Im trying to find out if in Caravan or in ANY vans if they do crash testing for rear occupants. Daimerchrysler seatbelt rep.,said call NHTSA ,I did ,girl answers she dont know, gave me email to ask someone still waiting for that reply. Daimerchrysler seatbelt issue guy says the same catching mechanism that is in front is in rear. I said" NO WAY jerk them something is different". He says the back dont catch because pendulum in back is heavier than in front. Seems not legit to me because The rear shoulder strap didn't catch in our wreck and daughter (12yrs) was badly injured setting behind drivers seat her shoulder strap didn't catch and her face slammed the handle on back of drivers seat. Jerk straps in Dodge caravan or durango in rear for yourself- NONE catch -but the front all catch perfectly though. Something wrong and needs recalled I think.
Your belt didn't work - you need to give all the info to your insurance company and let them decide if they are going to make a claim against Chrysler for the medical bills.
Many belts don't "catch" because they have an explosive charge that fires when the airbags go off and shoots a piston into the belt retractor to stop it. We can't tell you what type you have since you didn't bother to put what type of Caravan you have and what year it is.
First file a complaint with the NHTSA. I believe you can do this now via their web site. If enough comlaints are received on a given issue, it can help generate an investigation that can lead to a recall.
My rear belts catch in my minivan. Occasionally they catch just driving down my driveway which is a little steep and if you hit a bump while going downhill, the kids often complain about the belt catching.
Sorry to hear about your daughter. How is she doing?
That's really stupid to imply that based on what you just read, you have no idea if this vehicle was wrecked and had any fault codes in the passive restraint system before this accident (assuming its a new model) you don't even know what year it is. And if the daughter was not sitting back in her chair at the time of the accident. (which im sure the OP will say she was).
If she was leaning all the way forward and the seat belt was maxed out with her head at the back of the front seat how would you expect the seat belt to stop her from hitting it the seat????? Was there someone sitting in the front seat with it reclined back into the girl? (once again the answer will always be no)
It was a 2001 Dodge caravan year dont really matter All caravans durangos do the same It must be a daimerchrysler problem. front catches perfectly Rear dont. Talked to Daimerchrysler he says ALL have same catching mechanisms in the front as in the rear I said NO WAY have you jerked them something is wrong. I said did you know ALL minivans Front and REAR pass the jerking test except Dodge and he said No, I dont go around jerking seatbelts .(and he is thier seatbelt guy) I said I bet you would if it was your daughter that just got her face smashed. Now I just think Ill Let a lawyer do the jerkinig for him. Not sure yet Im waiting for info in rear crash test of minivans. I dont think they have to test rear occupants not sure yet waiting for NHTSA to reply filed with them 3-11-06
NHTSA there I also notice other complaints of Dodge Durangos that will not catch IN ANY rear shoulder straps Chrysler repaired one for them then said they will have to pay to have others repaired. Hmmm, I wonder who will end up paying/?
Can you even do that? I thought that once you filed a claim with an insurance company that the insurance company takes over and files the lawsuits. It's called subrogation of claims. Why are you bothering Chrysler about this? You need to be taking care of your daughter and having your insurance agent run around trying to jerk seat belts and call lawyers to sue auto companies.
Or, are we possibly dealing with an uninsured driver who has a 12 year old with a lot of medical bills, looking for a sugar daddy to pay them?
Haven't spoke to my insurance guy about the issue yet but Im sure if I do decide to pursue it in court a lawyer will speak with him. I need a lawyer consult in the first place to know if I should let Daimlerchrysler have my vehicle and just to ask some questions and see what I should do. And no Ted , money is not a issue at all dont be nasty. Childrens safety is. If the belts are unsafe they should recall them. Im going to save people from going through what we did.
I think you need to talk to your insurance company and find out how they proceed, before making any assumptions about who a lawyer will speak to. Insurance companies typically don't lead in with a lawyer.
You need to consult your insurance company first to ask questions, then decide if your going to file a claim or pursue it yourself.
A recall isn't going to be triggered by ONE complaint. You need to file your complaint with NHTSA and let the process work.
That's what I'm afraid of. Unfortunately, you seem to be unaware that sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.
Do we really need tepid coffee from McDonalds because some stupid bitch burned herself by spilling it all over in the drive through? When she shouldn't have even been getting coffee in the drive through in the first place, let alone eating in her car? Like I really want to drive down the street with a bunch of other drivers occupied by eating and drinking instead of driving?
It seems to me that an hour in a U-pull-it wrecking yard with a Caravan the same year as yours would satisfy your curiosity as to whether the rear belts in your vehicle should have "caught" or not. If you were to post here with pictures of a belt out of some wrecked car that clearly showed that there was no retractor mechanism provided by Chrysler, then I think you might get some interest. But for now I think most people are assuming that your belt simply malfunctioned. Machines are not infallable, after all, and it may suck when safety equipment malfunctions but it does every once in a while.
You have chosen to live in the technological society, you drink water from a public water system, eat refrigerated food from a grocery store, I can't begin to count the amount of properly-running technology that your health depends on just by doing this, and all of it you have about as much control over as a flea does over a dog. As long as you keep choosing to live in the technological society, you will need to come to terms with the idea that there is always a chance that your life or the lives of your loved ones may be prematurely snuffed out by a failure of that technology. The chance is not very great, but it is there. And you can't do anything about it, nor can I, other than to completely reject that society and live up in the woods somewhere. There's people who have tried doing that, as a matter of fact, you might try reading the book Fatu Hiva by Thor Heyerdahl to see one couple's try at doing this, and how successful they were at doing it. Other than that, your just going to have to accept this as one of those things, and count your blessings that the injuries wern't more serious.
Ya well I will have to call insurance guy tomorrow seems like good advice since I don't want a lawsuit anyway. I just want things to be made safe befour another child is hurt or killed. Already filed with NHTSA on the 11th others filed about Dodge durangos doing the same way Daimlerchrysler repaired first one then said they would have to pay to have the rest repaired. Daimlerchryslers gen3 latch defect and their history with all that seems totally disgusting, they just pay people off and don't recall and defend obviously unsafe equipment ,seems its all about money and not safety with them. NHTSA or IIHS have never done a FRONTAL crash test for minivans with REAR occupants- where the shoulder strap is most important, and I guess Daimlerchrystler knew that and cut corners putting the cheaper unworking shoulder mechanisms in the rear. Would be interesting to know how much they save by doing that.
So I will I give up trying to save the world, Im tired, nobody cares about unsafe defective seatbelts until a wreck happens to them and its their own kids who are hurt anyway. I can not get seatbelts recalled under any circumstance even if they are proven unsafe you can go unsafebelts.com you can read daimlerchrystlers history with seatbelt Issues. Just tell everyone jerk front and rear shoulder straps of ANY caravan or durango you can see something is obviously wrong. Children will be hurt and maybe even die but I can do nothing more except post all over internet and newspaper. I posted this once already it must of got removed seems someone dont want you to know daimlerchrystlers history.:shakehead
If the seat belt has a pendulum style inertial lock, then jerking the seatbelt proves nothing. This style activates only if the entire vehicle is jerked.
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