Do I Have To Disconnect The Battery To Replace Front Seatbelt

[crooner]

Citroen c3 1.4 LX 2004

 

Hi, i have had a problem with the drivers seatbelt warning sound coming on even though the drivers seatbelt is pluged in ,

when it comes on while driving i have to keep wiggling it & pushing it in to get the sound to stop , recently while trying to see what the problem was i put the passenger seatbelt into the drivers seatbelt plug & guess what it worked , i can only guess that it's the 14 years of wear on the metal part of the belt that pushes in that has worn, although this does seem unlikely,

anyway i want to swap the two front belts over & was looking at the C3 haynes manual it warns 

the front seatbelt buckles /interia reels are equipped with a pyrotechnic pretensioner mechanism

refer to the airbag system precautions which apply equally to seatbelt tensioners

 

so it's telling me to de activate the airbag system ,the manual doesn't make it clear if it's just a case of disconnecting the battery ,to de activate the airbag system does anyone know what precautions i take before swapping belts over ,

 

thanks in advance

[paul.h]

If you swap the front belts over they will not work since they are different and have different part numbers. Remember they work as the car stops rapidly going forward and if you swap them over they would only work when going backwards since the reel is turned round 180° if swapping sides. The part numbers also vary, so to get the right one you would need to use your VIN in the parts diagrams.

 

As a guide to the cost of a new one, we had to buy a rear seat belt for a 2010 C3 and it was £175 at a dealer.

 

From the parts diagrams the pyrotechnic part is built in at the base of the buckle at the side of the seat, so if only changing the belt you should not need to worry about the pretensioner. However, if you need to deactivate it, make sure the air bag light works and then after removing the ignition key, just disconnect the battery and wait 10 minutes. In the Technical section pinned Common Problems topic is a procedure for disconnecting/reconnecting the battery that will not cause any odd electrical problems which allows the bsi time to shut down.

 

Before spending any money, why not try a bit of card in the buckle to see if that can take up the play/wear.

[crooner]

thanks paul, i will try a bit of card

see if that works ,meanwhile ill just cross the two belts over until i find a better solution , don't know if doing that is legal at the end of the day i'm still straped in & still feel fully protected

[crooner]

is it possible to swap drivers belt for the one straight behind , or are these different

[paul.h]

The rear seat belts have different part numbers to the front so must be different.

 

You could also try a bit of sticky tape on the belt metal bit since it may only be a small amount of wear that needs taking up. You could try a screwdriver in the buckle to see which bit is pushed to turn off the warning and that will give you an idea of which area of the metal part has worn and needs making slightly larger by tape or card. Come MOT time though any bodge might not be acceptable so you could ask your garage about this before submitting your car for testing.

 

I am not sure about this, but it might be if the car thinks the belt is not fastened then in a crash the pretensioner might not be activated. If you have the belts crossed over then the pretensioners might work on the wrong belts.

 

If you are certain the metal part has worn, then at the end of the day, you may need to replace the belt, either a new one or one from a breakers. If from a breakers do not get one from a car that has crashed since the belt could be damaged. If you post your VIN I can check which is the correct part number or if you register on the service.citroen site you can access the parts diagrams as a free service and look yourself. Register as an other professional non emergency services and as a member of the Citroen Owners Club. Once on the site use your VIN top left to find your car. The seat belts are under Equipment, Front Seat Assembly, Front Safety Belts. http://service.citroen.com/do/changerParametres you might need to select your language bottom right first.

[crooner]

thanks paul for your reply, i tried a bit of card taped onto the metal but it's too thick & won't go into the buckle so i tried a small piece of duck tape through the end of the metal part , been out driving for an hour & the warning sound hasn't come back on yet fingers crossed