Air bag light came on and stayed on. Car shop said the seat belt switch assembly failed, and needed to be replaced. If there was a crash, the seat belt would not lock and the driver would be thrown into the air bag.
2001 Volkswagen Beetle: seat belt won't latch or retract
5 of the 203 complaints about the 2001 Volkswagen Beetle describe seat belt won't latch or retract.
- owner complaints
- 5
- of this car's complaints
- 2%
- typical mileage
- 60,000
- recalls
- 0
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
Seat belt won't latch or retract by model year
What owners say
I'm the original owner of a 2001 beetle with 11,8450 miles. On aug 27, 2014, the driver side seat belt suddenly loss tension and went limp while I was driving! The seat belt can not be retracted. The vw service the way the seat belt became loose is a major safety hazard, and it should be on official record. Vw denied responsibility and my request for the repair cost.
Air bag light came on due to a faulty seat belt buckle.
I was removing my seat belt and it slipped from my hand. After that the air bag default light came on and has stayed on. Two dealerships have told me there is a problem with the seat belt latch, but that the air bags will still deploy. The dealers are autobarn vw in evanston, il and jennigs vw in glenview, il. However city vw tells me the air bags won't deploy due to the failure light being on and that the buckle has to be replaced. I heard of other people having the same problems on the vw blogs on the web.
Dealership/mechanic informed the consumer that the advanced air bag light illumination was due to driver's seat belt latch failure. Dealerships mechanic was unable to resolve the problem.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 2001 Volkswagen Beetle seat belt
Is seat belt won't latch or retract a common problem on the 2001 Volkswagen Beetle?
5 of 203 owner complaints about the 2001 Volkswagen Beetle (2%) mention seat belt won't latch or retract. The model year with the most reports is 2002.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2001 Volkswagen Beetle?
There is no recall or service bulletin for this area of the car on record.
Other symptoms on the 2001 Volkswagen Beetle
Check engine light 19Airbag light 16Stalling 14ABS 10Loss of power 10Fire or smoke 8Fuel gauge 8Headlights 8No deployment 6Overheating 5
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