On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 01:34:45 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:


"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
news:Fpq0k.98$Yx.8@trndny08...
You guys always have answers.

Bought a little Toyota Tercel (1995) over a year ago. (BTW, I also now
own an identical parts car)
Now, it turns out, we use it all the time for our run-around car since we
get an honest 30-34 miles to the gallon.

SWMBO rightly complains that her seat belt is strangling her. With every
move and wiggle the seat belt just gets tighter and tighter. The drivers
belt allows you to lean forward (reach things etc.) and only locks up on
sudden deceleration. The belts in the parts car act the same way.
Checked with the Toyota service rep and was told that it works as designed
so you could wrap it around a child-seat and not have it give.
Needless to say my Silverado truck does not have this feature on the
passenger side.

Can anybody think of a work around. A driver's belt would not work on the
passenger side because the inertia mechanism would be backwards.

It's really bad. I've sat there and it's a miserable way to ride. Every
five minutes or so, you end up unbuckling, letting the belt retract and
then reinstalling. Pain in the ass.

Any suggestions / modifications would be appreciated.

My wife has had the same problem in two of our cars over the years. I clip a
big spring-type paper clip on the belt where it enters the retraction
mechanism, adjusted so she can wiggle freely.
SWMBO used purpose built clamping devices for several years, of course
they always ended up holding the belt fully extended. One day,
arriving home in the midst of a downpour, I pulled in so that her door
was adjacent to the porch step. I her haste to avoid getting wet, her
feet got tangled in the dangling belt causing her to fall up onto the
porch, breaking her right arm at the shoulder. During six weeks in a
"collar and cuff" I learned all kinds of new skills, including how to
put a bra ON! Now she wears her seat belt as it was designed,
fortunately, on the Toy Car (Echo), the front seat shoulde vbelt
anchor point is adjustable. Icidently, the rear belts on this car do
have the lock feature where once extended the retracted slightly, they
will not extend again unless they have been fully retracted. As you
point out, this is for use on child seats.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada