I knew about this beforehand; when I went to pick up my car (yesterday), I pointed it out to the salesmen. He seemed a little befuddled, and said he'd discuss it with his manager. He told me that three people had looked at it, and passed it off as 'the way it was designed'. I basically laughed in his face (nicely) and told him flat out that it would be a recall and that I would be in touch. As it's not an immediate concern, I'm not worried about it, but I'll be watching the forum to see what happens. I think my salesman was sincerely concerned about it. You can see from the picture that the "center" buckle is obviously NOT in the center.

 

This isn't a design flaw but a manufacturing flaw. There doesn't need to be anything done for assessing, redesigning, engineering, only build the assembly correctly. The buckle heads were reversed by the part supplier during the manufacturing process. I'm in manufacturing And I see what was done. Honda did there best to make sure this didn't happen including imprinting the word CENTER on the center buckle. The supplier still didn't make the assembly correct. Someone at Honda needs to call the supplier and tell them.

My bigger concern is this is such an obvious defect, how did Honda's QA miss it let alone deliver a car with this problem. It would have been better for Honda to admit the mistake rather than deny it. When I called Honda corp they were not very helpful. If they would have said we are making replacement parts right now and in xx weeks it will be fixed. I would have respected it more than Honda trying to make an incorrect part "fit". This leaves me with this nagging question "what else are they hiding?'

 

So does anyone know if crossing the buckles and having people using the seatbelt that way significantly impacts safety?

And thanks to everyone for sharing any issues for us new buyers to be aware of!

 

Ok, I took my bracket loose and turned it around. While it makes the center buckle fine the outer will work without crossing but it is sewn on 180 degrees out but having said that you just twist it a half turn and it lines up. It needs to be corrected but it is better than having both backwards

 

I'll go out on a limb and say the buckles were designed this way and installed correctly. The reason is to move the buckle mounting point wider for each seat, increasing passenger comfort.

I think the buckles are crossed incorrectly in the photo in post #17. The center buckle should cross in front of the side buckle, not behind. https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/3rd-...ml#post1245484

The Pontiac Vibe has a similar rear seat buckle layout.
Vibe Rear Seat Belts - GM Techlink
Pontiac Workshop Manuals > Vibe FWD L4-2.4L (2009) > Restraint Systems > Seat Belt Systems > Seat Belt Buckle > Component Information > Technical Service Bulletins > All Other Service Bulletins for Seat Belt Buckle: > 08-09-40-002A > May > 09 > Restr

When Honda anounces there is a problem and they have the fix, I will edit this post to remove the evidence of my stupidity. :-)

 

I got all worried and I was just gonna get a 14' Civic instead of the new Fit so I don't have to deal with this type of problem! But what you posted also made total sense. I think Honda is doing what Pontiac did w/ the seat belt system. I hope they will come out and make a statement and tell all the buyers this design is intentional.

 

I was wondering about this. Rode in the back seat of a Nissan Murano recently and I swear the buckles in the back were reversed like this also.. Had to grab it from closer to the person behind driver when I was in the center. Could be mistaken though. But I'm 80% sure

 

I just looked at mine and they are reverse. They are sewn in this way, if you twist them it seems pretty awkward. Though if they are supposed to be this way then i guess i'll live with it! :P

Though to be fair, back seat seat buckles have always been a mess... I remember fighting over the right buckles when i was a kid because they were always shuffled in wrong.

 

I'm not sure whether it's a flaw or not. I was thinking that my GE Fit was done the same way (where the belts had to be criss-crossed), but I just went out and looked at it, and I'm wrong. With the GE Fit, the middle belt comes down from the driver side, and is basically a mirror image of how the GK is (middle belt comes down from the passenger side). Where the center buckle belts into (the one marked center), it is on the INSIDE of the passenger side's buckle, so they don't get criss-crossed. However, where the center belt comes down from the ceiling, it's attachment does get criss-crossed with the driver's side rear passenger, so you'd think both center belt attachments would be the inside buckles, but they aren't. Here's a pic of a GE to demonstrate. Far left is passenger's buckle, then next left is marked center, then the driver's side buckle, then the buckle for the center passenger's belt coming down from the ceiling.




EDIT: Looks like the GD is set up the same way as the GE, which means that for some reason it got changed for the GK. Maybe it is a screw up. Here's a GD back seat:

 

reply to post # 25 I'm sorry but I don't agree with the logic. When I brought my FIT to the dealer. The head service manager printed out the TSB and showed me. I should have asked for a copy my bad. Honda Corp instructed my dealer to rotate the bracket 180 degrees. The service department actually did rotate the bracket 180 degrees And gave it back to me. I took noe look at the fix and said this is not right. Nothing lines up correctly belt going in opposite direction (belt now going to rear bumper ) . I made them put it back to the original orientation. The service manage never once tried to say that the buckles were correct. They said this is the only solution approved by honda you'll probably have to wait until it gets resolved. I wonder what the real design is. Guss Ill have to just wait until Honda make a statement about this.

 

I only found it because the day after I bought the Fit we needed to take our Accord in for a TPMS fix and the dealer had it for hours. Got my wife and I and our three 5 and 6 year olds into the Fit.

 

If you saw a TSB then it is was not designed this way.

 

To some people, the center lap belts on our five-passenger Fit vehicles appear to be installed incorrectly; they’re not. Mounting the outer seat belt buckles inboard of the center belt and buckle gives the outer passengers more room to connect and disconnect their seat belts. This configuration is actually not something new and, we believe, provides passengers with greater convenience.


Automobile Customer Service
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
1-800-999-1009
Twitter @hondacustsvc

 

Thank you Honda Customer Service for setting the record straight on this issue and for monitoring this forum. I am sure there is much that can be gained from seeing your customer's reactions to your product here.

 

this is the same way on the Honda Insight, sales rep checked w me at the dealer when I mentioned this

 

My Honda Dealers service manager said the same thing and he seemed pretty smart. I'm pretty amazed that my three 5 and 6 year olds can actually ride in the back seat in a pinch.

 

HERE IS WHAT HONDA CORPORATE SENT OUT A WEEK AGO OR SO

Rear Seat Belt Buckles:To some people, customers and dealer personnel alike, the center seat belt buckles on our five-passenger vehicles appear to be installed incorrectly; they’re not. Mounting the outer seat belt buckles inboard of the center buckle gives the outer passengers more room to connect and disconnect the seat belts. Don’t unbolt the lower anchor plates to uncross the belts; such a change in the belt’s configuration may not offer the same level of protection

 

Now in 2018, I bought a brand new 2019 model and it keep to have the same layout. Just to everyone know that it is by design (btw weird design)
Now what is the real problem (really bad problem) is that the user manual doesn't say anything about and ALL dealers don't know anything about it. A simple note in the manual could avoid it.

HONDA really bad doc/dealer info

:-(