Click n go

May 15, 2015 12:07 AM

We are road tripping today and have just found one seat belt isn't working.

We're driving from Paris to Luxembourg in our Volvo V50, and the Volvo garage is shut and we cannot come up with any solution except one person takes the train.
Does anybody know any safe hacks? I thought of a child seat by ISOFIX but we don't have the mounting kit (or the child seat, and just one slightly large child). Any other ideas?

posted by bwonder2 to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

Any way you can get hold of a short tow strap? If it can be securely hooked or looped into the existing seat belt harness fixtures, and if the safety concern is ensuring that it won't break or tear, I would expect that a strap designed to pull another vehicle will be stronger than the original seat belt.
posted by XMLicious at 1:10 AM on May 15, 2015

Does it have to be the Volvo garage? A local garage might be able to fix it if the problem is minor.

If you google "how to fix a broken seat belt" there are some videos, but doing it yourself will not give you piece of mind. Realistically any hacking you do in a non professional manner could increase the danger the person using that belt would be in; cars are stress tested to make sure their belts are safe, you are not in a position to do that.

If you cannot get professional help I think someone getting the train/hiring a car/flying may be the only realistic option.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 2:55 AM on May 15, 2015

I agree that a seatbelt is not something you want to improvise or "hack" a fix for. They are very carefully designed and calibrated to withstand specific forces. Volvo is a European brand, it seems likely that any normal garage will be able to fix it, not just a Volvo one.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:19 AM on May 15, 2015

Thanks, train ticket's been bought. It's a quasi-long weekend and no garage was open. I saw one video that fixed a seat belt with dental floss!
posted by bwonder2 at 3:26 AM on May 15, 2015