About That Seatbelt Problem

This is a new one for me. I've never had a car old enough - in calendar terms - to show this issue. I've taken lots of them over 300,000 miles back when I was a courier, even over 400,00, but that usually happened within 5 calendar years. I think this is an aging issue, and because of retirement, even the cross country driving as snowbirds hasn't taken the mileage up much over 170,000 miles.

But it's a 2013 model, so it has aged. It's also gone from heat extremes to winter and back again. AZ proved hard on various rubber components. While the door top gaskets got their fix by tucking them back in place and calling it OK, plus learning to grab the door in other locations to close it, the oil system needed actual replacements, with my needing to note any further drips or excess usage.

I use the seatbelt all the time. It's habit, like the parking brake is habit. It has been since 1975, when all cars were required to have seatbelts and laws mandated their use. I remember the year because that was when the family got a van. I loved/hated that thing.

Let me assure you the seatbelt still works... sort of. It does pull out, retract, latch and release. It's just gotten harder and harder to pull it out from the car frame, taking me both hands most days. Putting it back often means getting it uncurled right before where it coils up since it now likes to fold there. That's just an annoyance, some days more than others. While a delay, it's perfectly functional... eventually. 

Once both hands drag it over to where it latches between the front seats, shoving it down into the mechanism there is more problematic. It used to just click in place. Now I have to shove it, hard, and even with Steve helping from the passenger seat can take a bit. Releasing it is just as hard a task. These days, it's also painful, that being the side my worst shoulder is on. And let me remind you that post pancreatitis I'm off all pain relievers, trying to let everything heal as much as it can. While the docs are optimistic, the gut hasn't decided yet.

I'd love to think the latch part could just be oiled or something, and things would slip securely into place. Since it's a Hyundai, and this is small town America, the mechanics whom I trusted while on the job are nowhere close, if not also retired themselves. Here the locals proudly like Chevys and Fords, stubbornly refusing to deal with "those foreign cars". That leaves me with dealing with the dealership, a half hour trip away. 

OK, start with Google, ask for the price to replace my belt system, parts and labor. Just the one. Google says between $400 and $600.  Hmmmmm.... 

I called the dealership, asking for a price estimate to replace the driver's seatbelt. I called last Thursday. And again Monday. Yesterday I got the estimate from them. It was over $1,100! I thanked them for their work to find it out for me, and informed them I'd try to learn to live with it. Technically it does work, after all.

There will be issues of course. I have my first consult with the shoulder surgeon next month, delayed and rescheduled after the hospitalization. That likely means surgery will be delayed till next year. Once that happens there will be some chunk of time when I won't be driving while things heal and strength returns, starting with wearing a sling for a while. So Steve will be driving, and that's while dealing with his own health issues, which have resulted in me being the sole driver in the family for years. He did drive while I was in the hospital, so his confidence is back, but pain for him isn't just a daily yes/no but a moment to moment yes/no. Those long trips didn't help.

Mostly we fill in each other's gaps, if you will. I help with what he needs, and he helps with what I need. I tend to get my arms stuck in long sleeves, especially that second layer that has friction with the first, and need tops straightened and pulled into place. He can reach the high places I can't without risking dislocation. He needs help getting things off the floor and from low cupboards to save on back pain, as well as other things which I can do easily. He can reach the light between our chairs while sitting but I have to stand and turn to get it.We are quite the pair... so long as we remain a pair. Meanwhile we laugh about how we fit together, and do our best not to worry about the what-ifs of the future. 

Not too-o-o-o much, anyway.