manual belts available

[Safety Guy]

All the seatbelts in Festivas I've seen are "passenger sensitive" meaning it isn't the car's movement that locks them, but the people inside. Testing is as simple as yanking the belt quickly to see if it locks. When the car is hit (in any manner; in any plane or direction of motion), when the passengers begin moving suddenly, the belts lock due to their motion.

Karl

[F3BZ]

OK. i'm buying that although a hit from behind won't push the passenger forward unless due to causation he hits a car in front of him. still we're at square 1 which is LH and RH designated belt assemblies. i still believe there is a mechanism in the retractor spool that has to face a particular direction in order to work (lock). i am ready to be wrong but not till i take one apart.

[Bert]

Personally I hate seatbelts! Sure I'll wear them on the highway for safety sake and 'pretend to wear them' in town just to appease ticket-anxious cops looking in through the glass as I pass by.
What I'd like to know is; what recourse does gov't have to require you to have functioning belts in a Festy if you can readily prove that Ford has long ago discontinued making replacements? Tell you to junk an otherwise functional car?

[bravekozak]

F3 is that rear console black? as well as those seat belt retainers?

[Twistiva]

OK. i'm buying that although a hit from behind won't push the passenger forward unless due to causation he hits a car in front of him. still we're at square 1 which is LH and RH designated belt assemblies. i still believe there is a mechanism in the retractor spool that has to face a particular direction in order to work (lock). i am ready to be wrong but not till i take one apart.

F3BZ -

Agreed. I'd still like to know, undisputably, if the "L" and "R"-designated front seatbelts can be swapped or not. I agree with SafetyGuy that it's the movement of the person wearing the belt that actually locks the belt. That's what I meant when I said that the seatbelts would lock no matter the direction of impact. I guess the best way to see if the L/R sides can be swapped would be to swap a set, yank on them (simulating the rapid deceleration SafetyGuy talked about) and see if the belts would lock.

This sure would be nice to know because then we could ALL just look for "front seat" seatbelts instead of "lefts" and "rights".

[F3BZ]

F3 is that rear console black? as well as those seat belt retainers?

no mon, its all the correct dark gray. i matched it to the genuine ford front console. you may already know but kia part #s ending in 09 are dark gray, 04 is the lighter gray and 89 is real light like the headliner and visors.

[bravekozak]

Pretentioner.

[Safety Guy]

I looked at the Rio belts with pretensioners that BK linked to above. I did not see any electrical wires or plug holes. The '01 Rio I checked and began taking the front belts out of a few months back had wires into the car's electrical system which I believe had to be actuated by sensors through a computer box.

If there is a version of Rio belts that work without computer/electrical input perhaps they could be fitted to our cars. I may take another Rio apart sometime to see what it has.

Karl

[Twistiva]

.........you may already know but kia part #s ending in 09 are dark gray, 04 is the lighter gray and 89 is real light like the headliner and visors.

Wow! That's good info to know. Thanks, F3BZ!

[F3BZ]

some kia interior part#s end in 30 also. not sure but this might be tan/brown. next order i make i'll ad a cheap interior piece with the 30 ending and see what comes

[Twistiva]

some kia interior part#s end in 30 also. not sure but this might be tan/brown. next order i make i'll ad a cheap interior piece with the 30 ending and see what comes

F3BZ -

If they had stuff in tan/brown, I'd freakin' cry with joy! Good idea on buying something cheap with a "30" ending and see what it is.