2004 Audi TT 28k Miles

I've kept my TT in nearly perfect condition and haven't had many problems with it until my driver side seat belt buckle started malfunctioning. I took it into the Audi dealership and they said it would be $150-200 for the seat belt and since they would have to remove the whole seat to put a new seatbelt and buckle in labor would be $200. The buckle seatbelt chime goes off every time I'm in the car and I need to fix it ASAP. The seatbelt will not click in and I have tried countless time to stick a screwdriver into the buckle and fix it myself...to no avail though. Has anyone had a problem simlar to this? I need suggestions other than dishing out over $400 for this problem! Thank You

 

I have noticed right away that most questions asked in these forums rarely ever get resolved.

The problem you are having is similar to mine, my 06 A3 has about 31K miles and the passenger side seat belt is malfunctioning. The belt works fine, but the electronics doesn't know that the seat belt is engaged, so the airbag is automatically disabled, even when there is someone sitting in the seat.

I had it looked at by an Audi technician, and he said that BOTH the male and female parts of the belt buckle are faulty.

I'm a little suspicious and he tells me it will cost $1,150 to replace the seat belt. I laughed in his face.

I'm still thinking it may be fixable on my end, we will see. but i guess your problem is a broken female latch...you should probably look online for a replacement part and if you are mechanically inclined, look for a way to replace it.

 

Those are craze $$ for a diy job. Try a junk yard/ebay for a new receptical. R&R the seat is not difficult, although the receptical removal was a pita, but it is time consuming. See my DIY here (pics and text from when I pulled my oems and installed porsche gt3 seats).

http://public.fotki.com/TTQ2K2/tt-in...e-gt3-seat-in/

FWIW, porsche receptical (female end with red release button) will also fit, but it is a couple of inches longer. Hope this helps.

cheers.

 

Misc two- Thanks for the reply. With the help of a friend, I managed to rig the seatbelt buckle and disable the sensor. The female part of the buckle was bent which is why it would not physically click. After fixing that, it has worked fine for the past year and no airbag light ever came on. However, just a week ago, the airbag light has been on and I'm pretty sure it has to do with the seatbelt.

TTQ- I was able to remove the seatbelt buckle with the seats still in the car however it was definitely a pain. Like the porsche seats-looks sick

I guess this leaves me 3 options:

Option 1) I've heard of VagCom (A diagnostics software) that can be purchased from Ebay for around $30 that has the ability to disable the airbag light. I'm not sure whether or not the airbag still functions if the light is turned off in this manner. I'm skeptical about this option if it means my airbag won't ever deploy putting my life in danger.

Option 2) Remove the seatbelt buckle and attempt to reassemble it, hoping the airbag light turns off and the seatbelt sensor still remains off.

Option 3) Take it to a trusted mechanic (NOT the audi dealership) and have them diagnose the problem and get a quote. I'm sure it won't be cheap but at least I'll know for sure what the problem is and exactly how much it will cost me.

 

there are a number of TT part-outs over on vwvortex TT forum, MK1 TT classifieds. Try one of those guys for a replacement. But, make sure you get a driver side belt if you do. Early model passenger side belts (like mine) did not have a RED electrical connector (see my DIY), so it would not be plug and play for you.

cheers

 

thank you both for the heads up...i'm pretty good with a wrench but terrible at electronics. Thanks for the pics TTQ!

i've tried to find an exact replacement for the female seat belt buckle online but haven't found anything. It is nice to hear that removing the belt buckle is doable without removing the seat though.

i might just open 'er up and see what I find, hopefully I will see a detached cable or something. If that is the case, I'm probably going to call the Audi shop back and explain to Joe how I don't like getting ripped off.

I'll keep looking for a replacement and post if I find anything.

 

I'd like to price out the OEM Audi female buckle for the drivers seat. It is part number 8N0-857-755-C-01C and runs 131.25 dollars, 3 days away to order in. In case you can't find one, I thought you should know what we can sell the OEM buckle for. Please let us know if you have any questions. Thanks, Jeff.

 

misctwo---

I have been looking for a way to get my hands on just the plastic cover for the 06 A3 buckle (the side facing the console). mine is broken but the buckle functions properly. its a bit hard to justify spending the money to replace the whole thing for something cosmetic. let me know if you end up having to replace yours...