Hi everyone. I just signed up on this forum hoping to fix this car. If this has been posted before I apologize, as I did a few searches and I'm not coming up with anything.

Car is a 1994 SC2 and the Auto seatbelt has stopped working on the driver side. From what I understand this part is NLA. I have a friend in the autombile parts business (GM dealer for many yrs) and he even told me I'm SOL on this part. It worked fine before and the track is clean and lubed. It has stopped working in the aft position so the car is useable. Here's the thing, this car belongs to my 86 year old grandmother (yes she still drives) and I'd like to get it fixed for her. The car is in excellent condition but this seatbelt problem is obnoxious.

I'm not into these cars so I don't know much about them. I'm an Audi guy so take it easy on me Can this seatbelt motor be taken out and rebuilt? Is this a simple fix? Is it even the seatbelt motor? I'm assuming the unit that has failed is located in the B pillar no? If someone could point me in the right direction that would be great.

Thanks!

 

maybe maybe not -- the passive restraint control module is located under the center console between the seats on these vehicles, Usually gets destroyed by someone spilling coke in the cupholders, which leaks through and fries the module.

Does the other side work properly?

Could just be a loose wire issue. You'll need to open that up and check before assuming the worst....

Best bet is a salvage yard.

Also, these cars were sold with a metal latch anchor plate that you could hang in the track when the motor was not functioning -- should be in the glove box somewhere -- this is safer than using a motor which may not be locked in its home position

 

Thanks for the reply. The pass side works fine. One thing I should have mentioned in my original post was that after it stopped working when you'd open the door you would hear and see the belt move about an inch and stop. Then close the door and it would do the same thing. Now it does nothing and just stays put when you open or close the door. We do have that little latch currently installed as a bypass per the instructions in the owners manual.

I guess I can take that panel off and poke around and see what I'm dealing with. I thought of a used one but I really am not a fan of used electrical parts.

I was hoping I'd get an open floodgate of information on this problem as I'm assuming it's fairly common. At least our local Saturn dealer said it was.

 

check the motor, eh,..

hoseppi...you have any functioning replacements?

 

I finally got a chance to take a closer look. I removed the rear seat bottom, and the trim that goes on the B pillar and under the rear driver side window to get access to the seatbelt motor. Banging on it while trying to activate it does nothing. It only moves a few inches in either direction then stops. To me it looks a bit like a power antenna motor. I'm going to call my connection in the car parts business and see if he can find or locate this motor. I now have the part # which I took directly off the motor.

It's Part # 21047427 and it's made by a company called BSRG. It's also has a Saturn sticker on it. If anyone can point me in the right direction on this that would be great. Thx

 

If I had to guess on this one with out looking at the service literature, I would say the problem is mechanical not electrical and involves the cable that runs around the door moving the seat belt from position A to position B. The mechanism was unreliable when the car was newer, but also parts were available then. I have had two cars set up with that seat belt system and they both failed due to cable damage and jumping tracks and guide wheels along with a number of power window failures that used cables to run stuff. Same problem. My own Saturn failed some here around 1997 or so but was repairable at the time or recalled and repaired I don't remember which.
As of now it is a dead issue and you really do not want to know what it takes to get into the mechanism.
Your comparison to a power antenna mechanism is appropriate, and when the cable was damaged on them, they were done too!
The Lab belt is usable with out the shoulder harness and the little factory latch thingy should shut the seat belt alarm up as I remember.
Sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear! And I did look it up in service literature I have, there was not even a repair procedure listed for it. (Mitchels) there might be in others.

 

Thanks for the reply. My friend got back to me and that part is still available from Saturn for the driver side only. List is about $520.00 and cost was around $300.00. The part # I posted above is not a good # anymore but it converts to the new #. The motor comes with the whole seatbelt assembly track et al. Knowing this, and upon further study it doesn't look to involved to replace it.

We keep all the cars in the family like new and this car looks as if it just came out of a Saturn showroom (minus the clearcoat flaking off the factory wheels) but we've elected not to fix this even though I can get it at cost. The car just isn't worth it. She'll just keep using that manual override. I did order a new ignition cylinder as hers is gettiing flakey.