Okay, here’s the deal – I’ll PayPal $5 to the first person who can correctly tell me what this thing is and what purpose it serves. For the record, I have never seen this before and I have no clue what it is. And unfortunately, the one person at Volvo who probably knows for sure is out of the office for the week.
This was from the check I had yesterday. The vehicle is a 1998 Volvo S70. It had 3-pt belts and switchable latchplates (which you don’t see very often) in all 3 rear seating positions. That wasn’t a big deal. Switchable latchplates are easy to work with as long as you know what they are and how they function. The vehicle owners manual was also very clear on how to use them properly when installing a CR. But the center rear belt (the one we were using to install the rear-facing Evenflo Symphony) had an extra plastic piece attached to the belt, above the latchplate. This was the only seating position that had this extra piece on the belt. This piece didn’t appear to be removable and there was no mention of it (not even in a diagram) anywhere in the manual, as far as I could see. I even looked again at the manual online this morning to see if there was something that I missed yesterday. But I still couldn’t find anything.
Anyhow, it didn’t interfere with the installation in any way so I wasn’t overly concerned about it but I just want to know what the heck this piece is for! Volvo obviously put it there for some reason. It even has a message stamped on it that just adds to my confusion.
So, anyone know what that extra piece is for? Or do I have to wait until next week to find out from Volvo?
Sorry, that diagram didn’t translate the way it should, although hopefully you get the idea. (Imagine those slashes line up to form a diagonal line.
Kat, it IS a shoulder belt adjuster. The place where the shoulder belt threads through is not tight. You basically move the plastic piece along the lap portion of the belt until the shoulder belt, when threaded through it, hits you farther out on your shoulder.
So, instead of having a seat belt that is like this:
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___________\
You have something like this:
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_________\___
since it should be attached to the lapbelt and the the shoulderbelt hooked through, wouldnt’ that make it basically a built-in locking clip of some sort, not a shoulderbelt adjuster?
Thanks for all the quick responses! It all makes sense now. I’m still not sure if it’s something that came from Volvo or not but regardless, Pixels is our “stump the CPS geek” winner! Please send your paypal addy to Kecia “at” carseatblog “dot” com to claim your moolah!
42.
I’m too late – it’s a shoulder belt adjuster though.
It’s a rabid squirrel. How can you not see that?
It’s obviously a banana.
I like Darren’s response. 🙂
It’s a flux capacitor (usually found only in DeLoreans)
It looks similar to the shoulder belt adjuster on my hubby’s Caddy.
it looks like the seatbelt adjuster that you can request from the manufacturer. I had a friend who called and requested one. I was somewhat shocked that they actually provide them, but not that shocked I suppose.
Sorry for the serial posting, I should make sure I’m done thinking about it before I hit submit. 😮
The device should be attached to the lap belt, not the shoulder belt. You can see that in the message stamped on the back. Then the shoulder portion of the belt gets slipped under the hook on the front.
Similar to this one http://www.organizeworld.com/shoulder-strap-seat-belt-adjuster.html/ or this one http://www.dynamic-living.com/product/seat-belt-adjuster/
That is a shoulder belt adjuster. It’s aftermarket. I used to have one (before I knew better) in my van. It just holds the shoulder belt down a bit to keep it off the neck.