Dogs and seat belts - 2006 Prius

[friebele]

Hey everybody, I'm new to the forum discussion. Our beagle chewed up the RF seat belt , probably because she wasn't used to being left in a hybrid. Anyway, I'm ordering a replacement from the dealer and wondered if anyone had tips on how to install it. I've replace seat belts in Volvo 240's before by pulling off the trim strip around the front and rear doors and then removing the vertical cover. Is it the same with a 2006 Prius? I don't want to go poking around the new car with a screwdriver until I know better what I'm up against. Thanks.

[friebele]

Since I didn't get any replies, I went ahead and changed the seat belt--not a hard job. Toyota includes the mechanicals in instructions that comes with the new seat belt. To remove the trim:
1. Pull the weather stripping away from the door jam on the side with the seat belt you're going to replace and ~4" on the threshold. You'll have to pull up the threshold slightly.
2. Pop the lower trim off by pulling low, near the threshold. There are two white plastic fasteners near the bottom of the trim on either side of the seat belt reel.
3. Remove the 2 bolts that hold the bottom of the top trim panel with a 10 mm wrench. Remove the trim panel by tilting out the bottom while pushing in at the top.
4. DISCONNECT THE NEG BATTERY TERMINAL; DON'T TURN ON THE IGNITION DURING SEAT BELT REPLACEMENT.
5. The rest is pretty obvious--use 10 and 14 mm wrenchs to remove the seat belt; pull back on the black retainer on the electrical connection for the seat belt tensioner to disconnect and put back in place after reconnecting to the new seat belt.

[tai]

Thanks for the useful info to the rest of us Prius owners. I am sure it will come in handy, as I have 3 dogs who love to ride in the hatchback with the seats down in my '96.....