Happy with your seatbelt recall fix?

[Silvern Sentry]

Was walking home from work (dont drive) and seen a guy sitting in a 2014 Silverado outside my place so I said Nice Truck and pointed to mine. We shot the shit for awhile and talked about trucks. He was an older gent and told me he was a farmer and I told him about disabling grade braking for smoother shifting which he had already discovered while trailering.

 

I then asked if he had his seat belt recall done and said yes last week. I then showed him what they did exactly and when he saw the hackjob he went from nice and happy to absolutely livid in about 0.00001 seconds flat, like a 65 yr old Bruce Banner! It was as bad as the rest posted here. I let him know not to blow up at the dealership as he happened to get it done at same dealership I use and as dealers go they are top notch. They only did what GM told them to and everyone's across N America looks that bad and instead to open a case with GM and talk to the service manager already looking into my case.

 

Makes me wonder how many people are out there that have no clue their truck was sliced up, obviously the dealers are way too embarrassed to show the fix when handing the vehicle back. I almost cannot blame them there but they still should, personally I go over mine with a fine tooth comb every time.

[Silverado Steve]

When they designed the seat belt retainer, the engineers obviously felt there was a need for the rubber flaps to be on there whether to keep dust or foreign object out, or to hide the ugly mechanics of the seat belt receiver. To complete the repair, GM made the decision to just remove the flap for what seems to cut corners for the service techs to access and replace the bracket in question. I haven't researched it enough to see how hard it is to replace the plastic trim with the rubber flaps, but it would seem obvious that if GM designed the seat to include the rubber flaps, they serve a purpose. For GM to just cut them off seems a way to cut corner and yes it looks like your kid or unruly passenger just got bored riding shotgun and pulled and ripped the flap off for their own amusement. Get it done, don't get it done, but as I mentioned in the other thread on this topic, it looks like a high school shop class job. I'll pass and hope GM comes up with a better fix, I'm not worried about it. I'm beyond warranty so I have no need to go to the dealer unless it's for a major repair. Shure as shit not going to take time out of my day to go to the dealer for a Dremel tool trim hack job. OCD or not, at the end of the day, it's your truck do as you wish....I'll pass.

[Silvern Sentry]

When they designed the seat belt retainer, the engineers obviously felt there was a need for the rubber flaps to be on there whether to keep dust or foreign object out, or to hide the ugly mechanics of the seat belt receiver. To complete the repair, GM made the decision to just remove the flap for what seems to cut corners for the service techs to access and replace the bracket in question.

 

This is incorrect.

 

They do the repair be removing that whole panel off the side of the seat the rubber is attached to. They then complete the repair by installing a pusher bracket (a 10 cent peice of bent angled metal) which is meant to stabalize the tensioner(the piece that bolts to seat frame) and stop it from moving. After the repair is complete they then print out a picture of the cutout and are told to cut it using a razor and holding something hard against the back while that whole panel is still removed, they do not cut it in place. This is to avoid the sheath around the tensioner from getting damaged by rubbing in the future. The cutting is the last step, well before replacing cover. They have a billing code for 0.6 hours labor to GM and an additional 0.4 hours if they had to replace the tensioner (about 2% need this if the sheath is already damaged).

 

The unsold fix is that they replace the entire seatbelt retractor. That is the whole seatbelt from the top up to and including where it retracts (hence the name) and all the way down to where it bolts to the seat. They then replace the cover without cutting the rubber as the new one does not move and is a better sheath material that will not 'potentionally' wear from rubbing. They have a billing code for 0.7 hours of labor to GM for this, No additional labor time is required or paid by GM.

 

 

So a cheap, crazy hackjob fix vs doing it right that requires the same amount of labor but more expensive parts.

[Andy Seibel]

The unsold fix is that they replace the entire seatbelt retractor. That is the whole seatbelt from the top up to and including where it retracts (hence the name) and all the way down to where it bolts to the seat. They then replace the cover without cutting the rubber as the new one does not move and is a better sheath material that will not 'potentionally' wear from rubbing. They have a billing code for 0.7 hours of labor to GM for this, No additional labor time is required or paid by GM.

 

Thank you so much for explaining this. Apparently no one has actually had a truck with this done or no one wanted to post photos. I really wanted to see what this option looked like. I'm going to do my best to sweet talk them when I go in for my last free oil change to try to get this.

[cbrsilv15]

All these posts and still no pics of the "unsold truck" fix.... Can anyone post a pic?

[2016 Sierra Owner]

All these posts and still no pics of the "unsold truck" fix.... Can anyone post a pic?

 

This recall only applied to 14 and 15 model year trucks if I'm not mistaken. I highly doubt there are many left on the lot. If the truck was fixed before the person that bought it. I doubt they will get a recall notice or the dealer told them it was fixed before they bought it.

[Silvern Sentry]

All these posts and still no pics of the "unsold truck" fix.... Can anyone post a pic?

It looks the exact same as before the fix, so exactly like this. That may be the source of your confusion as there is no pic to take really.

*Yes I have walked onto a lot and look at a 2015. I could not tell anything was done. And since it was for sale it must have been done because GM put a stop sell on every single one until completed.

[cbrsilv15]

Gotcha. We'll see when the dealer calls me back in a week or so. I told them I wanted new parts and she said they'd order them and let me know when in. No questioning at all.

[sk]

 

It looks the exact same as before the fix, so exactly like this. That may be the source of your confusion as there is no pic to take really.

*Yes I have walked onto a lot and look at a 2015. I could not tell anything was done. And since it was for sale it must have been done because GM put a stop sell on every single one until completed.

 

 

I have a late-build 2015 that so far does not show up under the recall so I assume it was fixed before I bought it. Mine looks exactly like that picture.

[O_J_Simpson]

Someone try this: Remove you seat trim and take your truck in for the recall repait. When you get the truck back, reinstall the trim.

 

None of my trucks are in the recall group so I can't give it a try.

[Ag76]

I actually thought about that. I found the screws that hold the trim piece on, but am not sure how to remove the seat control levers to get it off. I wonder what the dealer would say....probably would refuse to do the repair.

 

Someone try this: Remove you seat trim and take your truck in for the recall repait. When you get the truck back, reinstall the trim.

 

None of my trucks are in the recall group so I can't give it a try.

 

[tmo]

I actually thought about that. I found the screws that hold the trim piece on, but am not sure how to remove the seat control levers to get it off. I wonder what the dealer would say....probably would refuse to do the repair.

 

 

I may give it a try. Going to take the truck in next Wed. To have it done.

 

 

 

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[Dunc]

Will be going in on Monday to have mine done. I'm just going to tell them that I'm not ok with any cutting. If they say they have to cut it I will request the "new truck" fix. If they say no I'll walk out and take the trim off myself first and take it back saying I didn't have trim on there lol.

[Dunc]

Just as an update....

 

I had this done yesterday at my dealership. I told them I was absolutely not ok with any cutting at all. I got the "well if it calls for cutting we have to do it." I didn't request the "new car" fix, but I stood my ground and told them that it was completely unacceptable to do this to people's vehicles and I would not allow it to happen to mine. I told him the options were to either do the recall and not cut the rubber tabs or I'd simply walk away from my appointment.

 

To be fair, the dealership in general and this service writer guy is always outstanding to work with and this time was no exception. He went to go get the tech that would be doing the work and let me talk to him. He didn't have to do that, but it shows he wants to do a good job for the customers that keep their doors open. I told him I didn't want to be "that guy" and understood he was in a tough spot being the middle man....it was just that I wouldn't accept this half-assed fix GM came up with. He understood my concern so all was well.

 

The tech admitted he saw other dealership hack jobs that looked like 2 year olds with those zig-zag scissors did the work. He tried to assure me that his cuts were straight and clean, but again I told him there was to be absolutely no cutting of the rubber tabs. He also admitted that the rubber tab cutting was pointless but that's what is called for. Anyways, he installed the bracket for the recall and did not cut the rubber tabs. The seatbelt is fixed and it looks like it did from when I bought it.

 

Cliffs for GM:

- Since there are reps that visit this forum and will likely see this, forward along our displeasure with this unacceptable fix that calls for hacking up vehicles we paid for. Come up with a proper solution.

[BIGDOGx]

Just dropped my truck off for this and told them no cutting, service writer agrees that cutting this up is not something he would do to his own truck so he agreed to ignore that part of the recall notice thankfully.