legacycentral bbs

Hi
I'm new here and to 1st gen legacys. Picked up a 94 and confused a bit. No matter how hard I try to pull my front seat belts to test if they work they just won't lock (both driver/pass side lap and shoulder belts). Rear ones lock easily but front ones - no, not even once from all the tries no matter how hard I tried.

This isn't normal, right?
I have a 96 legacy and front belts there work like rears in this 94.
Thanks.

I'm not sure, but I've never been able to get them to lock just by yanking on them.

I know the lock works though, because I had a deer jump out in front of me one night. Thank God for ABS. Lol.

Yeah I would say that's sort of normal. It's hard to get the belts to lock up just by pulling on them. If your driving around and hit the brakes hard, they should lock up.

I cant get mine to lock by pulling either. I think the lock up works on g-force at the spool. I can get both the lap and shoulder to lock with a good stab of the brake, and my car pulls hard enough now that I can get the shoulder belt to lock on acceleration.

Gary

Ok, thanks guys, went and tried pulling on the belts while braking (those suck btw, another point on a to-do list), and seems that smth is clicking, and belts lock.
That's a relief Now I don't feel too uneasy about driving it home 400 miles.

i have taken them apart before. there is a BB inside the spool with a plastic lever on to pof it, when the car stops hard or is at a steep angle, the BB moves forward and pushes the lever up, which locks the spool.

i was surprised when i took it out to see that it was not a complicated device at all, just a free rolling BB and a plastic lever

It's funny you posted this because I was wondering about this just the other day. As everyone has mentioned only applying the brakes hard will lock the belts. Just gotta have faith I guess!

Murphy wrote:i have taken them apart before. there is a BB inside the spool with a plastic lever on to pof it, when the car stops hard or is at a steep angle, the BB moves forward and pushes the lever up, which locks the spool.

i was surprised when i took it out to see that it was not a complicated device at all, just a free rolling BB and a plastic lever

So is there anything that supposed to lock from a simple pull that might have gone bad over time?

Subaru_Nation555 wrote:It's funny you posted this because I was wondering about this just the other day. As everyone has mentioned only applying the brakes hard will lock the belts. Just gotta have faith I guess!

Its fine with me, wife is another story
And I guess I'll have to convince autox inspectors, instructors and passengers

Maybe not a constructive comment for this thread, but I've noticed in all the newer cars that I've been in lately that the belts do lock up far easier than they do in our cars. There must be a secondary mechanism in those that causes it to lock up while not under braking. Quite anoying, another reason I love my car.

im sure with all of the new safety regulations that the design has changed a lot over the years

but no, i do not think it is supposed to lock at all when you only pull on it. i have had mine lock up, they do it pretty well, atleast when you go from 70mph to 0 in about 60 feet they do

Glad I saw this thread. The things you learn trolling at 5am..