coolharry

Gonna have to look into this now. My driver side belt never retracts correctly.

minilogoguy18

Where I work they'll do seatbelts no prob, the only time American Honda wont warranty the parts is if the belt has been cut.

wh1teredneck

I need to go get mine done! Both Driver and Passenger. Hopefully I get lucky!

minilogoguy18

Like I said, unless the belt has been cut or tampered with in some way they HAVE to warranty it out.

Edison Carasio

This makes me feel better about buying a 91 sedan with auto belts. Regular belts I can fix with good ones from a junk yard, but I don't want to mess with the auto crap.

InvaderTrax

I've had both buckles done in my Prelude, and one belt in my Integra. Very simple inspection, then they order the parts. Took 3-5 days for the parts to come in each time, and less than an hour to install having made an appointment each time

Riptide_NVN

I spoke with my dealer and honda customer service today.

If your automatic seat belt mechanism is broken and it won't retract. You are SOL. If you have had this fixed under warranty for free then you were lucky. Honda told me the motors that run the belt clip on the track are not covered, just belts and buckles. That's IT.

minilogoguy18

^Sounds like they didn't know what they were talking about because they still warranty it if it doesn't retract or it's slow to retract. The only time they don't is if there is visible evidence that they have been tampered with, like you trying to open the motor or if the belt has been cut.

I work there, warrantied mine out and got paid to do it, made the system work for me. =p

InvaderTrax

Are you talking about the electric seat belts on the CB7? Because that's not covered

kozanatos

what does that "Rust Perforation Limited Warranty" cover? Just wondering :\ saw it in the pdf on the second page.

JDMRPM

separate thread made in proper subforum....

asianpoet

very interesting..
now heres my situation.. my car was imported from canada..
would this still be covered under warranty. or would it be void due to the mileage.
not that anyone can verify the mileage of my car. since it does not have the canadian gauge cluster installed. but with a U.S. one.

houseostyle

I didn't realize my car had a retracting problem until I found this thread. I am sick of my passengers getting my seatbelt stuck in the door. I will be getting to Honda next week with the SB# 92-012 to get these replaced.

Does anyone know if the driver side seatbelt is designed to not tighten up like the passenger & rear seats when you pull on it after its buckled?

crazyhouse2011

God I hate this.

Tszyu1

I can't believe I never read this thread!!

I have had issues with the service manager at my dealership in North Little Rock each of the very few times I have gone there (for warranty/recall jobs). I can't wait to see what kind of BS he tries to pull this time. I called him out on his "diagnostic fee" when I went in for a bad starter. (I thought it was the immobilizer due to other issues I had recently experienced.) He quoted me $600 to replace the starter! when I said "no thanks" he tried to charge me $85 diagnostic, I asked him what the diagnostic said about my ATTS light that was on. He knew then that I knew no PGM had been performed and he had been caught with his pants down in an outright lie in front of all his service reps and other customers. He grabbed the invoice from me and quickly said "no charge." I just turned around and walked out, laughing loudly the whole way! I had my car towed back to my house, went to the parts store, bought a starter for $65 and fixed that sh*t in my driveway.

gnozahs

My EG driver side seat belt was retracting super slow and my passenger side seatbelt was stuck and couldn't pull it out at all. Took it in to the Honda dealership, they told me there would be a $55 diagnostic fee and it would be waived IF they found that the seatbelts were dysfunctional due to normal use, etc. They call me a couple hours later and tell me both retractors are bad and they will replace both for free and waive the diagnostic fee. Yahoo! Thanks HT for the info.

zaida08bk

This is true. My brother has a 2000 prelude and it haseems a salvage title. . He went there to have his replaced and they made him pay due to the salvage title

TLR

Hi All,

This is my first post here, and when I googled "Honda seat belt warranty, this thread came up.

So, here's my (UNpleasant) experience getting Honda to replace or repair my seatbelt.

1986 Honda Prelude SI. 215k miles, and still runs great. I'm the original owner. Has been virtually trouble free for 28 years, but a few things are wearing out, including the driver's side front seat belt.

After reading the Honda warranty on-line and this thread, I took my car into my local dealer. My seat belt has recently started not retracting at all, without a lot of pushing, finagling. They inspected, and agreed it's bad.

HOWEVER, they cannot find the parts and therefore I am out of luck. So, if Honda didn't order enough spare parts, they will NOT honor the seat belt warranty. The service tech recommended I try to find one on eBay or a salvage yard.

Called Honda's 800-999-1009 customer service number, spoke with Juan, then James, and James confirmed the same thing. They show no parts available and therefore, they will NOT honor the warranty.

They will NOT contact their seat belt supplier (Takata Corp.) to make another seat belt. I know Takata is a big seat belt supplier, and they have prototyping capability, and they can turn out a seatbelt any time they want, admittedly at great cost. Takata/Honda also undoubtedly have the original drawings to make any of their old seat belt assemblies.

They will NOT attempt to find a seat belt outside their supply chain, and if I do it, they will NOT reimburse me, nor install it at no charge. And, of course, if I find a new or used one and get someone else to install it, they will NOT warranty it.

Therefore, Honda will neither warranty the original seat belt nor warranty any other I can find.

That's the situation so far.

I'll be contacting the BBB, then whatever federal government agencies might be interested in this, and if anyone else has a suggestion, please advise.

I'm open to any suggestions.

Prudz_lude

iTrader: (1)

^ LOL go fist yourself.

Are you ******* kidding me? You are upset a 28 year old car no longer has parts stocked anywhere? You are upset the manufacture Honda contracted to build seatbelts won't fire up the factories and make you a single seat belt retractor.

I want to be leaf this is real tea.

lostforawhile

they made a bunch of those belts when they had the huge warranty on the buckles, they shouldn't have run out of parts, since nearly every one on the road even ten years ago was replaced, you should be able to find a good set used

TLR

Interesting reaction.

Please tell me what this means:

Time Period
This warranty continues for the useful life of the vehicle.

Warranty Coverage
Honda will repair or replace, at its option, any Honda seat belt component that fails to function properly during normal use. This includes all parts and labor charges.



These three statements come directly from Honda's Seat Belt Warranty (page 31), of "Your Warranties in Detail", which you can view by googling "Honda Seat Belt Warranty".

Please tell me why, since Honda has made this commitment to Honda owners, why they should not repair or replace, at Honda's option, my non-functioning seatbelt.

My car is in good shape, has over 215k miles on it, and I drive it most every day. There is probably a long life ahead of it, based on how well its running. Might be on the road another ten years, maybe. There are many like it. I've seen several just in my little town. How many 1986 Preludes are still on the road? I have no idea. Maybe hundreds, maybe less. But I've babied my car and yet it still has a bad seatbelt. I find it hard to believe I'm the only one who has had a seatbelt go bad.

Fact is, Takata Corp. makes prototype seat belts all day long, for Honda, Toyota, and others. They would not have to "fire up their factories" to make one seatbelt. Rather, they could make a bunch of them on their proto line--admittedly at greater cost than normal--and re-stock at relatively little total cost. (And, they still have the 1986 drawings, if I know the Japanese manufacturers.) They can make springs, plastic and nylon parts, all to fine tolerances and colors, and of course, belts. For them, it's a tiny and manageable problem.

Furthermore, Honda's position means Honda can apparently stock ANY part for ANY of their cars only to a small degree, and then, regardless of their stated warranty, they can just choose to disregard their warranty commitment because they can't find the part. Their position here does not just affect 1986 Honda Preludes.

VPUPPY

So I am going to give a blunt response and don't take this as a personal attack. You do realize there is a huge difference between prototyping something in a lab environment vs. a full blown production quality part (and the liability that comes with a production part)?

I am not contesting your point that Honda warranty states they will supply a replacement belt or repair, but it's not apples to apples when saying they can prototype a part vs. give a customer a production quality part. Also consider that the tooling required to stamp the metal portion of entire belt retractor, the electronic portion of the belt, belt material, latch, etc are not just something they can slap on a production line that has had 28 years of advancement.

My opinion would be if you want to fight the battle, you could. Or you could get a salvage set in good condition in a fraction of the time and move on to other things.

TLR

Hi VPuppy,

No offense taken and thank you for your comment.

My perspective is this: Having worked with Japanese manufacturers, large and small, for maybe 15 years or so, in manufacturing and procurement with a high-tech American company, during my 28 years at that company, I do know the difference between lab protos, production protos, and production. It can certainly work like you say.

On the other hand, Honda and Takata are perfectly capable of duplicating, in small volumes, an existing seat belt assembly. It isn't a new design. (In fact, I would guess there are identical assemblies that Honda put in other cars, that would work in my car, but they won't tell me that.) I don't claim it would be cheap to build a bunch of these. But many Japanese companies long ago established prototyping and production lines in low-wage Asian companies, including China, and they actually produce new parts incredibly quickly and cheaply, compared to American and Japanese practice. Tooling costs alone are incredibly cheap compared to American and Japanese costs. And, overseen by Japanese engineers, the parts can be made to the tolerances and quality of production parts, no problem.

As you suggest, there might be better ways for me to skin this cat, but frankly it galls me that Honda can make a commitment to their customers that is completely false. By that I mean that the reality is, based on their position, Honda can decide how long the "lifetime warranty" exists based on the number of spare parts they choose to order. With ever-present cost pressures and cost cutting, how often do you suppose they order adequate stocks of spare parts? Fact is, for ANY of their cars, their "lifetime" warranty really ends when they run out of spare parts in their supply chain, period. Whether it's ten years, twenty, or whatever.

Now, I don't like driving around with a busted seat belt, and I've searched and found a seat belt available from a salvage yard, and it's on the way. But, I believe Honda's stance is completely unethical, and I will fight this for as long as I have the time. At the least, they should reimburse me for the cost to find and install a used one.

Just today, Honda got slapped for a $70 million fine from the feds, for failing to report accidents and incidents. Evidently, they have some serious problems with some of their decision making.

That said, I'm driving a 29 year old vehicle designed and built by them that has got to be one of the best cars they ever built, or anyone else ever built. I enjoy driving it every day. I just wish Honda had decided they should honor their warranty--and put practices in place so they could do that.

lostforawhile

these belts were available even a couple of years ago, I know someone who just got a set replaced, the only minor issue is they were only made in black, as most of the recall belts, there was a huge quantity of the belts made to replace the belts in a lot of 80's Hondas, due to the buckle recall, they are out there, but I suspect Honda quit selling a lot of Takata belts and probably airbags too after this latest huge recall, they were probably told to destroy them for liability reasons

TLR

Hi lostforawhile,

Yep, might have happened exactly that way. Maybe Honda will explain it some day. For now, though, their stance is no available parts and you're on your own.

And that's not the word just from the dealer, that's from American Honda Motor Corp.

Wasn't what I'd expect from Honda.