My recently-acquired 95 Impreza L Wagon had some serious seat issues, and I got ahold of a nice snazzy looking pair of seats from a 2000 Impreza wagon. They bolt in OK (95 has two bolts at rear into driveshaft tunnel, 2000 seat only has one, but works OK) But the seatbelt setup changed quite a bit between 95 and 2K.

 

I wish my seatbelt buckle tab would just latch into the receiver that came with the 2K seat, (simplest overall solution) but it doesn't. Even though the outer shape of the tab seems compatible, the 95 seatbelt has a "D" shaped hole in the tab, and I think the later ones have a squarish hole.

 

When I just bolt the 95 receiver on to the 2K seat, (which is how I have it now) it doesn't have the "jog" outward that the one designed for the 2K seat has, so it kinda pokes me in the rear. I could live with it, but I'm wondering whether anyone has modified the tab on their existing seatbelt to engage with a later receiver. I'd have to be pretty sure what the tab should be like if I did that - don't want to take a chance on having the latch let go in an accident.

 

I could get some appropriate belt sliders with the correct tab from a junkyard or part-out, and pick a point to unsew the belt and swap it on (probably at the inner point of the winder reel - the re-sew is less likely to be overstressed there.)

 

Anyone have any ideas or experience to share?

 

Thanks!

Bryan

I would be a little weary about modifying the buckle. Don't want that turning into a weak point in an accident.

I have always moved the receiver portion of the seat belt from the original seat to the new seat to match the seat belt in the car. As stated in the previous post "modifying" the belt is not a good idea.

how about a longer bolt, maybe stronger, and a spacer.

Its easy to over think this because its safety, etc but the only thing you can safely do is to move either the whole belt from the 2000 car into yours, or the latch receiver needs to be bolted to the 2000 seat and modified the least amount possible.

 

It may also work to use a latch from an Outback or something else depending on the shape of the end, lots of times the Impreza or Legacy platform is 1 generation of safety devices staggered from the other one. Seen it with ABS, VDC, and lots of other parts for that matter.

I have decided that at worst, I'll just use a pair of these:

 

http://www.amazon.com/IMPERIAL-76532-WEDGE-SHAPED-WASHER/dp/B001F67LXW

 

with each seatbelt receiver/latch from the 95. That will angle it outward some, and I expect get the extra space I want. I still should be able to tighten the bolt down nice and tight.

I have 01 Impreza seats in my 95 Impreza. I just swapped the buckles over. I've never had a problem.

 

If they sit too far inward, just bend them out a bit.