Caravan rear shoulder straps don't catch in crash

Im trying to find out if in Caravan or in ANY vans if they do crash
testing for rear occupants. Daimerchrysler seatbelt rep.,said call
NHTSA ,I did ,girl answers she dont know, gave me email to ask someone
still waiting for that reply. Daimerchrysler seatbelt issue guy says
the same catching mechanism that is in front is in rear. I said" NO WAY
jerk them something is different". He says the back dont catch because
pendulum in back is heavier than in front. Seems not legit to me
because The rear shoulder strap didn't catch in our wreck and daughter
(12yrs) was badly injured setting behind drivers seat her shoulder
strap didn't catch and her face slammed the handle on back of drivers
seat. Jerk straps in Dodge caravan or durango in rear for yourself-
NONE catch -but the front all catch perfectly though. Something wrong
and needs recalled I think.

 

Don't be an absolute idiot, please.

Of course they test rear seatbelts.

Your belt didn't work - you need to give all the info to your insurance
company and let them decide if they are going to make a claim against
Chrysler for the medical bills.

Many belts don't "catch" because they have an explosive charge that fires
when the airbags go off and shoots a piston into the belt retractor to stop
it. We can't tell you what type you have since you didn't bother to put
what type of Caravan you have and what year it is.

Ted

 

--

Since you don't specify the year that question cant really be answered.
There are 2 basic ways for locking a seat belt to prevent the belt from
coming out. The first is the automatic locking retractor which prevents the
belt from coming out after the occupant extracts the length of webbing.
The second way is the Emergency Locking Retractor which only locks when the
vehicles undergoes a high acceleration or deceleration.
There is also a dual mode retractor. it has both locking mechanisms into one
restraint. Chrysler uses the ELR and the Dual mode restraints.
ELR can be bolted to the floor, seat, pillar or roof it uses a sensor that
reacts off g-force during accel and decel and locks the mechanism to prevent
the belt from coming out further.
Dual mode belts have the g-force sensor and the automatic locking mechanism.
Each belt uses a pyrotechnic device which is triggered simultaneously with
the airbags to rapidly retract the seat belts in the event of air bag
deployment. With the slack removed, the occupant's forward motion in an
impact will be reduced as will the likelihood of contacting interior
components. After an impact that deploys the airbags. This is what Ted was
talking about BUT it has nothing to do with locking the belt. its design was
to take out the slack, pull you away from the steering wheel or other seats
or dash boards.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

And there is a recell to 1994.

Chrysler is very good on recalls.

 

if this is true, and your daughter "was" wearing the belt get a lawyer and
sue...

 

First file a complaint with the NHTSA. I believe you can do this now
via their web site. If enough comlaints are received on a given issue,
it can help generate an investigation that can lead to a recall.

My rear belts catch in my minivan. Occasionally they catch just driving
down my driveway which is a little steep and if you hit a bump while
going downhill, the kids often complain about the belt catching.

Sorry to hear about your daughter. How is she doing?

Matt

 

That's really stupid to imply that based on what you just read, you have no
idea if this vehicle was wrecked and had any fault codes in the passive
restraint system before this accident (assuming its a new model) you don't
even know what year it is. And if the daughter was not sitting back in her
chair at the time of the accident. (which im sure the OP will say she was).

If she was leaning all the way forward and the seat belt was maxed out with
her head at the back of the front seat how would you expect the seat belt to
stop her from hitting it the seat?????
Was there someone sitting in the front seat with it reclined back into the
girl? (once again the answer will always be no)

my opinion

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

did u take it in for the recall??? if not shame on u

 

ted the pretenoners are for the air bag deployment only only not the rear
seating

 

It was a 2001 Dodge caravan year dont really matter All caravans
durangos do the same It must be a daimerchrysler problem. front catches
perfectly Rear dont. Talked to Daimerchrysler he says ALL have same
catching mechanisms in the front as in the rear I said NO WAY have you
jerked them something is wrong. I said did you know ALL minivans Front
and REAR pass the jerking test except Dodge and he said No, I dont go
around jerking seatbelts .(and he is thier seatbelt guy) I said I bet
you would if it was your daughter that just got her face smashed. Now
I just think Ill Let a lawyer do the jerkinig for him. Not sure yet Im
waiting for info in rear crash test of minivans. I dont think they have
to test rear occupants not sure yet waiting for NHTSA to reply filed
with them 3-11-06

 

NHTSA there I also notice other complaints of Dodge Durangos that will
not catch IN ANY rear shoulder straps Chrysler repaired one for them
then said they will have to pay to have others repaired. Hmmm, I wonder
who will end up paying/?

 

--

What recall are we referring to this time dirty?

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

I'm sorry to hear about that. They're supposed to work by inertia, with the
pendulum. I'm not sure they're supposed to react to jerking.

 

Can you even do that? I thought that once you filed a claim with an
insurance company that the insurance company takes over and files
the lawsuits. It's called subrogation of claims. Why are you bothering
Chrysler about this? You need to be taking care of your daughter and
having your insurance agent run around trying to jerk seat belts and
call lawyers to sue auto companies.

Or, are we possibly dealing with an uninsured driver who has a 12 year
old with a lot of medical bills, looking for a sugar daddy to pay them?

Ted

 

Haven't spoke to my insurance guy about the issue yet but Im sure if I
do decide to pursue it in court a lawyer will speak with him. I need a
lawyer consult in the first place to know if I should let
Daimlerchrysler have my vehicle and just to ask some questions and see
what I should do. And no Ted , money is not a issue at all dont be
nasty. Childrens safety is. If the belts are unsafe they should recall
them. Im going to save people from going through what we did.

 

I think you need to talk to your insurance company and find out how
they proceed, before making any assumptions about who a lawyer will
speak to. Insurance companies typically don't lead in with a lawyer.

You need to consult your insurance company first to ask questions, then
decide if your going to file a claim or pursue it yourself.

A recall isn't going to be triggered by ONE complaint. You need to
file your complaint with NHTSA and let the process work.

That's what I'm afraid of. Unfortunately, you seem to be unaware that
sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

Do we really need tepid coffee from McDonalds because some stupid
bitch burned herself by spilling it all over in the drive through? When she
shouldn't have even been getting coffee in the drive through in the first
place, let alone eating in her car? Like I really want to drive down the
street with a bunch of other drivers occupied by eating and drinking
instead of driving?

It seems to me that an hour in a U-pull-it wrecking yard with a Caravan
the same year as yours would satisfy your curiosity as to whether the
rear belts in your vehicle should have "caught" or not. If you were to post
here with pictures of a belt out of some wrecked car that clearly showed
that there was no retractor mechanism provided by Chrysler, then I think
you might get some interest. But for now I think most people are assuming
that your belt simply malfunctioned. Machines are not infallable, after
all,
and it may suck when safety equipment malfunctions but it does every once
in a while.

You have chosen to live in the technological society, you drink water from
a public water system, eat refrigerated food from a grocery store, I can't
begin to count the amount of properly-running technology that your health
depends on just by doing this, and all of it you have about as much control
over as a flea does over a dog. As long as you keep choosing to live
in the technological society, you will need to come to terms with the idea
that there is always a chance that your life or the lives of your loved ones
may be prematurely snuffed out by a failure of that technology. The chance
is not very great, but it is there. And you can't do anything about it, nor
can
I, other than to completely reject that society and live up in the woods
somewhere. There's people who have tried doing that, as a matter of fact,
you might try reading the book Fatu Hiva by Thor Heyerdahl to see one
couple's try at doing this, and how successful they were at doing it. Other
than that, your just going to have to accept this as one of those things,
and
count your blessings that the injuries wern't more serious.

Ted

 

Ya well I will have to call insurance guy tomorrow seems like good
advice since I don't want a lawsuit anyway. I just want things to be
made safe befour another child is hurt or killed. Already filed with
NHTSA on the 11th others filed about Dodge durangos doing the same way
Daimlerchrysler repaired first one then said they would have to pay to
have the rest repaired. Daimlerchryslers gen3 latch defect and their
history with all that seems totally disgusting, they just pay people
off and don't recall and defend obviously unsafe equipment ,seems its
all about money and not safety with them. NHTSA or IIHS have never
done a FRONTAL crash test for minivans with REAR occupants- where the
shoulder strap is most important, and I guess Daimlerchrystler knew
that and cut corners putting the cheaper unworking shoulder mechanisms
in the rear. Would be interesting to know how much they save by doing
that.

 

Try getting in touch with the IIHS, they also do independent crash testing.

 

So I will I give up trying to save the world, Im tired, nobody cares
about unsafe defective seatbelts until a wreck happens to them and its
their own kids who are hurt anyway. I can not get seatbelts recalled
under any circumstance even if they are proven unsafe you can go
unsafebelts.com you can read daimlerchrystlers history with seatbelt
Issues. Just tell everyone jerk front and rear shoulder straps of ANY
caravan or durango you can see something is obviously wrong. Children
will be hurt and maybe even die but I can do nothing more except post
all over internet and newspaper. I posted this once already it must of
got removed seems someone dont want you to know daimlerchrystlers
history.:shakehead

 

If the seat belt has a pendulum style inertial lock, then jerking the
seatbelt proves nothing. This style activates only if the entire
vehicle is jerked.


Matt