In my mazda mx5 NA import I used to have seatbelts with inertia retraction that didn’t choke me to death while driving. Once you put the seatbelt they used to automatically “mechanically semi lock” in a position that if you were driving it wasn’t constantly retracting - but was fully functional. if you moved slowly forward it would move with you. If you did a sudden movement the seatbelt would lock.
My audi A6 had the same mechanism. Does anyone know if/where I can find this mechanism to buy for my NC?
To the best of my knowledge the MK3 already has this function.
Have you tried to yank the seat belt sharply and see if it locks?
There is a known issue on early MK3’s where the belt does not retract easily, this can be usually rectified by replacing or modifying the seat belt guides on the seat back and cleaning the belt can also be beneficial.
How old is the car and have you had it long?
The seatbelt in the car works fine. The function I’m on about is used while you are driving and sitting upright - basically it stops the seatbelt pulling back and nicking your neck. It engages after the first pull when you first fit the seatbelt to the buckle, when you stop retracting the seatbelt and you move forward slightly and it holds that position. if you move forward again slowly it moves with you but if you yank it, it locks as normal.
To be clear, the JDM seatbelt relaxer is as it sounds; when you turn on the ignition, the seatbelt relaxes. Most people hate it and pull the fuse. The mechanism is built into the reel.
If you find the seat belt uncomfortable to wear, there are various devices on the market. I cannot vouch for their safety
This type of device may cause death or injury in an airbag equipped car.
I was actually looking at replacing the actual complete seatbelt mechanism in my NC with one of those and not adding any plastic attachments. I had the NA so long ago I thought it was purely mechanical - I couldn’t remember whether it had an electric circuit.
Dunno why people don’t like it - its actually quite neat mechanism. do you know whether all NA had it or some had it? Did it come with the NB? (whether to try find a set from a breakers and hack it in)
All JDM NA had it, but there are at least 3 different reel mechanisms depending on year and options. The reel will have a multiblock connector. Seatbelts from a breakers may not be safe, due to damage to the webbing. I had JDM belts rewebbed for about £60 by FDPS. A brand new Japan market belt from a UK Mazda dealer was about the same price as the equivalent UK parts.
Notably, US NA Miatas, which had airbags, did not have this. So I suppose the feature was also no present in the NB Roadster.
Modern cars have more sophisticated airbag systems. OBDII has a couple of codes for “Seatbelt Tension Reducer”. This is factory installed and is something to do with making sure you are not decapitated by an airbag when deployed.
Airbagged NAs had a quarter inch steel plate to space down the steering column to make sure the airbag didn’t kill you. That’s all.
I’m now thinking changing the seatbelts to something out of spec maybe not so grand idea. Primarily because I’m still depending on the seatbelts to work alongside the airbags in case of a crash as I’m not going to use a 5-6 point racing harness…
Is this happening with road use as my mk3 does not do this , also have you changed the seat height that may change the angle of the seat belt into the trim ? Just trying to understand what’s happening here . Apologies for the questions that don’t help
yea I use the jass brackets to lower the driver seat. The driving position to the pedals is much better (for me). Previously my head was nearly hitting the roof and could not fit in the car with a helmet and the roof up - which was a major issue for me. So basically the seatbelt does not fit in the trim on the seat that moves it slightly to the right…
Which now thinking about it maybe that’s precisely the issue. What I need to so is to design a 3D model of the trim that fits the seat and make that taller so it effectively the seatbelt is directed to the correct position…
