Ford Mondeo II (1996 - 2000) - 96 1.8 Seat belt buckle removal

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Sun 10 May 2009 21:42
96 1.8 Seat belt buckle removal - Pmmaster
Hi Guys,

Hope you can help me with a minor problem I'm having with my Mondeo Estate. The centre rear seat belt buckle has stopped functioning. I can locate one fairly easily from my local salvage yard, however it is prooving difficult to remove the existing unit. Firstly the buckle is connected to the anchor for the centre belt. I cannot seem to separate the centre belt from it as it seems to be riveted in place. My second idea was to take the seat back out (belts and all) and change the whole unit so that I need not strip anything down. This seems straight forward enough however, my problem is that I cannot remove the base seat cushion to gain access to the buckle retaining screws. It is not the usual hinged type that I have had on most of my previous fords. Instead it seems to be clipped in four places. I had a look in my Haynes manual which just rather helpfully says "remove the bolts" - which I can't find!

Apologies if this is a silly question but can somebody please tell me how to remove the seat cushion as I'm really struggling and I can't really take my family out in the car until I've sorted this problem out. Thanks very much for your time and I hope you can help. Apologies again for what I am sure is probably a very simple oversight by me!

Paul

Edited by Pugugly on 22/05/2009 at 20:25

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Fri 22 May 2009 12:28
96 1.8 Seat Belt Buckle Removal - Pmmaster
Hi there, having had a little time on my hands last week I managed to spend a little bit of time sorting out the problem. I found out from another website that there is a small release button on the back of the centre buckle to release the centre belt. It is very small (around the same diameter as a paperclip). I used a keyring bent out into wire in order to give the necessary force to push in the release button. I then managed to gain access by pushing the belt buckles through the holes in the seat base and then I was able to pivot back the seat base enough to gain access to the torx bolts holding the bubkle in place without releasing the clips. I managed to source the buckle from a local salvage yard for £6 so it was much cheaper in the end than a new seat back for which I was quoted £25 - £50. I've posted this info in case anyone else has the same problem and I hope it may help.

Many thanks, Paul
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