Hi,

 

I have a strange issue with the drivers seat belt of my Octavia 2013. Sometimes it unlocks itself when driving. It locks up OK, sensor is working, everything seems fine and then it just unlocks suddenly and warning beep comes up. It is not happening right away, but any time. Maybe someone had a similar issue before?  

21 minutes ago, dainius370 said:

Maybe someone had a similar issue before?

Not as such, but the issue is definitely with the purely mechanical aspects of the seat belt buckle. Is the release button popping up/out properly? Also BTW this is likely to be a roadworthyness test failure if it occurs at the "wrong" time.

Whatever it is, it needs looking at urgently.

 

If it unlocks during an emergency, it's possible non of the safety related items will work. IE: airbags, seat belt tensioner.

8 minutes ago, ords said:

non of the safety related items will work.

Also @dainius370 Well, certainly the seat belt pretensioner won't do anything actually useful since it normally works to tighten the seat belt. I think the steering wheel airbag is on a separate circuit and can't be interfered with by the seat belt unfastened status, but having a European size airbag go off without a seat belt is a bit like being hit in the face by a superheavyweight boxer!

 

I'm afraid I can't advise on what happens or doesn't happen with side bags or curtain bags.

TBH, get a new one or a good one from a scrap yard and change it or get it changed

In the time it's taken us to reply, an accident could happen and without the seatbelt working you're dead or seriously injured.

 

Just not worth the risk, especially for the low cost.

Assuming you mean the buckle rather than the belt, this sort of part is not expensive and as an example (May not be the right one for your car).

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265260434080

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284187518043

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114940927064

 

Scrap yards will sell these every day if you ask one that has an Octavia, and the pretensioner is in the other part not this one I believe.

Edited 3 September, 20214 yr by cheezemonkhai
couple of links

Remove your one, hold it upside down and thwack it against a hard but not damaging surface (say wood rather than brick), the food crumb or whatever is playing tricks in there will most likely be ejected and it will function correctly.

 

As a stopgap giving it the good news in situ might resolve the problem temporarily.

As an aside, the steering wheel airbag is primarily intended to save the foolish from themselves, to protect people in an impact who have chosen not to wear their seatbelt (or to sit on it or whatever they do to stop the bing-bongs) so it most definitely would work when the belt is not buckled, that is its raison d'être.

Thank you so much for the code! I've found a used buckle nearby. Will change it ASAP.

@J.R.

I very much doubt airbags are primary designed to protect the foolish from their selves.

 

Just this week on a 'Traffic Cops' repeat an Officer of the law was lecturing a driver on how dangerous an airbag going off can be to an unrestrained driver.

ie, not wearing a seat belt.

At the time it had be Googling it.   I already knew it was rather dangerous.

https://ohsonline.com/articles/2008/03/study-airbag-use-without-seatbelt-increases-injury-risk.aspx

 

Just as well so many cars in the UK / EU are going about with airbags that might not even deploy as well out of date or never had the Service Campaign / Recall actions done, 

or bags replaced after accidents etc.   *Not serious there, but then Insurers are not taking it seriously.*

Mericans not wearing seat belts was the reason for the initial introduction of the first airbags, the steering wheel ones.

 

A correctly restrained driver or passenger gets no benefit from the airbag in front of them except in real hard impacts when the bulkhead moves backwards. I have not seen a steering rack mounted in front of the axle for decades now and steering columns have been collapsible for even longer than that.

 

That is not to say that they could or should be removed, together with all the other rapidly procreating airbags they form part of a total system to cope with many collision eventualities.

23 hours ago, J.R. said:

As an aside, the steering wheel airbag is primarily intended to save the foolish from themselves, to protect people in an impact who have chosen not to wear their seatbelt (or to sit on it or whatever they do to stop the bing-bongs) so it most definitely would work when the belt is not buckled, that is its raison d'être.

Sadly not true.. (well not here and anymore)

 

I believe the airbags on US models are typically designed to protect including those not wearing a belt. However European cars have a bag shaped to provide maximum head protection for belted occupants.

 

Besides which it’s still not worth the risk even if true.

 

Change it and if a bit of crud is extracted from the old one and it works again, then sell it to recover your costs.

 

Edit:

 

FWIW, I benefited from a wheel airbag a good few years ago. Even as the column is collapsible, the bag still slows the impact of your face. To be fair I’m fairly certain the bulkhead moved in that accident, so I wouldn’t be without it👍

Edited 4 September, 20214 yr by cheezemonkhai

Old post I know, but it came up when I searched for this problem.

So for posterity - I had this issue on the two front seatbelt buckles of my 2015 Octavia. A bit of WD40 in the hole and plugging in and out a few times sorted it right out.

I'm not sure I'd trust those seat belts to remain locked in the event of a serious crash!

To be honest they seem much better now, a very positive clunk click. No Pop outs since.