Jerk the front straps of any Dodge caravan or Durango see how well they catch then jerk the rear and she how they don't ,my little girl was badly injured because her shoulder strap did not catch when we wrecked going about 35 mph. Why does Dodge put different catching mechanisms in back than in front? She slammed her face into handle on back of drivers seat of our 2001 Dodge caravan and suffered a concussion with blood coming from her eye nose and mouth, I thought she might die. Me and her dad in front were not hurt at all Jerk your seat belts you will see Im telling you the truth. Traumatized Mom

 

First off welcome to the site. Secondly. I'm really sorry to hear about your daughter. I hope she is ok. Thats definately something people don't think about and its a good idea to check them. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Why is it that the rear seat belts in my 2001 SLT Plus Durango don't latch/retract like the front? I can't put 2 car seats in the back. This is very frustrating because that is why we bought this vehicle (larger family). Does anyone know how this can be fixed?

 

You can either swap out the seatbelts with a front assembly (IMHO this is best for when you have adults in the car they cannot use these locking clips but it is great for carseats with their own straps or use seatbelt locking clips this will secure your car seat here's a link. http://www.familyonboard.com/car_seat_accessories.html The locking clips are toward the bottom of the page and your carseat may have come with one already, sometimes they are locked in on the back of the carseats head rest but look around. Then of course if you don't plan on removing the carseats most modern ones come with straps with hooks at the ends that you would attach directly to the car (refer to your owners manual for installation). Good luck and I hope this helped.

 

I am sure the catch can be re-adjusted in the back as well as the front. I know my rear latches do catch as I get frustrated sometimes when it catches and I have to play with it a little to get it to uncatch so I can retract the belt. Take it to the dealer or someone you know that can adjust this, I think it only takes a minute or two to adjust.

 

Welcom to the forum. Sorry to hear about your daughter. I think people should check their rides seat belts at least once a year as a rule of thumb.

 

Sorry to hear about your daughter.

In many years on many forums, I haven't heard of that being an ongoing issue. Perhaps you should have your belts checked for damage. You may find a crayon crammed down in there causing the issue, etc.

DC has always been rated very good on their vehicle safety. Also my '00 D and the '01 Caravan do NOT share the same seatbelt parts BTW. And the '01 D underwent a complete interior make over so those may not match either.

IndyDurango

 

Yeah I checked mine after reading this and they don't lock. The 3rd row doesn't either...

 

They do LOCK in the second and third row seats. Grab the seat belt and give it a hard jurk simulating a accident. They will lock. The fronts are more senitive. And another check is to have a adult sit in the back seats and do a short panic stop. The inertia should lock the belt in the retractor and hold the occupant.

I am also sorry about your daughters accident. I would have the retractors checked out. And , welcome temp409.

 

What year durango do you have again digi? I think if it is the 01-03 then that's why yours work propably fixed this along with the interior redesign. I have yanked hard on mine and they don't lock one bit.