Seat belt extender

[jdkirkk@sbcglob]

My wifes '96 SL600 has very snug seatbelts, uncomfortably so. My local MB dealer told me that MB has an extender for the belts but to get them I had to sign some legal safety-related paperwork, which I did.
Now, three weeks later they tell me they cannot get the belt extenders from Germany. The belts in a sedan are fine, but in this SL they are just not long enough.
Very strange, and I would hate to have to sell the car, but it is not comfortable and I do not know where one could get some extenders made. Any ideas??

[DanielG]

http://www.jcwhitney.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product?storeId=10101&Pr=p_Product.CATENTRY_ID%3A2017821&productId=2017821&catalogId=10101 and
http://wescoperformance.stores.yahoo.net/seat-belt-extender.html

do a google search -- lots of information

[jdkirkk@sbcglob]

Unfortunately my SL600 belt is mounted in the seat and the many extenders available on the market are designed for floor mounted belts. At 5' 10" @ 285 lbs with a 49" waistline I do not fit the MB design parameter so I will have to sell the car. I have been to Germany many times and was not too large to fit in their cars. I would think that a vehicle designed to sell for $140+k would be able to work on this problem like Ford, BMW and General Motors. This is my first, and last, MB. (I have an Audi and two BMW's and all fit just fine. This is truly a new problem for me.)

[jdkirkk@sbcglob]

Some weeks after the writeup MB supplied new seatbelts that fit properly and the local dealer installed them. MB supplied the belts free (for a twelve year old car!) and the dealer charged $1200 to install them. An amazing experience, but I can keep the car now! Not since I owned my one and only Ferrari in 1967 have I been the owner of such an expensive toy. Apparently there is a learning curve for owning a MB SL600, but since I paid a fraction of the cost of a new one, and this one has only 40k miles and is like new otherwise, I am going to stick with it for a while.

[dugald]

Did the dealer wear a mask when he charged you $1200 to install free seatbelts?

[jdkirkk@sbcglob]

Originally Posted by dugald

Did the dealer wear a mask when he charged you $1200 to install free seatbelts?

Not at all, they were very pleasant and acted as if it were a very normal charge. Apparently there is a school in Germany where they teach them how to be smooth with fools like me. Fortunately, it's my wife's car and it was a gift for our 35th Wedding Aniversary, so I can write it off as just another one of those mystery expenses, like shoes and purses.