Rear Shoulder Belts in a Rabbit

1991-1993 Cabriolets (a1 platform, like the Rabbit) had rear shoulder belts, but the retractors were welded into the car, according to . The a1 Golf is still made and sold in South Africa as the CitiGolf, but it is not obvious from whether it has rearshoulder belts (no pictures of the rear seat, and nothing in the specsto mention it). Even if rear shoulder belts are in the CitiGolf, theymay be mounted in a way that is different from the mounting points inan 1984 Rabbit.

Very interesting links. Thanks for providing them. I was out tonight examing the back of my rabbit. I think I might be able to mount the reel to one of the reinforced rear bumper mounts and then thread the belt through the speaker grills to the belt loop and then down to the floor. I don't have the belts yet, but it looks like this might be an option.

Thanks, Bryan

Are you sure you have seats that will not cause more damage than good in the case where a shoulderbelt comes into action in an accident? As I recall, the back seats in those cars weren't that high. If you don't have a headrest there as a whiplash preventive in a collision, you can really hurt yourself badly. This is the reason that cars with shoulder belts always have headrests, whereas cars without them didn't used to.

Thakns for the reply. That is definitely an interesting idea. Although my 2003 Ford Focus has shoulder belts three across in the rear and no head rest support (the top of the back seat is below my head). I'm not saying it is a good design, but that I don't think I'd be doing something any worse.

Thanks, Bryan

You can look at a lot of pickup trucks that have shoulder harnesses with no head restraints. Of course not having head restraints is a poor design.

My guess is that no shoulder belts and no headrests is a coincidental combination and not intentional. Back then in the early 80s and earlier, rear head restraints and shoulder belts were just a rarity. I'm no crash safety expert but I just don't see how a shoulder belt + no-headrest would be a bad combo.

You might want to check again for "official" rear seat shoulder belt mounting points (perhaps hidden behind some fabric or carpet). Many cars of the 1970s and late 1960s had them, although the rear seat shoulder belts themselves were a very rarely asked for dealer installed accessory. But I recall the owner's manual of a 1978 Chevrolet describing those belts and their use.

From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, Volvos had rear seat shoulder belts (which were rare in other cars at the time), but not rear seat head restraints.

Thanks. I'd been told that there was an "official" mount point for the reel on top of the rear wheel arch. But as it turns out, that apparently began in 1985 with the A2. The A1 appears to have the mount point for the loop up above the shoulder (hidden behind the headliner fabric) and I've found that.

However, for the life of me, I can't find an "official" mount point for the reel that takes up the slack in the belt. The official word from VW seems to be that Vanagons and A2s can be retrofitted. I guess that means that anything I do to this A1 is going to be somewhat creative.

-Bryan