Was in a car accident and was hit very hard and the seat belts didn't lock me in place and the air bags did not deploy

- Winslow, AZ, USA

Hello, my wife owns a Honda Fit 2015, just recently she went to pick my mother up from the hospital after a shoulder operation. When my wife arrived at my mother's home she stopped the car in front of my mom's home (on city street), she opened the passenger side door and to try to help my mother to exit the car, she pulled the seatbelt to release it, but it only got tighten more and more, to the point of being unable to unrestrained it, during that process of trying to unrestrained the seat belt, my mother had to be moved back and forth and to the sides and she started bleeding from her shoulder, therefore my wife had no other choice than to cut it. The car was later taken to the dealer and they said that, was not a warranty issue because my wife cut the seat belt. They gave us an estimate of $685 to repair it, we said that we were not going to pay for it, so they gave us the Honda corporate phone number. I called them and they agreed to repair the seat belt as a one-time courtesy. They sent us a letter that we had to sign so we would release them of any liabilities moving forward if the seat belt would malfunction again, is this legal? I need your help, whether to advise us to sign the letter or not, or if we should seek for legal counsel. Thank you. Sincerely, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

Center and driver rear seat belt buckles are installed backwards causing the seatbelts to not function correctly. Honda fix is to invert the bracket, which changes the angle of the load applied to the seatbelt in the event of an accident.

- Pinellas Park, FL, USA

I read online that rear seatbelts were being installed incorrectly in Mexico Honda plant (ceyla, Mexico). So, I tried out the belts. One seatbelt does no work at all !! the left 'female' piece does not have anything inside of it that locks in the male belt piece, rendering it useless. It is empty inside, so no clicking noise as when buckling yourself in. Also, the driver's seatbelt is akin to sumo wrestling to get the male belt part out of the female part. I have to really tug on belt, and I'm 54 years old with no arthritis in my hands or grip-strength problems. These seatbelts are awful. Clearly, the rear-seatbelt issue is a major safety violation.

- Anacortes, WA, USA

Due to others reporting it, I also check the seat belt buckles in the rear seat of my Fit LX, and the center and left-side rear passenger buckles are also reversed in my car. With a little bit of effort, I was able to twist them around, but now they don't come back through so easily when I flip the seat bottom back down. I sometimes have to push and pull them through, but at least they are now correctly oriented. However, this is something Honda should fix in current production and repair in prior production.

- West Chester, OH, USA

The seat belt buckles in the back seat on both the driver's side and in the center of back seat are reversed. It creates confusion. Rear passengers have to cross seat belts to buckle. I worry this might affect seat belt tension with hard braking or a crash, thereby creating a safety hazard.

- Seattle , WA, USA

Rear left seat belt buckle and rear center seat belt buckle are installed reversed, center is on left, left is center which makes for extreme difficulties for children to safely buckle and unbuckle their seat belts. My son is 11 and found it difficult. Also it's extremely uncomfortable for him to sit there with the center buckle digging into his hip. I've owned numerous cars and no car maker has ever done such a thing before, let alone try to pass it off as acceptable.

- Reading, PA, USA

Rear left and center seat belt latches are reversed - the center base is on the left and the middle is in the center position - meaning that the rear left and center passengers would have to cross seat belts in order to buckle them.

- Long Beach, CA, USA

Seatbelt buckles in center of back seats are bolted into seat crossed, making the seatbelt buckles overlapping eachother in back seat. Could pose risk of breaking due to excess weight not supported by one bolt. Weight of two passengers are now distributed between the bolts, instead of one bolt per person.

- Corpus Christi, TX, USA

There is an issue with the seat belt bracket for the center and left (drivers side) rear seats, the buckles are mounted backwards. So to use the buckle you would have to cross with the other buckle as they are not the same and cannot be interchanged. The buckle mounted towards the outside to be used by that passenger is even marked center. Creates a safety issue for rear passengers.

- Saint Paris, OH, USA

The seat belt buckles on the rear center and rear driver side seat are reversed. The buckle imprinted with the word center is on the rear driver side and the rear driver seat buckle is on the center. The bracket that holds both buckles is not symmetrical. Dealer stated that Honda Corp told to rotate bracket 180 degrees. This changer the bracket for the belts from forward facing to rear facing along with shifting the belts 1.25" to the left if facing the front. This changes the bracket from being in tension in an accident to being a bending moment. The belts not longer go through the center of holes in seat assembly but wear against edges. I stated this was not acceptable and demanded the bracket be return to original orientation. Call Honda Corp 800 number they just took my name and VIN number with out any solution. This needs to be recalled, there supposed fix is nothing more than trying to get by with using a defective rear seat buckle assembly.

- Tampa, FL, USA