The seat belts in our Camry are awkwardly placed and difficult to buckle, especially the back seat. This is a nuisance of course but my big major beef is that the drivers seat belt stuck yesterday when my wife was driving alone and she could not get it unbuckled. Unfortunately, she forgot to take her cell phone with her, so she was unable to call for assistance when she realized she was trapped in the car. After honking and trying to attract someone's attention, while pushing on the belt release button for about 10-15 minutes, she finally remembered an emergency escape tool we had purchased that purported to cut seat belt and/or break windows if you are trapped in your vehicle. The tool was not as sharp as advertised but she did manage to finally cut through the belt and escape. Naturally she was very UN-nerved by the experience!!!
At 79 you tend to be a bit more cranky about this sort of thing then say an 18 year old who might think being trapped in his car was a lot of fun. We have had the belt be difficult to release when I was driving but she was in the car and was able to release it from the passenger's side so we never had considered it a real problem. In fact, we never believed it would actually ever fail to release. This has put a whole new light on the issue and now she is afraid of the seat belt. When she called the dealer in North Little Rock, AR where we purchased the vehicle they were sympathetic but said she had violated the warranty (car was purchased in May 2014) by cutting the belt, and therefore Toyota was not responsible. She then called the Toyota Customer Experience Center and lodged a case about the problem. They said they would be unable to make a determination until the dealer examined the car.
We live 100 miles from the dealer but have an appointment to have the belt assembly replaced (price $350.00 plus labor) next week. Our expense of course. I am sure the dealer will stick by his position that by my wife foolishly cutting the belt to get out of the car, they will be unable to tell what actually caused the problem -- if it really ever existed! We had a problem with the dust cover under the front left bumper falling down and dragging when the car had less than 3,000 miles. We were traveling and there were no authorized dealers within 100 miles so we had it repaired locally. Our dealer refused to reimburse the expense because they said we had probably run over highway debris and dislodged the cover. So I do not have much confidence in Toyota's ability to stand behind their warranties.
The seat belts in our Camry are awkwardly placed and difficult to buckle, especially the back seat. This is a nuisance of course but my big major beef is that the drivers seat belt stuck yesterday when my wife was driving alone and she could not get it unbuckled. Unfortunately, she forgot to take her cell phone with her, so she was unable to call for assistance when she realized she was trapped in the car. After honking and trying to attract someone's attention, while pushing on the belt release button for about 10-15 minutes, she finally remembered an emergency escape tool we had purchased that purported to cut seat belt and/or break windows if you are trapped in your vehicle. The tool was not as sharp as advertised but she did manage to finally cut through the belt and escape. Naturally she was very UN-nerved by the experience!!!
At 79 you tend to be a bit more cranky about this sort of thing then say an 18 year old who might think being trapped in his car was a lot of fun. We have had the belt be difficult to release when I was driving but she was in the car and was able to release it from the passenger's side so we never had considered it a real problem. In fact, we never believed it would actually ever fail to release. This has put a whole new light on the issue and now she is afraid of the seat belt. When she called the dealer in North Little Rock, AR where we purchased the vehicle they were sympathetic but said she had violated the warranty (car was purchased in May 2014) by cutting the belt, and therefore Toyota was not responsible. She then called the Toyota Customer Experience Center and lodged a case about the problem. They said they would be unable to make a determination until the dealer examined the car.
We live 100 miles from the dealer but have an appointment to have the belt assembly replaced (price $350.00 plus labor) next week. Our expense of course. I am sure the dealer will stick by his position that by my wife foolishly cutting the belt to get out of the car, they will be unable to tell what actually caused the problem -- if it really ever existed! We had a problem with the dust cover under the front left bumper falling down and dragging when the car had less than 3,000 miles. We were traveling and there were no authorized dealers within 100 miles so we had it repaired locally. Our dealer refused to reimburse the expense because they said we had probably run over highway debris and dislodged the cover. So I do not have much confidence in Toyota's ability to stand behind their warranties.
- paulvar, Fairfield Bay, AR, US