seat belt to fit i have to have to seat bolt upright but that's not particularly comfortable so i just live with it being about 5-10cm of my chest it's weird as it's the only car that's been like that even a mk5 golf is fine?

(probably doesn't help being a scrawny f*** :happy:)
 
I'm 6' 7" and the seat is all but all the way back and the seat belt fits fine.

The part on the seat that the belt fits to should be the same length on both seats. Mine are both short.

Could it be the seat belt pretensioners have been triggered and the wrong part fitted?
 
You've just taken the words right out of my mouth there to be honest, I have been out and looked and wondered the same thing.

However in hindsight, if you have a bump, doesn't the pre-tensioner shorten it rather than lengthen it so as to pull you in tighter to the seat?

The centre console/cup holder part is higher on the driver side and I presumed that was why the belt receiver was higher to save scraping knuckles or whatever trying to squeeze your hand down between plastic to click in.

Are you 100% positive that both your passenger and driver receiver are the same length? BTW mines a 06 plate, not sure if your is the facelift which may have changed the receivers? (I'm clutching at straws here)

Could anyone else do me a favour and check theirs too please?

Thanks again.

Edit... I'm thinking I may have to put some 1 inch spacers under all four seat fixing bolts to raise the whole seat up to give me that extra height which should in theory push me up against the belt....
 
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It does sound like the wrong part has been fitted.

Mine is a FL and they sit below centre console height.

You could do with finding out if it is correct becasuse it is part of SRS system with the air bag.
 
Ok thanks for that, i need to take a look at another mk2 Leon to se if it differs. What's worrying me now is that if the receivers have been changed because the tensioners went off that means it's been in a unrecorded accident of some kind.

Oh joy.
 
Checked mine (FL) and both receivers are below the centre console height and the same length. However, if I put the seat as far back as it will go and at it's lowest setting then the seat belt is too loose on me. For the belt to be about right I'd have to have the seat so far upright that it's uncomfortable.

Generally I leave the seat at the lowest position but bring it forward and reclined a bit to be comfy. I'm 6'2 and there's plenty of headroom, leg room etc.

BTW. If you have a crash then the seat belt receivers shorten up to pull you right into the seat.
 
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Thanks for that info, I'm the same in that if I have the seat upright I'm also too uncomfortable.

My belt receivers are not the same length, far from it, just taken a photo but i need to have 15 posts before I can post a link to a photo on this forum.

The passenger receiver is level with the top of the centre console, the drivers receiver is nearly 2 inches higher. It is also angled more forward than the passenger one too, something is not right here.

I am aware that the receivers shorten when in a collision, so this could mean that the car has been in an accident and the drivers receiver has been changed and is at the right height, the passenger side may be low because it retracted and wasn't changed, perhaps the drivers receiver failed to retract...

In any case something is not right, I'll upload the photo when I can get myself a few more posts (without spamming of course)

Thanks again.
 
Hmm, the distance between the receiver and the rear of the seat (looking side on first photo) seems to be the same there. The passenger on mine is the same, the drivers is pointing further forward, has a larger gap and is much higher. I'm really a bit stumped as to what has happened here, I'm wondering if another SEAT has a similar fit receiver and has been put in as a replacement. This would be presuming they are bolted on and not a part of (welded) the subframe.
 
Thanks for that, the receivers appear to look the same height there too.
 
Here we go, picture from rear.

20120828_172931.jpg


Both seats same distance on sliders however. Note the difference in receiver position, it's 2 - 3 inches further forward on the drivers side and about 2 inches higher.

Weird one?
 
Does appear to be a bit weird. We need someone with exactly the same model Leon as yours to check theirs for a proper comparison. It's possible there are differences between models.
 
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