Driver's side seatbelt gets wet
 

Hello all,

I've been floating around this forum for a while searching. I own a Ridgeline, so I'm a very active member on that forum. We bought my wife a 2005 Accord EX-L V6 sedan (hence, my forum name) last August and it's been a GREAT car so far. It has about 92k miles on it right now and we've had no issues whatsoever until now. I haven't been able to find anything through the search on this issue. After any rainfall, the driver's seatbelt is soaking wet. I have checked the weather sealing around the B-pillar and both doors and it all appears to be in good shape. Also, the carpet in the area isn't wet and there are no stains or water marks on the headliner above the seatbelt area. I am totally baffled as to how water can get INTO the seatbelt compartment when it seems to be totally sealed to the outside. Has anyone else had this issue, and if so what was the problem and how did you go about fixing it? My wife is getting exceptionally frustrated and I'm slightly afraid for my life. :rolleyes:

Just wondering if a sunroof drain tube is plugged? Maybe the rain-tray around the sunroof fills up & spills? It's a long shot, but maybe worth checking.

Thanks for the reply. At this point, I'm willing to try anything. I'll give it a look-see tonight when I get home from work. It would make sense since it just started doing it a few weeks ago. I sure hope it didn't ruin anything internally that I can't see.

Look in the trunk, peel back the carpet/stuff that lines the side of the trunk. Look way over to the left side, forward towards the wheel arch. Tucked back in that corner you should see a tube that fits into some kind of fitting in the trunk floor (to drain out to the ground).

Ok, I'm fairly certain I've found the issue. The water is NOT coming from the sunroof drains. Rather, I found the inside door seals to be quite loose. They are still in good shape, but it just looks like the top corners of them aren't sealing very well against the B-pillar. I'm pretty sure the water is running down the length of the seal and getting behind the pillar. Since the seatbelt is mounted to the pillar, the water is soaked into the sealbelt before it ever has a chance to soak the carpet. I'm going to try layering in some exterior silicone on the door seals to see if that helps things. I sure hope it works because I'm running out of ideas.

Can you remove some interior trim from around there? Then have someone douse it with a garden hose so you can see where it's getting in.

Has it been in a collision? Maybe a door-alignment issue? I would look at those kind of things first before gooping it up with silicone.

From what I can tell, it was definitely the seal around the top corners of the door seals closest to the B-pillar. I cleaned everything thoroughly and ran a bead of exterior clear silicone on the inside of the seal. I then pushed it back into place and let it sit overnight to cure. You can't see the silicone at all and I think it has worked. It rained here last night and this morning and I have not gotten a phone call from the wife complaining of a wet seatbelt. I don't know for sure if it's fixed yet, but I'll report back.

Yep, all fixed. It rained pretty good yesterday and the wife reported a bone dry seatbelt. Looks like the seal was the problem. If I ever actually have to replace it for any reason, it won't be too hard to peel off. As for now, though, the wife is dry and happy. :)

Well, I have a soggy wife again. The silicone I used on the door seal is still intact, so it looks like that wasn't the problem. I am completely stumped on this one. My last resort is to pull apart the B pillar and try to see if there is an opening where water could penetrate it. I really don't want to do this, but I'm all out of ideas. I can't just let it keep happening because I'm worried mold may start to form and I don't want the wife to complain about it anymore. I guess I'll report back with any findings...

Is this still a problem for you?
 

Hello IanEX-LV6,
I've been researching this problem for the past couple hours and I wanted to find out from you if this is still an issue for your wifes car?
Your situation seems to be the most similar to mine I could find.
I did come across this link where the leak was coming from under the roof molding.
Seatbelt gets WET after rain!!! - V6 Performance.net Forums

I'm going to investigate this scenario when I get off work.

John