2003 Seat Swap

2003 Xtra cab with the infamously uncomfortable 60/40 split bench. I have a set of Recarros buckets to install.
Two questions.
1) Seat sensor for the air bags. How to move them?
2) More importantly. Seat belts. The seat belts are built into the 60/40 seats and I'd rather not have to rip them apart and fab brackets etc.

I am sure I am not this first to go down this road. Any advice?

 

Update.

1) Seat sensor. In a 2003 there are none. There is on the drivers side a sensor for seat belt use.
2) Seat belts. I have purchased aftermarket receptacles to install on the new seats. Seems the width of the slot in the new receptacles are about 3 mm smaller than the tabs on the installed belts Nothing some judicious work with a grinder should not be able to cure.

I purchased Planted seat mounts. What I was given were mounts for a full bench seat conversion to buckets, not a 64/40 split bench so I had to do some minor fab on 1 mount (bolt holes did not line up) on each bracket.

Stay tuned.

 

As far as I know, all the seatbelt sensor on the driver side’s purpose is to illuminate the light on the instrument cluster. It doesn’t interface with the SRS system at all.

 

Recaros are in. Waiting on seat belt receptacles before I am legal. Money well spent. To be honest I am surprised my wife let me spend the money!

 

What seat belt buckles did you use? I found that the Tacoma ones are unique to the truck, at least in my testing. I tried using a universal one and a Lexus one and it didn’t work.

 

Yeah, dealing with that right now. I ordered from ebay replacement receptacles. I knew they were narrower that what was on the truck (22mm versus 25mm). Ground off some metal so they would slide right in, to find the tab does not appear to be long enough to trip the catch. The stock receptacles went when I sold the 60/40 split bench which sold for $400 The passenger side was easy to get to but the drivers wide, well, I would have had to dismantle the seat so I let them go . Right now I don't have an answer. Not happy as I have become rather attached to the idea of functional seatbelts.

 

I'd go to a junkyard and get some Toyota female sides. You can try grinding some more off though.

 

Seat belts in '90s Toyotas are all over the place. Even within 1st-gen Tacomas they aren't all interchangeable.

For sanity's sake, I'd try to salvage both the male and female parts from the same vehicle and then send them to a seatbelt refurbisher to get your belts rebuilt if the salvaged receivers don't fit your existing belts.

If you can get complete seatbelt assemblies (both belt and receiver) from another similar Tacoma, that would be even better--just pay attention to the presence or absence of pretensioners in the belt. I think those were added around 2000 (not sure of exact year, but my '98 doesn't have them), so you'll need to find a newer truck to salvage from. You'll need to get belts from the same cab style as well--regular cab belts are different from extended cab. Not sure about extended vs double.

Some seat belts are still available from the dealer, so you might be able to order new parts, but you still run the risk of male/female compatibility problems since you aren't ordering exact replacements for your truck.

 

I am finding junk yards with the female part from the passenger side of the split bench. I buy two and should have parts I need.