middle seatbelt failed safety inspection

[BobTheMonkey Member Find all posts View Profile Close BobTheMonkey]

As part of my safety inspection due to moving state my 2012 vx failed as the middle seatbelt doesn't correctly lock when you yank on it. So I took it to the dealership and after a day they couldn't replicate the issue, so I showed the service manager what I'd been showed by a safety inspector that wasn't Toyota and he responded with "will have to rip your seat apart to replace it and stitch it back together" Anyway after convincing them to test other prados they all had the same problem!

So now my car is in limbo, Toyota have no idea what to do and waiting on a response from the transport authority for over a week now, my car is basically defected until its fixed with no fix available as even replacing the seatbelt with another unit will result in the same issue.

[hulbyw Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hulbyw]

Just tried the middle belt on my GXL. Seems to work ok. What exactly were you shown to test it that Toyota could not replicate until you showed them? BTW it is highly unlikely the stitching has to be removed. My Commodore upholstery was just unclipped and the whole backrest upholstery came off in one piece. I would be surprised if Toyota don't use a similar method on their production line. There again, Toyota seem to do things their way!!
Cheers......Wayne

[Guest Close Guest]

Will the seatbelt retractor lock when you take a passenger for a ride and hit the anchors?

[BobTheMonkey Member Find all posts View Profile Close BobTheMonkey]

Lock the seatbelt buckle in, grab the middle of the seatbelt and pull down, let it reel back in and repeat this a bunch of times.
you'll find that the seatbelt will just tumble most of the time. Compare it to the side seatbelts.
the force needed and consistency of the mechanism is different.
you can even test by siting in the seatbelt and lunging forward.
the method Toyota used was to pull it directly out the top of the seat, this works but not the correct method for testing.

[BobTheMonkey Member Find all posts View Profile Close BobTheMonkey]

As for pulling the seat apart, they are going to have to do it anyway to fix the rattle so might as well do it all

[hulbyw Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hulbyw]

I have tested the 150 and it won't lock up. I sure won't be putting anyone in the middle seat until this is sorted. Please let us all know what transpires

[zzsstt Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zzsstt]

That doesn't seem like a very good test, because it would be an instant fail for every vehicle sensing (pendulum) seatbelt ever made! Pulling the belt whilst the vehicle is stationary is a test that is only relevant to seatbelts that use "belt speed" to lockup. And I'm not sure why you'd want the seatbelt to lock if you lunged forward when the car wasn't moving! If the car is rammed by another vehicle a pendulum system will still lock because of the sudden acceleration, even when the car was stationary.

[BobTheMonkey Member Find all posts View Profile Close BobTheMonkey]

Agree the test is potentially flawed, the lunged forward was not the test this was my own method, but if you compare the difference between the center seatbelt and the ones directly next to them they perform completely different.

one other point I'd make is if I had paid Toyota to do my inspection my car would have "past" because I felt the $160 was abit rich when just about everyone else does it for 80 - 100 bucks I went to an independent tester and all this has come to light.

[gspy4u Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gspy4u]

so take it to a toyota stealer and get them to do the road worthy on it. Much cheaper and less hassle then trying to solve the seatbelt BS and they MUST pass it as it is genuine and not faulty.

[BobTheMonkey Member Find all posts View Profile Close BobTheMonkey]

I have taken it to the dealer and they are awaiting response from transport Tasmania, there is no reason why they must "pass" it if its genuinely defective, then it could end up as a recall would be my guess.

[Prone Member Find all posts View Profile Close Prone]

I have taken it to the dealer and they are awaiting response from transport Tasmania, there is no reason why they must "pass" it if its genuinely defective, then it could end up as a recall would be my guess.

I was following this thread with distracted interest.

I checked the middle seatbelt on my 2012 150 altitude, and I am guessing it has the same problem. The centre belt locking very different to outboard belts, hard to get it to lock. Oh well, I thought.

Then I saw Transport Tasmania mentioned. That is a bit closer to home.

Anyway welcome to Tassie, hope this will be the only trouble you have.

Cheers
Prone

[BobTheMonkey Member Find all posts View Profile Close BobTheMonkey]

Been here since Sept last year, we lived in Dunalley , after the bush fires we went back to Sa and decided we would return and rebuild our home.
the local dealership has been nothing but careless for both our cars, we are now considering driving north to see if they will do a better job.
ontop of that they charge well and truly more then any other place, I lost a set of keys 1 from a rav4 and Prado and they quoted over a grand to replace them 700 just for the Prado key. I can get blank genuine keys less then half that and they still wanted 500+ just to cut and code them.

[gspy4u Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gspy4u]

If it proves to be faulty then it will be replaced under warranty and won't cost anything. If they say it's not faulty and they won't replace it then they have to give you a roadworthy.

[Tar Trek Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tar Trek]

Hi there,

Just checked my 2010 GXL, works OK.

Tar Trek

[REV Find all posts View Profile Close REV]

Hi there,

Just checked my 2010 GXL, works OK.

Tar Trek

Mine too 2010 GXL. Tried it 12 times, locked every time.

I checked as soon as I saw this post, and I suggest that everybody does likewise.

The implications are HUGE, don't delay on this one people!


Cheers
REV