A few weeks ago, one of my kids hopped in the back seat of my one year old Model 3 for the trip to school and pulled the middle seat belt and the lower anchor portion just came out. He's 9 and must not know his own strength. Tesla mobile service came out yesterday and fixed it. They said that something had been spilled down there and had eaten away the seat belt. No one drinks or eats in the back of my Model 3. I am a little alarmed that the seat belt probably wasn't working sufficiently had it been tested in a crash. Seems a little strange that it would be eaten away. If that's a common thing, I would think that seat belts should be made so that they aren't eaten away. Or is this just a common issue in the Model 3? Something to do with living in Savannah, GA and the heat down here? I do keep the climate under 100 F when parked at work. Thoughts?
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Middle Rear Seat Belt Problems
- Thread starter ptbroderick
- Start date
M109Rider
Active Member
This is definitely not common. Did you get a picture of the eaten seat belt. What was eaten, the belt, or the metal ?
Do you have an invoice from a Tesla you can share to illustrate why they did.
This seems a little off.
Anything that would eat metal or the belt, would have to be very strong. Makes no sense ?
You’ve owned your car for a year, have you not posted on the forum until just now ?
Do you have an invoice from a Tesla you can share to illustrate why they did.
This seems a little off.
Anything that would eat metal or the belt, would have to be very strong. Makes no sense ?
You’ve owned your car for a year, have you not posted on the forum until just now ?
Tony_YYZ
Tezler Guru
Yeah, unless your kids are drinking sulphuric acid, I don’t see how that explanation adds up at all.
Tony_YYZ
Tezler Guru
That definitely looks like it was a defective part which they tried to shift the blame for then. If they really determined that spilling drinks could have eaten away a seatbelt, wouldn’t they have charged you for the fix?
Definitely dodged a safety bullet there.
Definitely dodged a safety bullet there.
M109Rider
Active Member
Thanks for posting. I admit, I actually thought you might have been a troll or something, because I’ve never heard of this ever, and it’s your first post. 
Glad I was wrong. We get lots of those here, so I admit, I get skeptical.
I can’t tell much by the picture. It shows the strap that looks to be cut even at the end.
I don’t see any signs of that end being eaten away ?
Also, the invoice kind of implies he found gunk around the seat, which has affected the seat, but doesn’t sound like it ate the seat belt itself or anything.
Kind of sounds like gunk, or liquid has been getting in the seat belt mechanism for a while, and affected it. Not sure how it would come out or apart from that though. ?
Very strange.
Glad I was wrong. We get lots of those here, so I admit, I get skeptical. I can’t tell much by the picture. It shows the strap that looks to be cut even at the end.
I don’t see any signs of that end being eaten away ?
Also, the invoice kind of implies he found gunk around the seat, which has affected the seat, but doesn’t sound like it ate the seat belt itself or anything.
Kind of sounds like gunk, or liquid has been getting in the seat belt mechanism for a while, and affected it. Not sure how it would come out or apart from that though. ?
Very strange.
RayK
Active Member
In the frunk, underneath a plastic cover next to the windshield. It's a sealed battery (AGM) so supposedly no chance of acid leaking out.
Daniel in SD
(supervised)
That's just the end of the middle seat belt without the thread creates the end loop. You can easily tell because of the indent where the loop would be and the fact the end is cut with a hot wire like all other nylon straps are cut.
Whatever ate it only ate the thread. I took a picture of what it should look like with thread.
The service center explanation sounds implausible... The supplier probably just ran out of thread when sewing it and didn't notice.
Whatever ate it only ate the thread. I took a picture of what it should look like with thread.
The service center explanation sounds implausible... The supplier probably just ran out of thread when sewing it and didn't notice.
M109Rider
Active Member
Well, that’s as good of a scenario as any. Very weird.
I suspect this is a very rare scenario, what ever the cause.
Daniel in SD
(supervised)
Yes but that's unusual. The seat belts are a separate part. Quick eBay search shows the front seat belts are made in Mexico. Most car parts are not manufactured by the company that makes the car.
Daniel in SD
(supervised)
You're right that it's part of the upper left rear seat assembly. It's bolted to the body of the car though. Still the seatbelt sub assembly is probably still not manufactured by Tesla though. Either way this is something that should be inspected!
That's a seriously inexcusable safety defect. Thankfully you didn't have to find out the hard way. Your story has inspired me to go give all my belts a significant tug or inspection to make sure mine are ok too.
As far as the tech blaming something being spilled, he's obviously not at liberty to say what's on his mind, which would be something like "OMG, this seatbelt was never stitched together properly and completely came apart when a kid pulled on it! This could've killed somebody!" If he said something like that, he probably would get fired pretty quickly. In reality, I'd like to think (and hope) that he took it back to the shop and notified his supervisor immediately who will then send the defective belt back to Tesla who will then (hopefully) rip their parts supplier a new one.
Sadly, parts are sometimes defective, especially when mass-produced. Inspectors miss stuff from time to time. Quality controls don't always work. In this case, an important safety device missed all its quality checks and got installed in your car. Thankfully no one was hurt.
As far as the tech blaming something being spilled, he's obviously not at liberty to say what's on his mind, which would be something like "OMG, this seatbelt was never stitched together properly and completely came apart when a kid pulled on it! This could've killed somebody!" If he said something like that, he probably would get fired pretty quickly. In reality, I'd like to think (and hope) that he took it back to the shop and notified his supervisor immediately who will then send the defective belt back to Tesla who will then (hopefully) rip their parts supplier a new one.
Sadly, parts are sometimes defective, especially when mass-produced. Inspectors miss stuff from time to time. Quality controls don't always work. In this case, an important safety device missed all its quality checks and got installed in your car. Thankfully no one was hurt.
Yes, glad no one was hurt! I just want to make sure that everyone else double checks theirs. I would love for these to remain some of the safest cars on the road and have loved this car otherwise.
One week later, the seat belt did the exact same thing. I figured out how to take out the rear seat and the leather and most of the stitching is extend away. There have been no drinks in my car ever and for sure not in the last two weeks. The Tesla service guy cleaned the foreign substance as much as he could last time but it looks like there’s a ton of white butter stuff down there. Definitely acidic, whatever it is. This is only a week later. I don’t know what is seeping out into that area back there, but I’m about to go crazy.
Anyone have any thoughts on what might have gotten in there?
