avenali312
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Mableton, GA
- Car(s)
- 2015 GTI
Hey all,
I did some searching and think I found all the steps necessary to replace my driver's seat belt buckle due to an airbag light. I had a diagnosis done yesterday and everything points to the buckle and it looks like a fairly straightforward process, so I'm going to attempt it. Here's what I've got so far:
ECS is showing the part number for my 2006 GTI 2-door as 1K3857755RQVZ.
Edit: So, I finally did this last night and it wasn't bad at all. I did not take photos while I was doing it, so I'm just going to try and explain with text. If anyone needs photos, I can try to arrange that. I'm not responsible if you break something on your car. This is just what worked for me and I'm kinda going by memory here, but I'll try not to skip a step.
1. Disconnect battery.
2. Remove plastic piece covering wire connectors under and near the front of the seat.
3. Disconnect wire connectors; there were three of them on my car.
4. Remove headrest.
5. Slide seat forward and remove two size 10 triple square bolts.
6. Slide seat back and remove two size 10 triple square bolts.
7. Slide seat to middle position for easier removal.
8. Remove seat and lay down on its side with the seat belt buckle on top (I laid it in the grass, I'd recommend a towel or something if on concrete).
9. Disconnect connector going to the buckle.
10. Push up on seat adjustment lever to release the rails and slide the rail on the buckle side as far forward as possible. This uncovers the bolt for the buckle.
11. Remove the bolt holding the buckle using a size 8 triple square.
12. Remove the seat belt buckle.
Everything for installation of the new buckle is pretty much the same as above, just in reverse.
A couple of notes on installation:
- The seat belt buckle bolt (the size 8 triple square bolt) had blue Loctite on it when I removed it, so I put more on when installing.
- Getting the seat back in can be a bit awkward if you're small and feeble like me. It took me a few tries to get the pegs to fall into the correct holes for alignment.
- I read in a DIY somewhere else (maybe here or Vortex) that the torque for the seat bolts was around 29 or 30 ft/lbs., so I torqued them to 30 ft/lbs.
- You'll still need a vagcom or trip to the dealer to get the airbag fault to stop coming up. It won't reset on its own.
I did some searching and think I found all the steps necessary to replace my driver's seat belt buckle due to an airbag light. I had a diagnosis done yesterday and everything points to the buckle and it looks like a fairly straightforward process, so I'm going to attempt it. Here's what I've got so far:
ECS is showing the part number for my 2006 GTI 2-door as 1K3857755RQVZ.
Edit: So, I finally did this last night and it wasn't bad at all. I did not take photos while I was doing it, so I'm just going to try and explain with text. If anyone needs photos, I can try to arrange that. I'm not responsible if you break something on your car. This is just what worked for me and I'm kinda going by memory here, but I'll try not to skip a step.
1. Disconnect battery.
2. Remove plastic piece covering wire connectors under and near the front of the seat.
3. Disconnect wire connectors; there were three of them on my car.
4. Remove headrest.
5. Slide seat forward and remove two size 10 triple square bolts.
6. Slide seat back and remove two size 10 triple square bolts.
7. Slide seat to middle position for easier removal.
8. Remove seat and lay down on its side with the seat belt buckle on top (I laid it in the grass, I'd recommend a towel or something if on concrete).
9. Disconnect connector going to the buckle.
10. Push up on seat adjustment lever to release the rails and slide the rail on the buckle side as far forward as possible. This uncovers the bolt for the buckle.
11. Remove the bolt holding the buckle using a size 8 triple square.
12. Remove the seat belt buckle.
Everything for installation of the new buckle is pretty much the same as above, just in reverse.
A couple of notes on installation:
- The seat belt buckle bolt (the size 8 triple square bolt) had blue Loctite on it when I removed it, so I put more on when installing.
- Getting the seat back in can be a bit awkward if you're small and feeble like me. It took me a few tries to get the pegs to fall into the correct holes for alignment.
- I read in a DIY somewhere else (maybe here or Vortex) that the torque for the seat bolts was around 29 or 30 ft/lbs., so I torqued them to 30 ft/lbs.
- You'll still need a vagcom or trip to the dealer to get the airbag fault to stop coming up. It won't reset on its own.
Last edited: