SEATBELT INTERLOCK RELAY

[74bug4me]

IM LOOKING FOR A SEATBELT RELAY I KNOW MOST PEOPLE HAVE THROWN THEM AWAY BUT I WANT ONE TO MAKE MY FASTEN SEAT BELT LIGHT WORK.  IF ANYONE HAS ONE LET ME KNOW.

[Zen]

Been there, done that.       You might get lucky and find a working relay, but the sensors in the seats and switches in the seatbelt buckle are probably bad.  This was a very poor execution of a pretty good idea.  There was a reason VW dropped it after just one year . . . it just didn't work.  Save yourself a WHOLE lot of trouble and remove and bypass the relay.

[74bug4me]

Yea i know mine is already bypassed 

[Zen]

Even if it's bypassed, it can still give a lot of trouble if it isn't bypassed correctly.  The most common way it was done "back in the day" (based on several of them I've seen over the years) was to wrap (worst way) or solder (better) a jumper wire across the two main power terminals on the relay and plug it back into the socket.
You have to remember that the power going through this relay comes from the battery, goes through the ignition switch, through the relay and back to the starter.  When it gets to the starter it has to have enough voltage to kick the solenoid in.  Every inch of wire you add in drops the voltage a little and every connector or contact you add in can drop it a lot.  If the voltage to the solenoid is too low, nothing is going to happen when you turn the switch.  This system added several inches of wire, two terminal connections and a set of contacts into this already long loop of wire.
 
The best thing to do (in my opinion) is cut the heavy wires taking the  power into and back out of the relay, shorten them as much as possible, solder them together and cover the spice with a piece of heat shrink tubing

At the end of the day, even if it’s working correctly, all this system does is force you to buckle up before you can start the car.  And even if it’s working, it’s REAL easy to bypass . . . just buckle the belt then sit on top of it . . . or cut the buckle off and stick it in the latch . . .or cut the wires to the belt and twist them together . . . or wrap a wire around the two terminals on the relay . . . sooooo . . . you’re either going to buckle up or you’re not regardless of whether this over-engineered, poor performing system works or not

[Ret.Bugtech]

Or--------- If you can still start the car and you can still use your belts to hell with the light. I think you would still know that you either had the belts on or not don't you think . At one time as I remember you had to buckle the pass. seat for the car to start. This was a pain the old kister when we were trying to do service work at my shop .

[74bug4me]

okay got the point just was curious if anyone had one 

[Zen]

I've removed several of the relays. I'm a pack rat; I keep EVERYTHING! . . . However, I seem to recall smashing these relays with a hammer while I was spouting off a string of four letter words and then throwing them in the trash.  The relays were probably good . . . it's the REST of the system that doesn't work.  If I ever run across another one, I'll be more than happy to give it to you! 

[74bug4me]

Ok that works