Seat belts are required by law. Child safety restraint is required by law. I own a 1991 ford explorer, oh yes, the one so many people have been injured or killed in because of firestone tires?????, or maybe it was the seat belts. Ford motor company has obsoleted the seat belt buckle for the center rear and left rear, which is now broken, but required by law in order to secure my child restraint seat, which is also required by law. This is not a colored part, it is a black trw seat belt buckle used in many fords in the 1990's. Auto manufacturers should be required to have available any safety item required by law that was orginally in the vehicle at the time of original sale. I have contacted ford customer relations center, they do not want to deal with it, tell me to contact dealership, who has absolutely no control over part phase out. I know fords system, I was a parts and service director for a ford dealership for 18 years, up until 2 years ago. I have seen many ford seat belt buckles break over the years, and lucky for the customer, I was always able to get the part for them. I am not so lucky. I do not want to go to a salvage yard and buy a used buckle to secure my 10 month old son. I spent $280 to buy a britax car seat to ensure his safety. They seat belt buckle broke while we were removing his infant seat to install the new car seat. The manual states to install the seat in the center rear position for the highest level of safety. How can the law require me to use something that can not be obtained from the auto manufacturer, at any price? Something needs to be done. I can't go buy another vehicle because ford can't supply a safety item. Please review this, and if possible, take action on ford for a poor practice regarding safety.
1991 Ford Explorer: seat belt won't latch or retract
14 of the 608 complaints about the 1991 Ford Explorer describe seat belt won't latch or retract.
- owner complaints
- 14
- of this car's complaints
- 2%
- recalls
- 1
Seat belt won't latch or retract by model year
What owners say
Consumer stated the driver side seat belt does not lock properly.*ak.
Passenger's side seatbelt in not operable. Seatbelt itself, whole component is defected. Retractor is okay. Also, when filling up fuel tank gas nozzle can smell gasoline. Dealership was aware of problems.
When attempting to latch seatbelts in the front of vehicle latch is not securing seatbelt. Sometimes it seems to be latched and while driving down the road the seatbelt buckle pulls out of the latch.
A part within the seat belt assembly has malfunctioned, causing seat belts to become inoperable. *ak driver's seat belt buckle would not latch.
While hard braking jumped a curb to avoid a car, rear passenger hit front seat. The seat belt broke free from the buckle. The buckle was messed up with red plastic parts all over the rear seats. The passenger was an adult ~ 150lbs. We all were seat blets for safety but the buckle in the explorer bursted apart-- this is not a safe situation. If there had been a colision the driver and the passenger could has suffered serious injury. The seat belt buckle system need looking into. I still have the plastic parts if one want to see them. Terry wade.
Driver's seat belt latch would not disengage from the latch mechanism, causing the occupant to become trapped in the seat. *ak.et.
Seat belt buckle failed to latch prior to recall repairs (92v‑113).
While driving vheicle owner was in an accident, imact speed was at 35 MPH, and the driver's side seat belt broke, causing owner to have multiple injuries. Cause has not been determined.
Front seat belt failed to release when it should and released when it shouldn't prior to recall.
Under recall notification, had belt buckles repaired, now the left rear seat belt buckle does not work, consumer states the other three tend to jam up making them all unsafe to use.
Seat belt latch button came off.
Related recalls
Seat belts: front: buckle assembly
- What is wrong
- The rigid mounted safety belt buckles are defective in three ways. First, a fastened safety belt buckle will not unlatch when the release button is depressed. This results from interference between the buckle ejector finger and the buckle tongue window. The second defect is the safety belt buckle may not latch. The third possible defect is that the tongue may be retained by the buckle, but it may not be latched sufficiently to provide occupant protection.
- Risk
- An insufficiently latched or unlatched safety beltincreases the risk of injury to seat occupants in the event of a sudden stop oraccident. If the safety belt buckle will not unlatch, it will not allow theoccupant to get out of the vehicle in an emergency situation.
- Remedy
- Ford will replace the rigid mounted safety belt buckles with end release safety belt buckles designed to prevent latch problems.
Recall number 92V113000 · Recall details
Questions about the 1991 Ford Explorer seat belt
Is seat belt won't latch or retract a common problem on the 1991 Ford Explorer?
14 of 608 owner complaints about the 1991 Ford Explorer (2%) mention seat belt won't latch or retract. The model year with the most reports is 1996.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 1991 Ford Explorer?
There is 1 recall and 0 service bulletins for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.
Other symptoms on the 1991 Ford Explorer
Tire blowout 45Fire or smoke 44ABS 28Brake failure 20Transmission failure 12Overheating 9Stalling 9Sudden acceleration 9Door locks 7Grinding brakes 6Fuel pump 6Adaptive cruise 5Fuel leak 5Sunroof shattered 5
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