Seat belt replacement?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 337
Likes: 56
Seat belt replacement?
Hello to all. My question is about my 69 seatbelts, lap and shoulder. They appear to be in good shape and original. My question is, do they need to be replaced? Does the webbing lose it's strength over time even if it looks good.
Tires can look fine but they definitely have a best before life and I wondered about seat belts. Just in case. Thanks and take care
Tires can look fine but they definitely have a best before life and I wondered about seat belts. Just in case. Thanks and take care
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
All plastic [in this case, nylon] products lose strength over time. The worst deteriorating agent is sunlight (UV). If the seat belts haven't seen much sun (car sits outside often), 40 year-old nylon webbing is MUCH weaker than new webbing. When I purchased my '71 in 2005, the first thing I did was pull the interior out, removed all the seat belt equipment, and had new webbing retrofitted to the original hardware. Back then, it cost me $60 to have that work done with $15 worth of new webbing.
Keep the old belts as long as you feel "safe" wearing them. In a crash, you will discover whether you were 'right'....or not.
Keep the old belts as long as you feel "safe" wearing them. In a crash, you will discover whether you were 'right'....or not.
