Sorry for just popping in to ask this, but I am at my wits end with my rear seatbelts!

I have a 2000 Dodge Stratus that I have owned for 7 years. I am redoing the interior because well, it's old. That included taking out all of the seatbelts, fully retracting them, popping out the old webbing and popping in some new.

When I re-installed the seatbelts I was checking the safety locking by yanking on them. The front two engage the ELR with no problem, but the two in the rear do not lock at all. I even sat my husband in the backseat while I drove in an empty parking lot and sped up to slam on the brakes. Nothing...

Some folks over on the Ram board mentioned that the rear belts in theirs don't lock either, so I was wondering if this is an older model dodge issue or not????

If they are manufactured to not lock, than mine aren't broken... if they are supposed to lock, it looks like I will be forking over $100 or so. I just need to know since before taking them out, I had never paid that much attention to if they locked or not.

Thanks in advance to any that can provide some info!

 

The fronts in mine lock, the rears don't seem to, or at least I can't get them to. It bothers me quite a bit since the 2000 isn't equipped with lower latch (child seat anchors), and rear facing seats don't use the upper latch on the rear deck that it IS equipped with.

 

Thank you so much for responding! That is what I was afraid of. Glad to know before I spent money on new OEM belts that don't lock either.

I know what you mean about dealing with the car seat. We have always used the center belt for my daughter and now that she is 2 we flipped her around and can finally use the upper latch as well.

I sometimes have passengers in the rear, so I feel awful that all this time they were never protected! Not sure if there is anything I can do about it!?!

 

I hear ya on that one. Not sure if they're supposed to lock or not, just that they haven't since I bought the car 4 years ago. I would have used the center, but not enough room for the booster seat boy with the baby in the middle. It will make things easier once we can flip the little one around. I'm not going to sweat it though. Wife usually has them in our T&C, but occasionally I do have to drive them around in the Strat.

I would still like to hear from other 1g Strat owners to find out if I should replace the rear seat belts (along with the OP), or if they really are supposed to be like that. Maybe from someone that had the old beasts when new...?