safe to removing the seat belt retractor fuse?

[gp02a0083]

The powered retractors are just to lock up the seat belts in a crash. They're not to pull them in after you close your door.

exactly , if u unplug that socket going to the retractor unit , it will lockup

[CB Coupe SEi]

I can't believe that this thread has been here since 2005 without resolution. I also believe that the book says these are retractor lock solenoids in the retractors. A solenoid is a electro mechanical switch. It is either open or closed (locked or unlocked). I'm sure they can be stuck in one positon or the other. The monitoring system with buzzer and lights is suppose to warn you when they are not working. They (Honda) don't seem to indicate that they defalt to a locked positon when a malfunction happens. We could be unprotected by these belts. They are intended to activate (unlock) when the door is opened (only) allowing the belt to retract. So they should not drain the battery unless the door/doors are left open or a malfunction of the system.
I personally have never seen such a bad design. Along with the fact that the doors could open in a accident throwing you out of the car. It could be that once the solenoid locked the retractor, the seat belts would actually prevent the door from opening, of course the belts would be "squeezing you" in order to do this.
I don't know if we should be taking any fuses out or disabling any part of this system, but I guess if you test it like DR_snooz suggest around hard corners, this may at least assure you they are working. If you have disable them and done this, please confirm that it has worked on your car. Thanks

[Oldblueaccord]

I went with Schroth harness's and never looked back. I don't think they will work stock the fuse pulled then its just a lap belt. And you are right the mounts being on the door very bad idea.

[Dr_Snooz]

The belts on the door were to fulfill the new federal mandate for "passive restraints." The idea was that the belts would remain latched at all times, but to let you get out of them, they were mounted on the door instead of the B-pillar. In 1990, they went to the motorized belts that were universally hated. Then they went to air bags, crash cages, ABS, etc. which added a lot of weight and spelled the end of the go-cart feeling that we love about our old Hondas.

I can't speak to the 2g's or sedans, but on the 3g coupes and hatches with door-mounted belts, the electricity is there to prevent the belts from locking when the door is open. As far as I know, once the doors are closed, the belts function mechanically, like any other belt. I can't imagine any engineer in his right mind designing a seat belt that requires electricity to keep people from dying. That's just begging for a giant class action suit. Given that the units have a habit of becoming parasitic drains, unplugging them is probably not a bad idea. At least until one of us opens one up and finds out why they drain.

[CB Coupe SEi]

I did test them in hard cornering as suggested by Dr_Snooz and they do work (Lockup). I didn't mention that I have opened the mirror mounted warning light/busser and had disconnected the connector there some time ago. I just hadn't thought of the possibility that I may be disconnecting the belt locking solenoid as a result, until I was paging through the factory manual last night. That's when I looked up this post. Come to think of it, I have had battery draining issues in storage until recently buying a oversize AGM battery. I sure don't want to wreck this Battery, so I will do further investigation/disconnection to prevent them from draining.
Do you guys think these belts would keep you in the car in the event of a major crash?

[Dr_Snooz]

Do you guys think these belts would keep you in the car in the event of a major crash?

I'm not worried about the seat belts, myself. I worry more about the car collapsing onto me. I've seen some of the 3g crash test footage and it's not pretty.