My miata no longer has air bags, its a 94 so both the drivers and the passenger side have the breakaway stitching that add a few extra inches to the lap belt during impact. I'll just swap the passenger side for a earlier NA6 belt since they shouldnt have that breakaway stitching due to no passenger airbag, but i'm not sure exactly what to do on the drivers side as I would rather not have to run a harness all of the time (it does see SOME street time). Weren't there some early miatas with NO drivers side air bags over seas? I saw a few people take a seam ripper to the break away stitching so that the belt was fully extended but that seems alittle sketchy to me.. What do you guys think?

 

no US miata ever came w/o a driver's air bag. however, early canadian models didn't have airbags. might be tough to source, but someone in the frozen north might help you out.

 

why not cut the belts?

 

Yup thats what I meant by overseas, well at least now I know they did make them without airbags.

Just not sure if they are safe for use after being cut, I really don't see why they wouldnt but its something I want to be completely sure on before I take it out on the street. I suppose I could just cut it and see what it looks like inside the breakaway pouch, if the belt looks the same I may just say screw it.

 

both belts on 90-93 cars had the stitching. I would guess because it was easier to do them all one way for our market. Also, I removed my airbag from my '92 and then removed the stitched loop from the belt. I was later the middle car in a 40mph+ rear-ending accident at a red light and the belt did not tear.

 

also, if you cut the threads out carefully it'll do nothing to the actual belt as the threads are sewn inbetween the belts threads.

 

Really? I thought that those belts were designed to be used with an airbag but I guess I was wrong. I'll just cut the loop then. Thanks!

 

they are, that's why there's the loop. But it's designed so the threading that you will be cutting out is what tears in an accident, not the belt itself. It'll make sense when you remove the sleeve over the loop.

 

My Canadian 93 has a driver's side airbag. Both belts have the black sleeve, so obviously Mazda didn't think it was too big of a safety risk with out an airbag.

I removed my airbag and didn't bother modifying the belt.

 

I think theoritically the danger is greater on the drivers side because the wheel is much closer to your face than the dash is to the passengers face.

 

Ya well, I'm driving a Miata in the land of 4X4 pickup trucks. So safety is ALL theory.

I'm not a fan of modifying my seat belt just because a bunch of tossers on miata.net think you should when you remove the airbag.

 

AFAIK Miatas with no airbags have the stitching on the passenger belt (no steering wheel to hit) and no stitching on the driver belt.

 

A few months ago I was ran off in a ditch traveling about 45 mph with cut stitching and no air bag, I feel that the whiplash I experienced was far less due to the shortened travel.

 

though I have odd luck as i was shotgun while my friend rolled his miata and proceeded to trap me underneath with no roll bar, I walked away with a few scratches. Your mileage may vary.