Front Seat Belt Buckle Assembly problems of the 1999 Kia Motor Sephia

Driver's side seat belt does not lock. *ea04007*.

Seat belt tangled up around childs chest and stomach. Belt kept getting tighter and tighter. Child was complaining of not being able to breath. Consumer took a pair of scissors and cut the belt. Consumer took vehicle to dealer, and they refused to fix because consumer cut seat belt. Please provide any further information.

Consumer was involved in a collision in which seat belt buckle released from latch plate. Subsequently the buckle hit the driver should and hit her in the head. The strap bruised her shoulder. The consumer believed that the brake did not work properly. *ea04007*.

Driver's side buckle will not stay fastened. At times consumer must punch buckle to make it fit in. Also, has been some incidents of when the vehicle is stopped quickly, the seatbelt would jerk and pop off. *ea04007*.

Certified child safety seat inspectors working for the local fire department informed us that the length of the female portion of the seat belts in the back seat of our kia Sephia are too long to allow an infant child safety seat to be installed properly. The female end of the seat belt comes up into the plastic portion of the car seat (they tried 4 different models of car seats) which does not allow the belt to be tightened enough to hold the car seat securely in place. This inability to install an infant car seat properly in a rear facing position would appear to be a safety defect since all the female ends are too long to allow for proper installation. I fear that this causes a grave safety issue for any family who has an infant riding in a car seat in a kia Sephia. We contacted kia and were told that the dealership never should have told us we would be able to install two car seats in the back seat, although the owners manual states that two car seats can be installed. We got no further help from them in solving this problem, because they stated it was a dealership issue not a problem that concerned them.

Driver's side seat belt sounded as if it was locked/stuck in the retractor when it really was not. The problem was similar to a recall on 1998 kia Sephia (recall no. 02v-216), which is also experienced by consumer on his 1999 kia Sephia.