Best/ safest way to clean seatbelt

[trigolf]

Evening all.

I want to clean my seat belts. What's the best/safest way to do it?

[Graham C]

I would use either water or a bit of detergent in water. Graham

As these are made from man made materials you are reasonable safe more problem from aging.

Graham

[dannyb]

I would pull the belt out as far as it goes from the roller and clamp it. Unbolt it from the b piller and place in a bowl of hot water and detergent and gently scrub with nail brush.

Danny

[JohnD]

I must disagree with Graham, the 'life' of a seat belt is no more that 10-15 years.   How old are yours?

In motorsport, the FIA mandates that seatbelts must be replaced after FIVE years, but in the UK the sport's regulator, MotorsportUK, allows an extra five years, so a maximum of ten.    While the stresses of a crash can be the same as in motorsport, the wear and tear  of daily, or even weekend-only use will be much greater.    If your belts are dirty, mouldy or otherwise need cleaning, that is a good opportunity to get new ones.

In the 1960s death on the road peaked at nearly 8000 a year!      Seat belts were introduced in 1959,but only made compulsory in 1989, yet deaths on UK roads have fallen to less than 2000 in 2022, despite there being more than four times as many vehicles on our roads.   Some of this is due to better car design - not shared by Triumphs! - but the majority is due to seat belt wearing.

Please, trigolf, change your belts!
John

[Graham C]

Sorry JohnD, you must have miss understood my comment. I was saying that as seat belts are made from man-made materials then water and detergent would not impact the material, however you would get more problems with ageing is sun light, etc - hence your 10/15 year life span.

So you question about age is relevant.

Graham

[trigolf]

John, Whilst my belts are'nt filthy, just a little grubby, your point is a good one. Time flies,as we know,and it seemed not that long ago I fitted the current set. However, they must be 20+ yrs old now, so I think time for some replacements. I'm looking for inertia reel belts, with stalks for a Vit convertible. Club shop or elsewhere?🤔

[Pete Lewis]

i found the worst part of reel belts is with the choppy ride they can continue to tighten over the shoulder on our current roads 

found they tiresome on my Vit6 

easy to get to the ignition key which you cant with fixed a belt .

clamp on the high pivot if possible can reduce the retracting loads and put a small level of slack

on a right bumpy road i felt i was being moved to the back seat at times   Ha !

 

[trigolf]

48 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

clamp on the high pivot if possible can reduce the retracting loads and put a small level of slack

Yep, already have those fitted to current set Pete.

[JohnD]

On 07/08/2024 at 10:27, Graham C said:

Sorry JohnD, you must have miss understood my comment. I was saying that as seat belts are made from man-made materials then water and detergent would not impact the material, however you would get more problems with ageing is sun light, etc - hence your 10/15 year life span.

So you question about age is relevant.

Graham

Apologies Graham, I did misunderstand!

trigolf, very glad to hear you agree!   We don't need to lose Triumpheroes!

John