compu_85 Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Question: Do any W's get seatbelt pretensioners? I'm pretty sure our 02 doesn't have them, but would like to know. (seatbelt pretensioners a explosive devices, like airbags. They 'deploy' with the airbags, and snap the belt tight. The ones that I've seen are a tube mounted on the floor by the B pillar with a cable running out of them, connected to the retractor) -Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych0matt Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 as far as I know they all just got the interia switch like any other car, but ive been proven wrong before. i dont think this is one of those things, though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 we are talking about the cars that GM found a loophole over installing airbags, all the first gens have are the inertia switches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compu_85 Posted January 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Ya... my 91 Jetta had 'loophole' belts as well... slightly different then the GM ones, the retractors were in the middle of the car, and the buckle was on the door frame. The lap belt was optional, because there is a big steel bar running the length of the car under the dashboard A nice annoying feature is that the car wouldn't start unless the door mounted belts were buckled. The first thing I did to the car after I got it was disable that feature. The 2nd thing was to retrofit 3 point belts from an earlier car. Back on topic: What about the airbag equipped Ws? Do they have them? -J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 Usually I keep up on safety stuff, but I had never heard of active seatbelt pretensioners till this post - well, I knew Mercedes had them as part of an accident prevention package on the previous and current gen S-Class. Apparently they've been available since the 1981 S-Class, wow. All I could find on Google relating to GM is the 00-02 Cadillac Devilles had them and so do the 07-up Yukon, Escalade and Tahoe. Little clues in the Google search results indicate 04 Malibu and Canyon had them too. Not much else I could find, there's reference to them on B-body DTC's. I'm pretty sure my 94 w/airbag has no pretensioners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych0matt Posted January 23, 2007 Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 I'm pretty sure my 94 w/airbag has no pretensioners. I can vouch for that as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5speedz34 Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 Aren't all seatbelts supposed to automatically lock in the event of a crash? Are the pretensioners just better at doing that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w-bodys_are_the_best Posted January 24, 2007 Report Share Posted January 24, 2007 From what I understand they tighten up the belt when your about to bite it. There is some sort of sensor or something that can tell when a crash is imminent and tightens the belts so there's no slack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GutlessSupreme Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 Well yea, we have the inertia switch that will lock it under rapid deceleration... but beyond that there's nothing. edit: i haven't been able to spell at all tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 From what I can tell, the 1st W-bodies to get them were the '04 Grand Prix, followed by the '06 Impala, Monte, and Lacrosse. GM is only about 25yrs behind Mercedes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3WH12-96 Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 pretensioners rely on the same crash sensors that the airbags use...like an airbag they EXPLODE upon vehicle impact and draw the seatbelt tighter at that time.. U vans had them since 1997 G vans since 2004 blah blah just more stuff to break or blow up in your face just wear your seatbelts and we wont need all this govermental "protection" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 pretensioners rely on the same crash sensors that the airbags use...like an airbag they EXPLODE upon vehicle impact and draw the seatbelt tighter at that time.. U vans had them since 1997 G vans since 2004 blah blah just more stuff to break or blow up in your face just wear your seatbelts and we wont need all this govermental "protection" It's not governmental, it's voluntary. If they didn't work, Mercedes wouldn't have been using them for 25-years. Like all safety equipment, given a choice, I'd rather have it than not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych0matt Posted January 25, 2007 Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 Like all safety equipment, given a choice, I'd rather have it than not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compu_85 Posted January 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2007 . At 0:21 you can see what the pretensioner does. Have any of you ridden on a Ford from the late 80s / early 90s? They seem to have an anti-tensioner on the seatbelts... they ratchet out and you have to pull them away till they click to make them tight again -J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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