Seat belts

This was an easyish project. After replacing the seats, I decided I also needed to upgrade my seat belts. Originally I had the usual, floppy belts that are now only found on airlines. Now I know why they are only found on airlines: they constantly get shut in doors, making them unsuitable for automobiles, but great for getting stuck under your seatmate’s butt on a transcontinental flight. 

Like a few other products, I ordered these from JBugs, getting the set of 4—two front and two back lap belts. The front belts are mercifully retractable (though the non-moving end flops down onto the floor, which is a problem I will address momentarily). The old belts pulled out just fine and the new ones installed perfectly. 

The quirks: I installed a rotator plate on the passenger seat, which meant the belt mount on the retractable side limits how far the seat can spin. It’s not a huge ordeal, but the first spin in the seat resulted in some damage to my brand-new upholstery. 

The back belts flop around like our aforementioned airline belts. This became problematic when I realized a loose seatbelt could shimmy its way down into the battery compartment under the back seat and possibly short something out. I remedied this by creating a little extra storage tray under the seat that doubles as a seatbelt-touching-a-battery-terminal-prevention mechanism. 

The static side of the front belts still flop on the floor. This is what I found particularly irritating as I had just installed a real hardwood floor. So I remedied this issue by visiting my local cobbler (and yes, we have a cobbler here in podunk Ohio. The best leather shop around—and possibly the only good thing in Xenia, Ohio—is Xenia Shoe and Leather.). The fellas at Xenia Shoe and Leather made some straps that perfectly matched the interior seats and kept my seat belts from dinging up my floors. 

Bonus: They had a strap for back near my hatch, where I already had a screw hole. Now I can strap an upright container (like a camp chair) there.