Broken Seatbelt in Accident

I'm going to call Porsche about this also but thought I'd see if anyone had experienced this before or know if this is a situation where the seatbelt functioned as designed? I got hit from behind by a dually while at a complete stop and waiting to turn into a parking lot. They hit my 03 996 so hard that not only did it bend the frame - it cracked the frame into two. My body was pressed up against the straps of the seatbelt putting extreme pressure against it even after impact ... so think the seatbelt was pretty stressed before it unclipped. 2-3 seconds after the impact my seatbelt unclipped and left me vulnerable. Luckily I didn't get hit by any other cars. Thank God this was not any worse than what it was. Not sure if our seat belts are designed to become unbuckled in certain situations. I wouldn't think that is normal. My airbags also did not deploy - not sure if they only deploy when hit from the front or sides.

Here are more pictures of the frame and the seatbelt. The first pic is the seatbelt clip. The second pic got turned to the side for some reason but that is the seatbelt harness that is behind driver left shoulder. The last two pictures are upside down. 3rd is a pic of the rear of the car and engine. The last pic is upside down - it is the frame - you can see where the frame has a white crack.

That's not the frame but the aluminium bumper. The seatbelt latch should have held and not unbuckle. That is weird but the airbags didn't deploy becaise the car was hit from the back. They are designed to pop in a mostly front end colosion. Check the seat back, it's probably bent backwards.

How are you feeling? Are you unhurt? Your car took a tremendous hit and it is strange the airbags didn't blow. Your seat belts are not supposed to unbuckle, but many have an explosive charge to pre-tension the belt in case of an accident. Some seat belt receivers have also been known to go bad after many years of use. The pic you put up is of the rear bumper being bent and cracked.

It's not strange at all the bags didn't pop. They are only there to protect in a front end or side collision and are useless in a rearend like this.

That leads me to the question on the span of time after which seatbelt hardware should be replaced. I'm sure they're tested for something like 10 years of aging and UV exposure but there's got to be an amount of time this stuff 'expires'; much like racing harnesses. My car is going on into the 11th year and I rather replace stuff like buckles and seat belts before I find out otherwise on failure of duty

2002+ 996's had pyrotechnic seat belt tensioners and belt force limiters... Can you tell if they went off? The tensioners should go off in a rear end collision, and the limiter should prevent the belt from overtightening. I don't think they belts are supposed to unclip, but that buckle looks pretty bent. Wonder if something went wrong with the limiting system if the tensioners went off?

I'm married to an exceptional attorney should you need one! Hey, I gotta eat too. Seriously though, glad you are ok.

That's quite a hit. Glad you are ok. Looks like your Porsche may be replaced with a newer year after that accident.

Glad you're okay! Is it too soon to start bidding on the wheels before the insurance company gets them?

get yourself checked out by a doctor

Sorry to see this, but glad your okay and hopefully your feeling better. That hit looked nasty.

It sounds like the tensioner fired off, since OP indicates that the seatbelt was very tight after the accident. The good news is that it stayed buckled for the rebound - otherwise, you would have gotten a chestful of steering wheel. Is there any chance you smacked the release? I know this sounds like a stretch, but just this morning I was sliding into the driver seat with a 7-11 bag in my right hand full of Monster, and the bag tagged the e-brake release button and allowed the brake to release enough that my car started to roll. Either way, glad you're OK, and sorry that your 996 isn't. Looks like she gave her life dissipating the crash energy...good car.

Thanks guys, yes I'm ok, had a concussion and got banged up a bit but could have been worse. It's been over a month since the accident and did go to a Dr. and got treatment. I'm not sure how to tell if the tensioners or limiters fired off or did their thing. Can't really remember but after I went to the junk yard to get my belongings i noticed the seatbelt had a lot of slack in it and was not retracting when I opened the car door and got my things. It was just kind of hanging there - if you look at the pic of the seatbelt loop that is behind the driver's left shoulder - it looks jumbled up and tangled almost. It also looked like it was jammed or stuck. I didn't hit the release because I was already at a stand still when the seat belt held for a second then unbuckled. I was pressed up against it pretty hard but it seems like it may have "stretched out" some. Hard to remember there was a lot going on in a short period of time. I did call Porsche today to open a customer support case and let them know what had happened. I will hopefully get some kind of explanation and also provide them with info I hope they find useful. I think they should look into it for the benefit of other 2003 996'ers out there. Who knows what year range it may impact also.

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Well those rims were scratched up pretty bad from road rash, they would need to be refinished or sold for cheap but had to leave the insurance with some wheels since I had sold the stock rims a long time ago. Sorry! Thanks, it took about a month but I'm doing great now. Just got an 2006 replacement last week

Wow. Quite a hit. Glad you're ok. There's a remote possibility that something may have bumped the release button during the impact, like an elbow or flying phone or such, especially if the buckle appears to working fine now.

Can I ask you how much your insurance company paid out compared to what you thought the car would fetch? Sounds to me that the tensioner went off, based on your description. They work well, in my experience. Congrats on the new '06! Not a bad trade up!

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I was getting ready to sell it then decided to keep it. Then the accident changed all that. They gave me above blue book for it. I was going to sell it for an "obo" amount and they gave me just 2k below that. When I did my research I found 11 similar cars - same year and took the average of the sale prices. The insurance company gave me above that. I then also took an average of my same year and similar miles (70k miles) and they still gave me more than that. I honestly thought they were going to lowball me and I ended up getting more than what I thought. Sorry won't list any specifics but was happy with the offer. I also was able to get all my belongings and all my stereo gear out of the car. I stripped the heck out of it.

Make sure to see a dentist. When I was hit from behind at a stop light, 2 of my molars were cracked as well as my wife's. We did not immediately notice the cracks. A few months later, we had a $6K dentist bill.

Update: I finally called Porsche NA to tell them about their seatbelt malfunction. They told me they had never heard of anything like that before and had nothing on record for it. They asked me if I wanted them to come out and inspect it and I told them it's up to them. I'm just passing along the information in the case that they want to check it out and see if there is a need to take action on it ..like a recall or safety notice etc. I thought it would be valuable to give them the information because there are still a lot of 2003 996 drivers out there. I had sent them some pictures included in this thread. It sounded like that was the end of it. I didn't expect to hear back from them right away. Next thing I know they are contacting me to send out two inspection managers to look at vehicle. Keep you guys posted.

Thanks for the update.

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+1 Glad to see their actually looking into it.