I had a couple coins slide out of my pocket into the receptacle/clip for my seatbelt. I go the penny out no problem, only to find a dime underneath it. The dime wasn’t so easy to get out, and in my efforts to extract it I ended up knocking it down into the very insides the receptacle, below the clip, can’t even see it. Since it can no longer be reached, I tried to suck it out with a dry vac, to no avail. So far there does not seem to be an easy way to open up the seat belt receptacle itself, tho that’s the next thing I’ll try, tho I may break it in the process. Would really rather not spend $70 for a new seatbelt, but I should probably deal with this for safety purposes; but mostly, I feel sorta naked without it, and then there’s the INCESSANT BEEPING!
Question 2 would be if simply cut the wire to the belt will it stop the beeping alerting me I’m not wearing my seatbelt!?
Thanks for any and all suggestions!
Hope
Southwest Harbor, ME
I think you are going to have to unbolt the buckle end from the floor or whatever it’s bolted to. When you try to move it you will find the wire and if you trace it back you’ll find the connector that you can disconnect. Once you have it out you can turn it over and shake it out.
+1 to @wentwest. Many years ago, my young daughter put a penny in the seat belt latch. I found out after trying to latch the belt. Unbolting it and shaking it upside down was the only way I got it out.
Good ideas above. If you can see the penny you could try putting a little super-glue (or maybe the kind of glue from a heated glue gun, anything that will tack and set up quickly and form a reasonably strong bond). Put a dab on the end of a piece of wire – like a paperclip wire – and see if you can get it to stick to the coin, then pull the coin out.
I’d look for a boneyard belt end to use to replace the current one. I’m guessing that the spring loaded clip will retain the coin, and these things aren’t designed to opened up and repaired.
Good suggestions! Years ago a friend of my wife had a problem with her seatbelt in a Mercury. The dealer offered to replace the whole belt for $170!!! Dealers like doing that. The $70 mentioned by OP will not buy a new seatbelt…
She consulted a mechanic who with a scope determined that 1/2 a peanut had lodged in the space. Disconnecting the belt and turning it upside down solved the problem.
It shouldn’t take much to pull the belt off, it’s only one bolt and unplug the wires.
Then you can upright it and shake the coin out. 1/2 hour for a novice with the right tools.
Sometimes seat belts mounts use bizarre fasteners, requiring a tool most diy’ers wouldn’t have on hand. I haven’t checked my Corolla, but on my Ford truck, it has those weird fasteners for the seat belts. I presume it is to discourage folks from messing with the mounts.
You might actually be lucky if the seat belt buckle is easy to open. I took a screwdriver and pried it open without breaking it. Saw the coin within the buckle and slipped the penny through one of the side openings. Snapped the buckle back together and voila!
I saw a video that I had to undo the power to the buckle so I do not trigger the airbags. I did that beforehand just in case.
Oh man three years old again. I hope he got it out by now.
At any rate I have a variety of picks on my work bench that come in handy. You buy a whole set at the hardware store. Then I also have about an 8 inch forceps that I use many times to pick something out (like in the garbage disposal) or to clamp something like a gas line. Then there is always compressed air. Like said here and I would have said three years ago, you need to take it out and start working on it.