jc53

Here's a new one. My car is being serviced as we speak. One of the issues is that the rear safety belts "lock" you into position once you snap the belt into the lock. That is, there is no play in them; therefore, you can't lean forward, you are literally pinned to the seat! The dealer claims that this is a new safety feature. Anyone else have this? Seems odd to me.

Souljourner

Yeah.. there are some issues with the rear seatbelts in my max too. They don't always lock, but sometimes they do... I've seen this on many different makes of cars, not just Maximas or Nissans. It's not a feature, but evidently fixing it is difficult since so many cars seem to have this problem. I guess it's better to err on the side of locking too much instead of not locking enough.

One thing to do is to make sure the belts retract *all* the way back before pulling them out again. If they don't, they'll start locking like that.

-Nate

jc53

tried that--didn't seem to work. but thanks anyway.

ttbeam

I think some individual seat belts are more sensitive than others. I had noticed this with my Xterra's driver's seat belt, very annoying especially when reaching for something on the dash. My Maxima's back driver's side locks up pretty quick but I have a childs booster seat there so it's not that big of a problem.

jc53

lightonthehill--any thoughts on this?

lightonthehill

Sorry, jc53. I would have suggested the same thing souljourner did (FULL retraction).

As soon as I saw this thread, I went out (at 3:30AM) and checked my '04 SL. Both rear seat belts behaved exactly as those in my previous Maximas, which was to allow full movement in any direction, as long as the movement was not a sudden jerk.

My wife's 2004 Ranger had this locking problem on the front passenger belt for several weeks, but it went away before our next visit to the dealer.

There is more verbage in the Maxima driver's manual about seat belts/air bags, etc, than almost any subject. There are lots of sensors/facets/etc involved. This seat belt has a 'pre-tensor' system which is not only complex; it has to be fully replaced after any accident, as the pretensor device is a 'one-time-only' thing, sort of like the airbags.

There are other sensors which check for side impacts, and deploy the appropriate side/curtain airbags. Other sensors check to see if anyone is sitting in the passenger seat before deploying that bag. The seat belt is involved in this, and that is why the passenger seat belt should never be buckled unless a person is using it. On older Maximas, I used to 'lock in' bags of groceries, etc. with the passenger seat belt. No more.

To be honest, it is my opinion that you may have a sensor either not properly installed/adjusted, or not working. It should not be part of the 'pre-tensor' system, but be a simple sensor that has been used with seat belts in most cars for years.

I am not calling your dealer a liar, but this locking of the occupant to the seat is NOT a 'new safety feature'. Dealers generally do not like to work on this type problem, as everything they do in this area ends up affecting other parts of the system.

If I had this problem, and was going to have passengers using the rear seat on a regular basis, I would probably bite the bullet and tell the dealer this is not a new safety feature, it is not happening on most '04 Maximas (per maxima.org), and I want it fixed.

jc53

thanks for the response...I'll be back in touch with the dealer next week. Thanks for your expert opinion. I knew you where the source to tap.

lightonthehill

jc53 - Don't ever get the impression I am an expert on any phase of the Maxima. I'm fairly decent at such things as mapping the 88 celestial constellations, setting up a Copernican orrery or explaining plate tectonics, but am mostly drawing on long experience with lots of cars in responding to the Maxima questions.

In fact, after my above response at 3:45 AM yesterday, I went to bed thinking about your seat belt problem, and decided the sensor involved may now be an integral part of the pre-tensor system, which cannot be 'worked on' by the dealer, but must be replaced in its entirety, including the seat belt.

But then I remembered that there are only two pre-tensor systems in the Maxima; one for each FRONT seat. The rear seats have no pretensors, hence use the old style locking system, which should not be as difficult to either adjust or replace, per the dealer's whim.

So, yes, I would feel you have every right to insist the dealer correct this condition. And if he knows his business, it shouldn't cost Nissan very much to do it.

UncleMax98

There is a locking mechanism that locks the belt if there is a sudden movement. However, for slow movement, the seat belt should not be locked. It seems this locking mechanism is defective. Try some other cars to see how it works. The dealer has to fix this problem because it can cause injury (well, at least it's painful if you are leaning forward and the body is held back but the head/neck keeps moving).

jrussell915

JC53, let us know how it goes with the dealer.

I am having the same problem with my seat belts in the back. Fortunately, I don't have passengers in the backseats that often, so it hasn't been that big of a deal. More of an annoyance.