amcl

Any of you guys have your rear passenger middle and left seat belt buckles reversed? I had rear passengers for the first time the other day and they were confused to find that they had to criss cross their buckles. Is this intentional? Anyone else have this problem!? It doesn't seem as if the buckles can be pulled to it's logical position where they don't interfere with each other.

i_mobile

Mine are exactly like that. The first time I had passengers seating in the back, I just wasn't able to lock the seatbelts into place. So, the next time I took the car into service, I asked the service manager to fix it. When the car came back, they explained to me that you had to cross the seatbelts to lock them, and that they checked with other RLs and that all of them worked the same.

Not a very logical configuration, if you ask me.

sri_gondi

Never had to use or show how to use the back seat belts.. as we dont need em in USA....its interesting..i wonder why Acura had to change the conventional way of buckling them straight...

Trackruner228

iTrader: (1)

My dads old camry had this a LONG time ago and I remember being little and it really bugged me that it was like that so this is not a new thing.

amcl

The confusion and inconvenience makes it a safety issue. Even worse, for the middle rear passenger, the belt may not go snug across the hip (see picture). It is also very uncomfortable for the leftmost rear passenger as the buckle chafes the hip for the duration of the ride.

I hope there is a good reason for this... or maybe it's the best compromise for a faulty seat design, in which case, it's ridiculous.

TampaRLX-SH

I have owned several vehicles (not Honda products) where this criss cross positioning was used.

bmerton

I'm guessing it's like this for one simple reason:

More often than not only two seats in the rear are being used. The two outside belts and "fixed" buckles work intuitively and make sense.

Putting the odd center buckle more toward the center of the car than the left passenger buckle would mean it would be *behind* anyone sitting in the center and also interfere with the center armrest.

Bottom line: when you haul five, you just have to deal with it. The back seat of my Acura has elicited more than one complaint for lack of headroom, as well.

Ry4an

My 1996 Gen 1 RL was the same way. It's certainly intentional, though admittedly odd.

NavyDoc333

You should try buckling in 3 CAR SEATS for the kids. It's such a nightmare that I never take the family in my car.

Trackruner228

iTrader: (1)

hm sounds like a good excuse to get your wifes car dirty and keep yours clean.

TampaRLX-SH

3 kids all in car seat age?

Doc, you need to spend more time at sea!

NavyDoc333

Thank President Bush... 3 deployments in 5yrs....means 3 homecomings in 5yrs... equals 3 kids nine months later!

TampaRLX-SH

I think we found the WMD! When is there time to de-rattle the RL?

Chas2

Hey, it was that configuration in my 85 Honda Prelude. I am with bmerton on the explanation of the occassional user and trying to fasten the belt behind you, not easy even if your butt is only 12 inches wide.

NavyDoc333

Hahah... I think you mean WMR.... Weapon of Mass Reproduction.

And there is ALWAYS time to de-rattle! Just like there's always room for Jello

TampaRLX-SH

mmmmmm....jello.....mmmmm

GoHawks

Now that little league is over, I can finally try and once and for all hope to keep the interior of my car dust free. Yesterday I took the time to fully detail the interior, so I got a chance to look closely at the configuration and I see what everyone has mentioned here.

I too have run into a few times where I had three kids back there and there was brief chaos as the kids sorted out which belt went where.

I also noted that the center buckle is labeled so, which admittedly would be difficult to see at night.

rlerman

I only have three shoulder belts, but only two buckles in the rear, how do you get three passengers buckled in?

Megatron

Three shoulder belts go with 3 buckles. One of them must have been pushed into the gap between the seat back and seat bottom. Reach in there and feel around.

rlerman

This is what I am looking at, you have something different in your car? three belts, two buckles and there is nothing buried behind the seats, I checked. I should have a buckle next to that rear driver side buckle, but I don't. Manufacturer Defect??



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Matt W

No, it is probably buried under the seat, if they ever had to replace a fuel pump or VSA sensor or anything under the seat they may not have got all the belts back out. Watch my video for removing the back seat so you can be 100% sure. It literally takes 1 minute to remove the seat. You can see at 15 seconds, on the drivers side where they probably didn't get the belt out.

rlerman

Awesome, thank you so much! Sure enough it was under the seat. Had some glue on it and was stuck to the body, but pryed it up and now it's normal. I bet it came from the factory this way. I've had the car since 08, but have all receipts and there is nothing related to the back seat coming out. Thanks again for posting that video.

Matt W

Any time! Glad my efforts to make that video finally came in handy for someone!

LeftCorner

iTrader: (1)

Since it looks like you have an '05, just a heads-up if the previous owner had service bulletin 05-028 completed for the loss of OnStar minutes, then the rear seat would have been removed. There was most likely a careless re-install that went unnoticed.