Fiero Seatbelts, can they be switched out or upgraded? (Page 1/1)
CFiberFiero MAY 14, 11:04 PM
There was another thread but it didn't quite answer my question. Rather than revive it I started a new thread.

As is my seat belts are very tired. They don't like to retract at all and needed coaxing to return home. I imagine I can restore them, but I thought I'd first ask if there was a common upgrade I could do. Also, the stock seatbelts also don't "lock" when pulled quickly like modern seatbelts do (at least mine dont and I couldn't find info on that). Is there anything that might be modern and compatible with the fiero? Having both no airbags and no modern seatbelts is sketch
IMSA GT MAY 14, 11:29 PM
As far as I know, the mechanisms are designed for the Fiero only so no other seatbelts will simply drop in.
cartercarbaficionado MAY 14, 11:30 PM

quote
Originally posted by CFiberFiero:

There was another thread but it didn't quite answer my question. Rather than revive it I started a new thread.

As is my seat belts are very tired. They don't like to retract at all and needed coaxing to return home. I imagine I can restore them, but I thought I'd first ask if there was a common upgrade I could do. Also, the stock seatbelts also don't "lock" when pulled quickly like modern seatbelts do (at least mine dont and I couldn't find info on that). Is there anything that might be modern and compatible with the fiero? Having both no airbags and no modern seatbelts is sketch


its quite easy to clean the grease out of the mechanism. and there isnt a drop in seatbelt unless the ones out of an s10 fit.
also yours are only supposed to lock under braking force and higher. its called inertia lock or something snd gm used it on darn near everything in the 80s and s10s have a habit of sticking and those are frankly alot more popular than fieros (the number sold is alot more than the total of fieros sold by a fair margin)
Vintage-Nut MAY 15, 12:23 AM

quote
As is my seat belts are very tired. They don't like to retract at all and needed coaxing to return home.




quote
jscott1:
It sounds like you may have a bad retraction mechanism. If the belts are really dirty or soiled it couldhave gummed up the retraction mechanism. I removed my seatbelts from the car and washed them in the sink. It took a lot of scrubbing to get them clean.




quote
Also, the stock seatbelts also don't "lock" when pulled quickly like modern seatbelts do (at least mine dont and I couldn't find info on that)




quote
Jax184:
In most cars, there's a spring loaded arm on the spindle the seat belt is wound around. Pull the belt fast enough and centrifugal force causes the arm to lock the seatbelt.

The Fiero on the other hand uses a hanging weight {pendulum-type tensioner} which swings forward and locks the seatbelt when the car suddenly decelerates. This means you can pull the seatbelt just as fast as you want and it won't lock, but it'll snap tight when it's actually needed. You should be able to test them by braking hard from a decent speed.




quote
Is there anything that might be modern and compatible with the fiero?




quote
FieroFocus:
Seat belts wear well and normally do not need replacing although periodic cleaning is appropriate.

We have read that the seatbelt mechanism is unique to the Fiero and therefore used seatbelts from other cars do not exist.

We have also read that some of the late '80s Firebird seat belts are the same as the Fiero. We do not which version is true.




quote
derangedsheep:
I was in my friend's Saturn. And as I buckled the seatbelt, I realized that its the same style as the fiero. It pulls out on the top and the bottom and the buckle looks the same. I know a lot of people say how their belts dont hold tension or that they are dirty and cant get them clean. So i thought that this might be an alternative. It was a 1995 Saturn 4 door. I dont know which model but it does say Twin Cam on the back (if that narrows it down at all).



Seatbelt Planet has a "Reweb Service" for the Fiero
https://www.seatbeltplanet....actor-seat-belt.html


quote
TXGOOD:
I just ordered {2007} some belts from those guys {Seatbelt Planet} / The only thing is they mount differently in that the Fiero seat belt mechanism has the belts coming out of both ends, and these have the belt just coming out of one end. I`m going to try to mount them in the stock position and have the lower hole as an anchor instead of a pass through mounting point.



------------------
Original Owner of a Silver '88 GT
Under 'Production Refurbishment' @ 136k Miles

[This message has been edited by Vintage-Nut (edited 05-15-2025).]

82-T/A [At Work] MAY 15, 10:28 AM

quote
Originally posted by CFiberFiero:

There was another thread but it didn't quite answer my question. Rather than revive it I started a new thread.

As is my seat belts are very tired. They don't like to retract at all and needed coaxing to return home. I imagine I can restore them, but I thought I'd first ask if there was a common upgrade I could do. Also, the stock seatbelts also don't "lock" when pulled quickly like modern seatbelts do (at least mine dont and I couldn't find info on that). Is there anything that might be modern and compatible with the fiero? Having both no airbags and no modern seatbelts is sketch




For what it's worth... we were able to clean a set of light grey seatbelts in my daughter's 1985 Fiero 2m4 SE, which we bought that had over 200k miles on it. They came out immaculate.. this is them hanging / drying after we cleaned them...



This is the link to the whole process of how we cleaned them: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/100861.html


We also added a little bit of grease to the mechanism so that they would retract back to normal. They work really well right now... there are no issues with them, and they look brand new. As I mentioned, they had over 200k miles on them, and they were disgusting looking, very very dirty. We got the passenger side basically looking like it was brand new (not even a spot anywhere, and no wear whatsoever), while the drivers side looks like it's maybe a year old. There's a little bit of wear where the seat belt consistently would go through the top loop... I'm really overexaggerating it... it basically looks like a new seat belt. You can see in the pictures they are basically gleaming...

Note: I had to zip-tie them when fully extended to keep them from retracting as I let them dry...


EDIT: Not the same thing, but if you're looking to renew your interior as well... I also used RetroBrite on many of the plastics to get it looking "like new." See this thread:

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/100866.html

And an example of what I was able to do with it... (RetroBrite is like $20 bucks):

[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 05-15-2025).]

olejoedad MAY 15, 10:29 AM
What color do you need?
82-T/A [At Work] MAY 15, 11:00 AM
Also... when you remove the seat belts... remember which bolts go where. We forgot to actually take note of that, and it became an issue for us since we couldn't figure out which one went where, and that's actually pretty important... including the different washers and shims, etc... and the order they go in.
CFiberFiero MAY 15, 12:26 PM

quote
Originally posted by olejoedad:

What color do you need?



The current ones are the standard for a grey interior. eventually i'd like to redo the interior in a darker shade or maybe black.

Thank you for all the responses everyone! I'll try cleaning them and greasing them and see if that remedies the issue. If they are broken it looks like my only solution is replacing them with standard fiero seatbelts.