Legacy rear seat belt problem

[Mark Prestwood]

Hi,

I have a 1998 Legacy GTB Wagon. When carrying people around in the back
seats they have been complaining that the seat belts slowly tighten
themselves so that the person can hardly breathe! They can't simply be
pulled out a little to give some slack either - they have to be unbuckled
and fully retracted before they can be withdrawn again.

I took it to the Subaru dealer, but got the usual dismissive 'nothing we
can do' story. Has anyone else experienced this, or knows how to fix it?

I don't carry passengers in the back very often, but it's nice to know they
are not slowly suffocating back there!

Cheers.

 

[Nicolas Dore]

Not sure if this applies to your car (I have a 2000) or how this would
happen but the seat belts, if pulled ALL the way out, have a locking mode
for baby seat installation so that the belt needs to be pulled all the way
back in to be pulled out again. When this happens the belt makes a cliuking
sound when it is pulling in.

If your passengers are pulling the belts all the way out when sitting, this
could be the problem...

Nicolas