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Three-Point Retractable Seat Belts - Help!
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supercharged
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:43 am    Post subject: Three-Point Retractable Seat Belts - Help! Reply with quote

I have a 1971 Ghia with the stock three-point non-retractable seat belts.
Besides their questionable ability to actually save my life in an accident they are a major pain in the rear end. Mad

I have looked at retractable belts that are either from Beetles and generic retrofit belts and they all have the retraction mechanism mounted at the shoulder point and appear too large to mount in the current KG belts location. Confused

Are there any retractable belts that have the mechanism at the bottom or better yet, something designed to fit in a KG?

Shocked
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EPETREA
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If I understand you correctly, your recoil/retractor is mounted on the post at shoulder level??? if so, then I think a po must have put it there in error. I have a 74 with the retractors mounted where your arm/hand would naturally rest(for lack of a better term) I do seem to think that I have seen in an older KG owerns manual that they are supposed to be mounted at floor level behind seat. This would also explain why my retractor has way too much webbing on it. Hopefully someone else will have some input as well. hope this helps.
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Airhead
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I replaced the belts on my car the inertia reels (retraction mechanisms) are located at the side of the seats

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I got my belts from VW Heritage here in the UK http://www.vwheritage.com/vwh/VW-Beetle-Parts/Interior/Seat-Belts/?templateID=vwh

Airhead
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supercharged
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I must not have been clear. No my current belts look like this:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


So it seems I could buy a 1974 type belt and it may work.
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InSaNeBoY
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Airhead wrote:
When I replaced the belts on my car the inertia reels (retraction mechanisms) are located at the side of the seats

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.



that's not the correct location, at least for a '74 retractor is bolted on the carpeted piece by the rear seat. and the inertia reel is parallel to the side of the car, not perpendicular as you have it.
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Airhead
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:14 pm    Post subject: Re: Three-Point Retractable Seat Belts - Help! Reply with quote

supercharged wrote:
I have a 1971 Ghia with the stock three-point non-retractable seat belts.
Besides their questionable ability to actually save my life in an accident they are a major pain in the rear end. Mad

I have looked at retractable belts that are either from Beetles and generic retrofit belts and they all have the retraction mechanism mounted at the shoulder point and appear too large to mount in the current KG belts location. Confused

Are there any retractable belts that have the mechanism at the bottom or better yet, something designed to fit in a KG?
Shocked


You asked if there was any retractable (inertia reel) seatbelts with the mechanism at the bottom, yes there is they're like mine, the retraction mechanism goes to the bottom, none of them are at shoulder height!, you may find that the 1974 year belts were also static, please dont even contemplate buying secondhand seat belts - they wont save your life Shocked
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Airhead
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

InSaNeBoY wrote:




that's not the correct location, at least for a '74 retractor is bolted on the carpeted piece by the rear seat. and the inertia reel is parallel to the side of the car, not perpendicular as you have it.


I dont care wether its correct or not, all that I know is its safe and will stop me going head first through the windshield in the unfortunate event of an accident
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70coupyel
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 6:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Superchargered
I did my seat belts 2 years ago. Easy to find 3 points belts to fit our late Ghia's. Look at my pic's here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2656995&highlight=#2656995
Hope this all helps you out.
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Kaygee
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I swapped in aftermarket retract belts that I bought on eBay. They turned out to be from Autoloc.
http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/autoloc/product.lasso?prodinc=seatbelts
My only complaint is that the upper mounting point in the Ghia is so low that it slips off my shoulder and I have to keep pulling it back up like a chick adjusting her bra strap. It was worse with the OG non-retracs. The little tension from the retrac helps to keep it in place.
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supercharged
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:10 pm    Post subject: Here I go Reply with quote

So I received my 3-point retractable seat belts and there are three attachment points and my old non-retractable belts only mounted in two locations (on floor near seat and up near rear window).

So I assume I will have to mount the new belt as shown by Airhead's photo. If this is incorrect - I hope someone steers me right!

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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scottz
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, Airhead has them mounted correctly. But you should need an "L" shaped bracket to mount the retractor reel on floor behind seat near the door opening. Like this:
http://www2.cip1.com/PhotoGallery.asp?ProductCode=C26%2D857%2D024

Other brackets will work but they need to be strong enough! Hope that helps.
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wolfgang klinkert
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have retractable belts im my '73 Karmann Ghia, which were directly ordered from factory by the first owner of my Ghia, when he bought the car. Cool

Here you can see the position of the ORIGINAL "mounting point" beside of the rear bench:


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Please find another photo here:

Arrow http://images3.bilder-speicher.de/show.php?type=image_800&id=09022618790151
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Last edited by wolfgang klinkert on Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:22 am; edited 1 time in total
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boat_builder
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I took out my old lobster claw seat belts and put in new retractable ones from VW Heritage. Imounted the retract unit on the floor pan with the existing bolt. Works fine and I'm pretty sure its safe.
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ruschejj72
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 5:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would bet that the '71 and earlier mounting procedure is different than the '72 and later.

My '72 has the mount exactly like wolfgang's. Great pics.

I looked up getting new ones, $199! Wow. I'll be shopping around for sure.
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vwairheads
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

please post a picture for 71 and 71 models
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ruschejj72
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know it's not a '71 pic, but 70coupyel has some good pics of his '70 (could be hers?). Prob the same
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