Rear safety belts - how many?

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Pawel
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My E21(s): '77 320/6 manual

Rear safety belts - how many?

Post by Pawel »

Gents,
How can I verify the amount of rear safety belts that are supposed to be mounted on my '77 320/6?
I bought my vehicle with just one rear belt (right).
The other two - left and center seem to be missing.
I'm wondering however if this is as it should be or has someone simply removed them restoring the car years ago.
Any hints would be appreciated.
Thanks and regards,

Pawel


Wilmo
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Re: Rear safety belts - how many?

Post by Wilmo »

There should be three. Right, left and middle. The fixing points for the middle one are shared between the holders for the left and right.
e21Keith
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My E21(s): '81 323i Manual

Re: Rear safety belts - how many?

Post by e21Keith »

Back in 77 rear seatbelts were not mandatory in the UK, I had an '81 Cortina with no rear seatbelts, so depending on market it's possible your car never had any and someone fitted one in the rear because they only normally had one rear seat passenger, the giveaway will be whether the headlining has cutouts on both sides on the C post for the upper mounting. I have sold rear seatbelts to Portugal because the car never had any fitted from new.
My '81 323i had just 2 rear belts, my '82 has three.
LloydRT
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Re: Rear safety belts - how many?

Post by LloydRT »

e21Keith wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 3:00 pm Back in 77 rear seatbelts were not mandatory in the UK, I had an '81 Cortina with no rear seatbelts, so depending on market it's possible your car never had any and someone fitted one in the rear because they only normally had one rear seat passenger, the giveaway will be whether the headlining has cutouts on both sides on the C post for the upper mounting. I have sold rear seatbelts to Portugal because the car never had any fitted from new.
My '81 323i had just 2 rear belts, my '82 has three.
That explains why there are some 70's cars that still have no rear seatbelts.
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petroscf
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Re: Rear safety belts - how many?

Post by petroscf »

Some years ago I had rear belts installed as a retrofit.
(Ordered them from W&N)
My car (1977, so pre facelift model if this has something to do) had the "boxes" empty - ready to fit the belts, at the bases of "C" pillars, left and right, "hidden" between the rear seat bench and rear shelf. However I do not remember seeing any "stand by" point for a middle seat belt.
So I assume that (pre facelift models at least?) had only belts for 2 rear persons

Rarely anyone is using the rear seat anyway hahah
/oo=00=oo\
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uwbuurman
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Re: Rear safety belts - how many?

Post by uwbuurman »

No, the middle seatbelt is a two point, no retractor seatbelt. So on the one end it is mounted at the same point left as the left buckle and the other end at the right buckle.
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1978 BMW 323i
1980 BMW 528i maior restitutio
1987 BMW 325iA cabriolet
2006 BMW 320d touring High Executive
2015 BMW 320dA touring xDrive High Executive ///Msport
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