i may be wrong (again!), but the seatbelts in my 2007 vantage seem to have half a twist in them. both driver and passenger sides are the same. definitely half a twist compared to my other car. i can, with some twisting of the strap through the buckle, put the half twist between the buckle and my shoulder or hip, but i don't think there needs to be any twist at all. i'm thinking about fixing them both. anybody else notice this? the buckle is not the problem, it's one or the other of the strap's anchor points that needs half a twist put in or taken out. looping the floor attachment point 360 degrees around its bolt either clockwise or counter clockwise makes one whole twist, not the half twist that it needs. it doesn't help, BTDT.
before i do it, i need to know if the strap's attachment points are symmetrical. it would just be my luck that once i removed the seat itself (and that's what appears to be necessary) i'll find that for some reason or another the strap's metal endpoint connector won't fit if flipped around 180 degrees..

 

no twists in seat belts...

 

My 2007 absolutely has the twist on both sides. I wonder if our cars were inspected by the same person?

 

Have you pulled the belt out completely? There could be a twist in the belt itself

 

marmot: thank you for that affirmation. if nothing else, i will sleep better tonight knowing that i am not obsessing.

michael d: have not, but i've had it out...er..... a long way and have not found a matching half twist. i will try that when i get the car out of the parking garage before i invest any more time in finding a solution.

 

I wonder if our cars were inspected by the same guy at the factory? The twisted seat belt was the first and only thing my wife has pointed out as "really annoying". I'll have to double check but I believe the final inspector on mine is Martin Askill...

 

i'm getting the car out tomorrow to replace the original 13 year-old cabin air filters and i'll get the inspector's name....practically everything on the car (2007) was original when i bought it a couple of years ago now. figured i'd replace the filters whether they needed it or not.

 

fixed the seat belt today. before i started i checked the passenger side again. contrary to one of my previous posts it laid properly across the shoulder and lap. i checked the attachment point at the doorsill and the aston martin logo tag (similar to a clothes tag) was on the inside of the strap. i then checked the driver's side and it was also on the inside of the strap. ...*headscratch*...

figured it could only be (as someone so astutely mentioned in a previous post) that the problem was most likely hidden in a half twist (probably created by me at some time in the past couple of years) in the retractable portion of the strap hidden in an area along with the retracting mechanism. so.... i pulled the strap all the way out, put in a half twist in it and fed it back into the area i dared not venture and hoped the strap would retract as it should...and it did.

and i did replace the cabin air filters. although i have an observation on the youtube video i used (one of our own here on 6speedonline) as an instructional aid. of the three almost inaccessible screws holding the glovebox door hinge on only the one nearest the doorsill need be removed to gain access to the filter's cover panel. the trim panel and the four other screws mentioned do indeed need to be removed as far as i can tell.

BTW, marmot, my inspector's name was Andrew Gough.