Help! Rust on Seat-belt bottom point (steel ring????)
 

I am posting this again (posted this in maintenance section already). It is because my rig carries my most precious ones everyday (my wife and kid). Please accept my apology if double posting somehow offended any of your guys... ^^;


Hello!

As all know, our 3rd gen 4runner has 3 point seat belt in driver side. My beloved 97 4runner SR5 4x4 auto has "rust" built up on the bottom point(close to hip point of seat), where the the cloth seat belt actually connected to the vehicle body with steel connector.

Passenger side is clean as new. Is this somehow common problem? Any remedy on this? Is it easy to replace such steel component?

My deepest concern is that my wife drives it daily to work, of course, often time with my kid in the back seat.....

Please any advise is surely appreciated...

How heavy is the rust? If it's just light corrosion, I would use some Naval Jelly to get rid of the rust.

If the steel piece has been weakened somehow, take a trip to your local Toyota dealer and talk to the service manager there. They may give you a new one under warranty. When I went to my local dealer looking for new seatbelts, they told me that they usually cover them under warranty (safety item) for about 10-years. If it's older than that, they will pro-rate the cost.

When I ask the service manager about the lazy front belts on my '88 PU, he said they'd pro-rate the cost for me. It came out to 50% because both sides were $140.00 + tax and they were willing to pay up to $70.00 for the total purchase. Not bad at all! I fact, I think that's pretty awesome on Toyota's part!:D

I'd like to see an owner of a 15+ year old GM/Ford/Chrysler product try to get the factory/dealer to pick up some of the cost on an safety item like this. If there hasn't been a official "recall" on it, they probably ain't gonna do squat for you!:P