On Tue, 06 Jan 2015 20:05:28 -0600, wrote:

The seatbelt on my 95 Chevy pickup truck.

The buckle part is right against the crack in the seat, and can not be
pulled up further. It's not rigid, so it turns side to side. To buckle
it, I have to literally twist my whole body while pulling on it, so I
can SEE the slot to put it in. In warmer weather, this is not too bad.
In cold weather while I am wearing a thick winter coat, not only does
the coat block my view of the buckle but also makes it hard to twist
myself, not to mention I have some back problems that can make it
painful to twist in that manner.

Maybe you can still learn to put the belt together without looking
When I got a new car, or if I ride in someone else's, it takes a while
to be able to find the latch, esp. the second time.

Anyhow, it sometimes takes me several minutes to get that thing clicked,
and our local small town cops, just watch for seat belt violators to
hand out costly tickets (they got nothing better to do). So, I am
constantly getting annoyed by it. I think it was very poorly designed!

I googled "seat belt" and noticed that there are things called "Seat
Belt Extenders". Lots of them on Ebay, and elsewhere. They are
basically a short piece of seatbelt (most are about one foot long), with
a snap on one end, and buckle on the other end.

AT one level I'd prefer for you to buy one, since you say there are lots
of them sitting around doing nothing, but you should know that you may
be eligible for a free one from GM.

The government requires them to do this, though I don't know exactly
what the law says about what years, but someone told me she got two of
them free at the Buick dealer. And she showed them to me.

EVen if you're not strictly eligible, they might give you one. Nothing
I read said anything about a price if one wasn't eliglbe. Maybe every
car is included.

I don't like my Toyota Solara, but even when I weighed 30 pounds more,
there was plenty of belt to reach the latch, but in her car, it woudln't
reach. At 240 pounds I had to use the extension.

I've kept track and with my build, it's 6 pounds to an inch of waist, at
least starting at 160 pounds. Both going up and going down.

Later, I was looking at an extensive webpage I thought might help me fix
my car in the future. It didnt' have that much but it had recall notices
etc. and there was an announcment from Toyota that they gave out free
ones but you had to come in for a fitting iirc. They had t hem in 6,
8, 10, 12, and iirc 14" lengths, (or 4 - 12) and you also had to tell
them what seat you woudl use it in. What if you want to sit in a
different seat!!!, like if you want someone else to drive for a while.

This looks like it would solve my problem, since I could get the buckle
in FRONT OF ME, (on my lap), not deep down next to me, where it's hard
to see and manuver.

I'm posting this to ask if anyone else has used them? My biggest

Just that one time (and maybe on an airplane last year.) By not
attaching at the place where the seat bottom meets the seat back, you
lose some of the effectiveness of a 3-point harness. Even with a belt
that fit perfectly whn I only weight 200, when I slid on the ie and hit
a car head-on (neither of us were going that fast) my chest slid under
the belt, and my knee hit and broke the plastic panel below the
instrument part of the dash board. With an extension, the shoulder
strap would be of even less value.

My friend put ice on it, but the next day, the muscles in my leg didn't
work I wanted to get out of bed and I expected my leg to straighten
automatically. When it didn't, I told it to, but it still didn't. I
had to use my hands to straighten my leg, go to the batroom, and then I
went back to bed to check further. I had to use my hands to bend my
leg, and then I poked all over my knee and nearby and nothing hurt at
all. I stayed home though, and the next day everything was back to
normal, and it's never bothered me since. To me it was clear that my
leg knew it had hit something hard and my leg decided to take it easy
for a day, to have time to heal, even though it probably wasn't actually
hurt. Fantastic to see the body at its smartest.

concern is whether the entire belt will be too long with this added????
I'm an average weight. I think these are made more for overweight large
people.

Honestly, I really dont care much of the seatbelt fits me real well. I
personally find them to be more of a pain than useful. But I dont want
to get ticketed which I last heard is around a $200 fine. So my main
concern is just to satisfy the law, which is presently very hard to do,
if I'm only driving a few blocks while running errands.

I'd rather spent $10 or $15 for one of these than get a $200 ticket.

I don't think latches are standardized yet, esp. not in 1995. If you
get one online, it probably shoudl be for a Chevy, or at least GM and
'95 or close. And of course the color should match.