K87ZZ4

The seat belt locked up on my 87 and I can't pull the seat belt back out! I had to drive home with no seat belt.

I called the dealer and asked about the recall. The dealer looked up my VIN and said, "Nope", no recalls for seat belts for your vehicle.

I went to the NHTSA site and found 3 recalls for for 87 Corvettes. https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/1987/C...RVETTE#recalls
Sure enough, there is a recall for seat belts! Interior Systems: Active Seat and Shoulder Belts
NHTSA Campaign 91V143000 It's from 1991: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/1991/RC-91V143-NN.PDF

The recall seems to apply to all C4 vehicles (1984-1991 Corvettes) subject to this campaign at no charge to owners, regardless of mileage, age of vehicle, or ownership, from this time forward.

The dealer recommended I call GM (800.462.8782) Customer Service. GM opened a case, but apparently is using the same system that the dealer is looking at, which shows no open recalls for my VIN. I explained that the recall campaign DOES include my VIN, but the rep basically said, "if it's not in the system, you're out of luck." They said that safety recalls do not expire, but that any repair would NOT be covered by GM and would be out of pocket and said I should call the dealer back.

The Service Manager at the dealer was helpful and checked with the local/regional GM Representative. It came down to the same thing: my VIN is not showing up in the GM Workbench system. So, they are concluding that there are no recalls for my VIN... sigh... despite my providing them the documentation from the recall.

Have any of you other C4 owners with a seat belt issue ran into this problem with GM? My take is that the recall simply isn't in GM's system for my VIN (that's a system problem, but I'm not sure how to remedy that problem).

If you go to the NHTSA site and search for your VIN, does it say it can't be found in the GM system? (that's what happens when I search for my VIN)

Nowhere Man

I doubt GM has any parts left in stock to fix it and after 30 years I don't think its a high priority

Cruisinfanatic

Even if you found a dealer who agreed to the recall, there are no parts. Your best bet is here or ebay to get replacement

RedRedRed

Just recently bought my '91. That recall came up on CarFax as being open, as it did for just about every other C4 of that age range that I ran a CarFax report for. Seems like a lot of people never had the recall taken care of when it was current. Try running a Carfax report on your VIN and see what comes up. I wonder if yours was taken care of back then and that's why it doesn't show up any more for your VIN as an open recall? Could be the same problem re-occurring. Would they show open and closed recalls or just the open ones?

The Chevy dealer I bought my car from said that Chevy wouldn't honor the recall, it's too old. I can't remember if he looked anything up to see if they would or wouldn't. Aside from the parts issue, I would think you could get some satisfaction from a consumer affairs group. Mine are working fine, but the car's only got a little over 13,000 miles, so there's plenty of time for them to fail, I guess! I'd be interested to know if you get anywhere with this.

Steves LS6

I have the kit to repair the seat belts. You can pick up the kit on eBay. I believe all GM seatbelts needed the repair. I will post a picture when I have a chance. I never installed it on my car because I haven't needed to.

There is a kit on eBay right now search 82-91 Seat belt Replacement buttons

Cruisinfanatic

That's because dealers weren't required to fix unless it was jammed

K87ZZ4

I found a part. Well, it's not an exact match on color (it's medium gray instead of graphite), but GM has it listed as a substitute part for my car. So, the part is not the issue. The issue is that GM doesn't recognize that this safety recall applies to my car.

K87ZZ4

Right. And, if it's been fixed, the dealer is supposed to place a 'campaign sticker' on top of the radiator to show the work was completed. It will have a campaign number of 91C25 for left (driver's) side and 91C26 for right (passenger) side.

ghoastrider1

whatever road you chose to take my advice is this. Use an impact on the mounting bolts. You DONT want to strip or round off the edges. Had to do on my 86. These cars are WAY to fast NOT to have a seatbelt on. best of luck.

1bdvet

Your best bet is to go to a Corvette swap meet for seat belts!

Red86Z51

I had the same issue with both of the belts in my '87 back in 09/13. I printed out the recall and met with the service manager at my local dealership. After running this up the chain of command (he REALLY went to bat for me!) GM agreed to replace my belts.

Now, being that parts were no loner available, they agreed to purchase aftermarket belts of my choosing, AND 1: Order the belts I chose, ship to and install the belts at the dealership, or 2: Pay the vendor for the belts directly, have them shipped to me, and I install them myself. I chose option 2.

The caveat was that once replaced, there would be no warranty from them as they were aftermarket parts. Needless to say, I was OK with that!

According to the NHTSA, GM must honor and act on ALL safety recalls. There are NO expiration dates on these recalls. Saying that they can not order GM parts is NO excuse for not attempting to ensure the safety issue is addressed and repaired.

Don't let up on them. Go high enough up the totem poll, and you will find someone who will listen.

It worked for me.

Good luck going forward!

Dave

383vett

Op, if your car's vin is not listed as eligible for the recall, most likely it had been done in the past and the part has failed. GM has satisfied the recall requirement. You'll need to repair it on your own dime.

ZHammer

This is right here.

DalecarliaEric

Regarding to my 1991 corvette, there are a Product Safety Recall that concerns the belt retractors-left and -right side, GM Recall #: N910058 and N910059

Is the recall valid regardless of whether I have belt problems or not? At my GM shop (in Sweden), they said: The recall only covers belt retractor problems. So must there be problems with the belts to have them replaced according to the safety recalls? Or is it GM's responsibility to replace them anyway?

OK I know GM might not has any parts left in stock to fix it.

FAUEE

They have to fix them only if there is an issue.

Being in Sweden,the requirements are likely different. If the car was sold to swedeS new vs imported later would also affect it I would think.

jv9999

For what it's worth, I fixed mine. There are two springs inside. One with a yellow cover over it and one with a white cover. The spring under the white cover controls the latch release. I bent the end tab of the spring a bit to increase tension and it works fine now. Mine was the type with the weight that swings and latches the belt under a certain G load.
If anyone should try this, it's at your own risk. This is informational only. Safety devices should only be modified by trained professionals.

84vetteproject

I'm dealing with the exact same thing right now. I own an 1984 vette and the driver side belt is stuck in the housing. I found the same recall and got the same response from both my dealer and GM as you. They said they couldn't find any recalls linked with my vin. My dealer, however, said that they found the recall for c4's but that a "remedy isn't available". So my guess is that the recall went out on August 26th, 1991 from NHTSA, but was never excepted as an official recall by GM which is a whole legal thing which I don't have the energy to deal with. I have no idea what I'm goin to do because I don't want to pay for a whole new belt mechanism. Very infuriating issue.

Cruisinfanatic

there are no new belts. Available on Ebay

1bdvet

You might want too try here, color choice might not get what color you need.

https://aescorvetteparts.com/collect...vette-c4-84-96

VikingTrad3r

i took it apart and made the small adjustment as described above. works great.