I have a 1999 E350 CNG van 15 passenger which I found abandon and sitting for ten years. With a little effort it is running beautifully. It was missing the front right passenger seat. I found a beautiful brand new 2014 front seat on e-bay and it fits perfectly. Except.... The seat belts are not compatible. Nor is the wire below the seat which, I am totally guessing here, arms the air bag. Being the creative person I am I tried to "rig up" one of the passenger seat from the bench seats and I was surprised to learn that this does not work either. I was looking for female end on line but with little luck. Any one have a cheap and easy solution to this?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

DAN

 

From at least '97 forward front seats were equipped with collision pre-tensioning devices that form the lower or belt anchor point---these pull the lap belt tight if/when the air bags are deployed. Because these devices are particular to the front seats only I don't know there's any safe way to rig back seat belts to front belts or attaching points.

You may need to find a new or gently used right side seat belt assembly which will not include the seat base anchor portion---that would have to purchased separately or found at a local salvage yard.

 

There is no easy fix but I did find the correct complete seat belt on e-bay for a $50 dollars. It has a plug that goes into the airbag and that fixed that as well. Perfect shape now.

 

Hey whats the story on the abandoned van? How did you get a title? Sounds real interesting!