Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEAT BELTS | |||
| 03/22/2010 | 40060 | ||
| I have a 2005 scion xb. i have 2 children that sit in the back seat in booster seats. the lap belts are really loose on this vehicle(my children can actually stand up on the floor and move to the middle seat with the seat belt buckled in, don't know if this is normal). yesterday my daughter was pulling on her belt while i was driving and looped it around her neck. since the belt is so loose it didn't bother her. when she unbuckled the belt the belt went up into the wall and tightened around her neck. at that point it wasn't choking her and i ran around there (passenger rear) and tried to help. her head would not fit through the loop to get her out. i could not get the seat belt to come out any because it was locked up. the more we struggled the tighter the seat belt kept getting around her neck. it started to choke her and i grabbed a pair of scissors that i keep in the glove department and cut the belt. i only recently started keeping scissors in the car and if i did not have them my daughter would probably be dead right now. i would have had to watch her get strangled to death and nothing i could do. i don't understand why there is not some kind of emergency release to unlock a seat belt in an emergency. she should not have been playing with the seat belt, but kids do stupid things, and there should be an emergency way to release that seat belt. i know have to pay almost $300 to fix the seat belt, but i guess that is a small price to pay for what could have been the alternative. | |||
| 10/09/2005 | 45000 | 1 | 04/01/2004 |
| *****attention***** *****scion xb seat belts very dangerous for little kids********* rear driver side seat belts locking to the point of extreme pain and suffocation. the belt mechanism once locked it continues to rachet backward to its locking state so that if one leans back on the seat you become glued to it. the seat belt will not give in forward which makes difficult to reach the unlatch button. this is extremely dangerous for young children!. my son (7 yrs old) fell asleep while on the freeway only to wake up with his seat belt locked, i suggested to lean backward on the seat to give it some slack and then to pull forward, to my surprised the seat belt became tighter. once i pulled over it had become so tight around my son's chest that it was causing him pain and difficulty breathing. i immediately attempted to unlatch it but it was impossible to push the button down. the only option was to remove the rear side panel (behind the back seat) and remove the entire locking mechanism from the car frame. it's been two days since the incident and the belt is still locked. this is very dangerous!!! and if it were to happen in a fender bender, fire or an accident could possibly cause serious injury if not death... i'm very concerned will get rid off this car..... i will be filing a complaint to the manufacturer. *nm | |||
| SEAT BELTS - FRONT - RETRACTOR | |||
| 09/01/2005 | 50 | 99 | 03/01/2005 |
| Passenger side front seat belt (may apply to rear belts as well) retractor does not function properly. the belts appear to have a limit set on them that is too short for the vehicle configuration. a simple act such as leaning forward slightly in the passenger seat to open the glove box can cause the seat belt to limit up and begin it's lock down. it then begins to ratchet backwards and will not give in the forward direction at all. if the passenger leans back it tightens further, and becomes difficult to disengage from the latch mechanism. the only option if the limit is accidentally reached is to undo the seat belt, let it all the way back, and pull it out again. my wife and i often find ourselves having to do it while on the freeway or in other situations where the vehicle is in motion, because of the ratcheting action. this is completely unacceptable. the driver's belt is the only one that seems to function properly without this limit and ratchet back system. driver's side has no issues for the same person doing actions that may reach even further than the passenger might normally do. also, paint very easily chips and scratches. leaning against the car too hard, or accidentally running a fingernail on it causes severe white scratches to appear on my dark red scion xb. *nm | |||