stacygreer1976

I have now taken my 2021 Suburban to the dealership twice for them to fix my twisted seatbelts. They aren't just twisted once they are twisted beyond use and I have 3 kids so it's very unsafe. They told me that kids do this often without knowing it. But I have a hard time believing they do it this badly only days after it gets fixed. So now I'm wondering if they are actually taking the bolt off and manually untwisting it at the joint, which is what should happen. I have scoured YouTube videos and none of them show how to unmangle a *severely* twisted belt, only ones that are twisted once or twice. I'm getting incredibly frustrated and again, this is so unsafe for me to have kids in these belts! Does anyone know how I can get these untwisted myself?!

73shark

Welcome to the forum. Which side of the buckle is it twisted on?

stacygreer1976

it’s twisted all around. It looks like a spiral. It’s not just one twist.

Cusser

Got a camera to post pictures???

Of the seat belts, not the kids !!!

When my oldest was 5, she broke the seat belt buckle of my 1984 Jeep Cherokee. Of course, a seat belt that breaks while a 5-year-old tries to buckle it, but is supposed to save one's life, very confusing !! I finally got Jeep to supply a new replacement seat belt for no cost ONLY if I installed it (one bolt). When the belt arrived, I noticed while still in the Jeep dealer parking lot that its angled metal bracket had been sewn on backwards; I could've put it in my bench vise and hammered it the other way, but then the liability would've been mine. So I took it back inside, and the second one they ordered was fine, and I simply bolted that back in.

stacygreer1976

Cusser

I just went out and looked at Mrs. Cusser's 2014 Yukon, so I'm going by that and your photos.

On the 2014 there's a retractor inside the panel at the bottom, that's out of sight behind the panel. At the top (not shown in your picture, and just inside the panel) is a loosely-mounted bracket/rod for the seat belt for the seat belt to glide over as it changes direction from "up" to "down"/angled. And at the bottom, visible in your pictures, is the bottom bolt. The belt MUST be straight inside the panel to the upper bracket for the seat belt to work properly; the downward part on yours is twisted, and must be straightened.

My guess is that the dealership did "nothing" or did it incorrectly, as if they touch any safety-related device that they take on any future liability with the item, and in the USA liability is huge and goes on forever.

If it was mine, I'd unbolt the bottom part myself and un-twist it and bolt it back into place straight; that bolt should be pretty tight. Use the correct type of wrench, and re-use the same bolt. And if it was worse or the same after that, I'd take it back to the dealership and play dumb, and not say a word about doing anything (I'm really good at playing dumb !!!). And if dealership still couldn't fix, I'd expedite through GM directly, push the safety factor.

I doubt that seat belt technology has changed little or none over the last decade or so. But if it turns out that the panel needs to come off, you don't want to break any panels, let the dealer do that. Keep us posted !

crmxer

Oh man.. I am so glad I am not the only one with this issue... I too have a 2021 Suburban and have had the dealership untwist the rear seatbelts at least 4 times since I've owned the truck. This last time we at least figured out why it was happening.. although still a GM issue and in my opinion a horrible design flaw. Basically what is happening is the bottom mount.. piece that is bolted on the bottom is allowed to swivel 360 degrees which is what is causing the twisting. I got the same exact answer from the dealership "Oh the kids are doing it and not realizing it" which is BS.. they should not be able to so easily cause this issue. I have had a 1996 Tahoe, a 2007 Tahoe, 2013 Suburban and now a 2021 Suburban and this has never happened until now. All other versions were bolted in and not allowed to swivel 360 degrees. Basically the retraction spring is not strong enough to pull the seatbelt tight when not in use so it allows the seatbelt slack to hang down at the bottom.. then when someone uses the second row seatbelt they pull it tight which completes a full rotation of the bottom swivel. So you can imagine if your kids get in for school in the morning.. then get in after school.. then run a few errands and they get in and out a few more times they have essentially added 3++ twists to the seatbelt every single day. Now I did find that you don't have to pull the bolt out to unwind you just need to spin the bottom mount the opposite direction until it's completely un twisted.. it's a complete pain in the @ss and should not happen on an $80K + vehicle.. even when it's untwisted aesthetically it looks terrible since the seatbelt no longer sits flat.. this is a terrible design. They either need to come up with a bolt that does not allow the bottom to spin 360 degrees.. or make the retraction spring much stronger so it pulls the belt tight and will not allow the belt to hang slack allowing it to spin freely when in use.

mom3hacks

It takes me twenty mins to try and undo one twist. There’s no way my 5 year keeps accidentally twisting the seatbelt until it’s unusable!

tkrummen

I would not unbolt anything. The base of the belt where it is anchored to the car can rotate freely. Turn it clockwise or counterclockwise to undwind the spiraling of the belt. My vehicle is a 2022 GMC Yukon Denali. Hope this saves someone some time or a costly trip to the dealer.