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MG MGA - Seat Belt Gotcha

For the first time since November last year when Barry Gannon helped me fit my 3-point seat belts I was forced to raise my hood today. Very heavy rain in UK at the moment.

I undid the quick disconnect fasteners ok behind the seat backs, raised the hood, fitted side screens, reconnected the driver seat belt, but left the passenger belt disconnected as I was not planning on taking a passenger before the hood comes down tonight.

Roared out of my garage, down the drive, into the road and just about to change into second when there was an enormous bang from the passenger side rear wheel area. The car stopped quicker than if I had put on the brakes and the engine stopped instantly. My first thought was that I had shattered a half shaft. Got out of the car to find the end of seat belt under the rear wheel! The tension on the belt had also distorted the passenger door.

Lesson(s) there somewhere!

Steve
Steve Gyles

OUCH !!!!!!!
Gordon Harrison

Not all such bad news as I first thought. Just did a bit of brute force twisting the door back into shape at the bottom. Total success and I now have a better fit than before!

Main lesson for me is do not put the hood up. Get wet instead!

Checked the seat belt anchorage point that took the strain. I have to say that Barry is a good welder for an Oz. He is touring somewhere in Queensland at the moment so won't see this post!

Seat belt looks okay, but am concerned whether I should now replace it. It took a lot of strain. When I ejected they replaced my entire torso harness. The seat engineers were not prepared to take any risks. Any thoughts?

Steve
Steve Gyles

You can't get rid of that belt, it now has history! I'd check both ends to see if there was any tearing of the belt material or stitching. If not, carry on.
Steven B

You should start selling your new seat belt emergency brake.
J Heisenfeldt

Hi Steve, at least they didn't have to replace your torso
lol


gordon
g c pugh

Gordon

Have you got your MGB yet?

I sometimes wish they could replace my torso for a younger version. This one is creaking at the seams and aching from the ejection spinal injuries. Over 30 years ago now!

Still got the hood up. Aweful weather. I hate driving the car with the hood up. I can hear all the engine noises and rattles. Far better with wind blowing round the ears so I can't hear a thing!

Managed to cut back the scratched paint work from where the seat belt rubbed. Looks all fairly back to normal now thank goodness.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Hi Steve, MGB should come tomorrow, just sorting last of the snags but it looks very nice, certainly more comfort than the A, I will miss the coupe after having got over the initial disappointment over the price I paid for it , it is actualy a very sound, original car and drives very well, no rattles or bumps and you can't even hear the diff.


gordon
g c pugh

Technically, you should replace the seat belt. In my industry any safety restraint that is subjected to force is immediately replaced, along with the anchor. They're only rated to do their job once. You probably put it way past the force that it would have absorbed while restraining a human body. While it's peace of mind to know that it didn't break, if it were mine I'd replace it.
Mark J Michalak

OMG - that sounds nasty. Could have done all sorts of damage so you were lucky Steve. The belt webbing must be really stretched so I would get a new one if I were you. cheers Cam
Cam Cunningham

Technically, seat belts should be replaced after restraining someone in an accident, so if I were you, I'd definitely replace it.

Mine still has no belts.
dominic clancy

Dominic

Just had a look at the belt in bright day light. Your comments and Mark's are sensible and I am going to replace. Have a look at the attached images.

Steve


Steve Gyles

This thread was discussed between 07/07/2008 and 10/07/2008

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