[Vadik17]

so the other day a couple of friends and I piled into my 330i and headed to reno for a bbq fest. Half way through the trip the backseat passengers finally bring to my attention that my backseat seat belts dont work. Both of the fronts work just fine, as well as the middle rear. I decided to see for myself, and they were right. the belts dont click in. Does anyone know what could cause this problem? There doesnt seem to be anything stuck in them.

[Efthreeoh]

The rear belts have pyrotechnic devices. Pull the seat bootom out and see if they have fired.

[Vadik17]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

The rear belts have pyrotechnic devices. Pull the seat bootom out and see if they have fired.

do you happen to know how one would do that, my apologies for being such a noob

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Vadik17

do you happen to know how one would do that, my apologies for being such a noob

Just pull straight up on the front lip of the rear seat bottom seat cushion. Place your hand about mid way between the center hump and the door sill (i.e. in the center of the seat - on the lip of the cushion) and pull straight up. Then do the other side. Or you can pull up on both at once if your coordinated enough to stand in the rear, balance yourself, and use both hands at the same time (I'm not able to do it). The rear seat bottom just snaps in to the floor. Once you get it off you'll see the how the (big) clips work. Don't worry, you can break anything.

Note that I'm just guessing that the pretensioners have fired. Did you check the center belt to see if it works? The center belt does not have a pretensioner IIRC. Good luck.

[smallseafishie]

Do you have any airbag errors in your car? You should if the pretensioners have fired off.

[Vadik17]

Originally Posted by smallseafishie

Do you have any airbag errors in your car? You should if the pretensioners have fired off.

yeah, the car was actually in a front end collision, both front airbags shot. so my airbag light is on. Im hoping for a free weekend to come up soon so i can install new airbags but i just didnt have the time yet. everything other than the airbags were fixed/replaced after the accident

[jessandjamie]

Well if they replaced everything you would know if they replaced the rear pretensioners. My understanding of those is they retract the belt and don't let it be pulled out any longer and you have to replace the pretensioners in order to pull the seat belt out. If it doesn't click into the buckle thats something else isnt?

By the way are you driving around with your bumper taped on or what? How does the air bags rate as the last thing to fix/replace?

[Vadik17]

Originally Posted by jessandjamie

Well if they replaced everything you would know if they replaced the rear pretensioners. My understanding of those is they retract the belt and don't let it be pulled out any longer and you have to replace the pretensioners in order to pull the seat belt out. If it doesn't click into the buckle thats something else isnt?

By the way are you driving around with your bumper taped on or what? How does the air bags rate as the last thing to fix/replace?

i know it sounds stupid that the airbags havent been fixed yet. I just recently bought the bags, just need to install them now. The problem with the belts is that they dont click in. Im trying to figure out why.

[smallseafishie]

Originally Posted by Vadik17

i know it sounds stupid that the airbags havent been fixed yet. I just recently bought the bags, just need to install them now. The problem with the belts is that they dont click in. Im trying to figure out why.

Seat belts don't click in because the seat belt clip is a crash protection device. In a crash, it constricts to take up slack (to better protect the passenger). It's one time deal, if deployed, new seat belt clips are required. It's not just the airbags that need to be replaced but the seat belt clips too. Once deployed, the buckle may or may not "click" anymore. All of that needs replacing and code clearing before you actually clear your seat belt restraint and airbag errors. Most likely, your driver seat belt clip needs replacing as well and maybe the front passenger side as well (depends if you had an occupant there or not).

[bumere90]

get new pretensioners.