Seatbelt pretensioners (was Have you got a Jap coupé turbo?)

[marksmith]

Hi folks,

Anyone got a Jap coupé turbo (one of the "FDH" ones like mine, or another one), a mobile phone and 5 minutes to have a look at something for me? Won't involve getting your hands dirty.

Having a total nightmare trying to source a part because Rover don't sell it any more, and it doesn't seem to exist on ANY cars. Wondering whether it's a Jap-specific thing (I thought they were basically identical to the UK ones, but... well I've run out of other ideas!) or basically what the hell is going on.

So if you have a Jap coupé and wouldn't mind spending 5 mins on the phone looking at it, I'd be very grateful. Send me your number and convenient time to call by PM and I'll give you a bell.

Thanks all!
-Mark

[Cableguy]

Or you could just ask the question here and get the answer within around 30 seconds ?

[marksmith]

OK, let's give it a try.

Driver's seat seatbelt pretensioner.

What I have is this: (Edit: corrected description)
Buckle on the side of the seat, on a concetina-style stem. At the base of the stem a black cylinder sticks out forwards and from the front of this a thick metal cable (about the diameter of a little finger) comes out, forwards, bends round and goes under the seat to the back of a second black cylinder, which is mounted on the seat base (i.e. doesn't move forwards/backwards when you move the seat). In addition, a thin electrical cable comes out of the back of the base of the buckle, goes round the back and under the seat, and connects to a blue two-pin connector with a square "face". (The other side of that then goes into the carpet.)

How do yours vary from this? Anyone got this exact arrangement?

Arrangements I've come accross so far are:
[*]With electrical cable, but pretensioner is part of the buckle, sticking out forwards at the side of the seat, i.e. no thick metal cable
[*]With separate pretensioner under the seat, but no electrical cable
[*]No pretensioner at all, no electrical cable

Ta,
Mark

[empsburna]

OK, let's give it a try.

Driver's seat seatbelt pretensioner.

What I have is this:
Buckle on the side of the seat, on a concetina-style stem. At the base of the stem a thick metal cable (about the diameter of a little finger) comes out, forwards, bends round and goes under the seat to the back of the pretensioner cylinder, which is mounted on the FLOOR (i.e. doesn't move forwards/backwards when you move the seat). In addition, a thin electrical cable comes out of the back of the base of the buckle, goes round the back and under the seat, and connects to a blue two-pin connector with a square "face". (The other side of that then goes into the carpet.)

How do yours vary from this? Anyone got this exact arrangement?

Arrangements I've come accross so far are:
[*]With electrical cable, but pretensioner is part of the buckle, sticking out forwards at the side of the seat, i.e. no thick metal cable
[*]With separate pretensioner under the seat, but no electrical cable
[*]No pretensioner at all, no electrical cable

Ta,
Mark

Just seems like the difference between the mechanical ones (pre airbag steering wheel) and the later ones. The cylinder should me mounted on the seat base itself, not on the runners.

What issues are you having then? It doesn't matter on the market they were destined for in RHD models, a coupe is a coupe no matter what, some just have more tat bolted/glued on.

[marksmith]

Ah, pre-airbag might be the problem then. When did this come in? I don't think my old '94 Coupé Turbo had an airbag, but my current '95/'98 one does.

The problem I'm having is that I'm trying to find a replacement, and I can't. Breakers have ones with the electrics but the wrong pretensioner (they have preten fixed on the side of the seat, sticking out of the base of the buckle), and ones with the right pretensioner but no electrics.

I'm trying to identify which cars have the exact right part, to stand a chance of finding one. I've tried old-interior hatches, new interior coupés, but I hadn't considered the steering wheel thing... thanks for that suggestions!

[marksmith]

The plot thickens.

Spoken to the breaker again. He has several cars and all of them have one of the three variations I described above, but NOT the one I have. And at least one of those cars DOES have an airbag steering wheel - so that's not the difference The airbagged car apparently has the cylinder on the side of the buckle but not the one under the seat. Mine seems to be some freak hybrid, having both the fixed cylinder under the seat, and the electrical connection - all the others are either/or.

Someone's tipped me off that he's going to be breaking an airbagged coupé turbo next week - but now I'm not confident even that will be the right one Not yet had any real proof that my car isn't the only one in the world with this set-up...

Any more suggestions folks?

Ta,
Mark

[empsburna]

Are you sure its not the connector used for the ABS? Is there actually a plug connected to it?

[empsburna]

actually, can you get a pic of the seat, the connector and the pretensioner?

[marksmith]

The ABS connector is there too - a bigger, clear, one, looks maybe like a Molex connector, 4 or 6 pins from memory. That's not the one I'm talking about though, no. There's a separate one for the seatbelt, and yes, both sides are there - the side connected to the seatbelt base and the side disappearing off under the carpet.

I think on the weekend i'll try to photograph it - I'll need to get the seat out to do it because it's impossible to see it all with the seat in place.

[marksmith]

Here are some pictures for anyone even remotely interested...

[ChrisD]

I think that wire coming out is for the seatbelt warning light which was only on the jap version, other than that its probably the same as a non wired one. Whats wrong with the one in the pic has it been set off?

Chris

[marksmith]

Interesting... where is the seatbelt warning light? Do you mean a "you're not strapped in" light? I've never seen one of those light up on this car so either it doesn't work or it was removed (but I don't know how/why that would have happened).

No, it hasn't been set off - the clip is broken. Doesn't "click" when you push the metal part in. It can't be opened to fix it, unfortunately. (As far as I can see, anyway.)

[ChrisD]

Hmm, well I've not actually seen the your not strapped in warning light but I thought it was supposed to be on the clocks, its in RAVE. You can prise the 2 black covers off the buckle if you want to have a look. They unclip (you've not lost anything if it breaks it doesn't work anyway). If you decide to get another one tho I'd probably nab that one off you.

[marksmith]

Feel very silly now. Prised it apart as suggested, found the problem (very obvious - spring had popped out), put right, reassembled, all lovely.

You're right, too - the cable is connected to a switch which activates according to whether or not the seat buckle is inserted - nothing to do with setting off the pretensioner.

Can't believe how easy that was and that I didn't think of it.

Thanks for the suggestion Chris!