Hi Folks

I've just bought these seat belts from Van Der Laan (see attached).
Inertia 3-point front belts.

Does anyone have any photos of how and where they attach in the floor? 2 of the 3 bolts are pretty obvious but I think it's the one that holds the belt housing that isn't clear to me.

Tim

timgarman said:

Hi Folks

I've just bought these seat belts from Van Der Laan (see attached).
Inertia 3-point front belts.

Does anyone have any photos of how and where they attach in the floor? 2 of the 3 bolts are pretty obvious but I think it's the one that holds the belt housing that isn't clear to me.

Tim

Click to expand...

It's parallel to the bolt used for the receiver, a couple of inches behind the seat rails.

Not trying to put you off, but I bought a set of these from VDL and promptly threw them away after to trying to fit them. I personally, couldn't get them to release the belt ok unless they were in the vertical position, even though they are clearly designed for mounting both horizontally and vertically. Even when vertical, they kept jamming.

In addition, I didn't like the way they were not supplied with spacers and the bolts were designed to do this.

Mine, might have been a bad batch, so you may be ok, but for me they were a complete waste of money.

cheers, Steve

I do not know about the VDL belts but in my experience the recoil belt mechanism is incredibly sensitive to the angle at which they are mounted otherwise the belt just jams. I just checked the ones fitted on my 500 which I fitted and remember the trials & tribs and I would say that they have about a 10 degree forward tilt.

Hi Tim

I just fitted the same from VDL, no problems and no issues at all and they work just fine. I will get some shots of the fit up and post them for you and others. I noted there was a warning note in te box about the reels jamming that required a hefty slap on the end of the mechanism to release. I may have been fortunate I didn't have to do that they worked perfectly straight off.

Bear with me and I'll send the pictures.

Cheers
Hugh Jarce (aka Gary)

Hi Hugh

That's very helpful, thanks. One jammed but is now free.

Pictures or anything would be mint.

Tim

Glad to hear that not all of them are as bad as mine. The other thing I didn't like was the fact that they had a stop stud for the buckle that was pierced through the belt and due to the small size of the Fiat 500 was too long. Easily fixed by pulling out the stud, but this leaves a hole in the belt.

Tim mine came from VDL as well.

I had to use some of the spacers that came with them to raise the bracket that attaches to the B post, otherwise it would not rotate to allow the belt to be pulled out cleanly. Because the attachment on the B post is so low, you can't just grab them and pull them over your shoulder you have to sort of turnaround and pull enough slack out behind the seat then pull it over your shoulder but any slack will feed back into the reel.

The reels do get in the way for rear passengers getting in or out but I rarely have anyone in the back, so it's not a problem.

Tony

stevehg said:

Glad to hear that not all of them are as bad as mine. The other thing I didn't like was the fact that they had a stop stud for the buckle that was pierced through the belt and due to the small size of the Fiat 500 was too long. Easily fixed by pulling out the stud, but this leaves a hole in the belt.

Click to expand...

Mine did have any studs Steve but they were bought over a year ago so maybe there are some difference to what they sell now?

Great, thanks Tony. Can the reels be placed nearer the side wall and any further back?

Hoping Hugh will respond too with another opinion.

Tim

timgarman said:

Great, thanks Tony. Can the reels be placed nearer the side wall and any further back?

Hoping Hugh will respond too with another opinion.

Tim

Click to expand...

Probably the best way to tuck them away and reduce impact on any rear passengers is to mount it vertically on the rear bulkhead just below the rear seat. You would need to make up a bracket for each side of suitable thickness for safety reasons and to satisfy a road tester as the rear bulkhead is not that thick.

Check out post 5 in this topic. I mounted my reel as far out of the way as I could.


https://www.fiatforum.com/500-classic/313327-fitting-inertia-reel-seat-belts.html

Joe R