Rear seat belt buckle flopping and hard to engage

My elderly father in law struggles mightily with finding and clicking the rear seat belt into the buckle. I decided to solve the "which one" problem by pre-engaging the middle seat belt into it's buckle before he gets into the truck.

Even after that he will still struggle with clicking the limp buckle in. Has anyone been able to stiffen the buckle up so it is easier to to engage ? I looked at the stuff on Amazon and it looks cheap and the reviews are not good. It seems like just adding a plastic piece or pieces to stiffen the limp strap would work.

Anyone solve this already ?

 

He's trying to tell you he wants to be up front

 

Yeah well that's not happening as I drive and my wife gets carsick in the back.

I will just make something up to hold it. Would have been nice for Toyota to do it so we don't have to fish them out every time the seat bottom is lifted and they fall in.

 

There are car seat buckle holders you can find online that fit around the buckle to hold it up and make it easier to buckle:

MyBuckleMate Black Pair

https://www.amazon.com/MyBuckleMate-Seat-Belt-Buckle-Holders/dp/B00OZ82M4K

Wididi 2-Pack Car Seat Belt Buckle Holder Buckle Up - Car Seatbelt Guard - Seat Belt Holder - Durable Silicone Material - Car Accessories - Suitable for Kids

https://www.amazon.com/2-Pack-Seat-Buckle-Holder-Wididi/dp/B06X1DZTKS?th=1

Also you can get seat belt buckle extenders. I use one of these for a large disabled relative and it works well for that.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWJXJPG...&pd_rd_r=f1fbd3d6-e927-4307-9351-5433772b9397

I think the dealerships are required to supply seat belt extenders on request at no cost.

 

Yes I looked at both products on Amazon and the reviews are not good.

To me even if extended the whole thing will flop around. Needs to be supported.

 

Here is what I did and is working very well. I bought an 8" x 10" piece of clear lexan at the home improvement store. I had a plastic cutting knife so I cut two strips the width of the seat belt (about 2 inches wide) - one 8 inches long and the other six inches long.

I then made a "sandwich" with one piece of lexan on each side of the rear seat belt with the longer piece on the non engaging side of the buckle. I then used zip ties to hold it all together and put a piece of double sided tape to hold the buckle to the lexan.

After a couple uses the zip ties slid down so I removed the lexan and notched the sides in two places to hold the zip ties in place. The buckle is now standing proud of the rear seat and easy to find and buckle into.

I would like to find black lexan for the final solution as it would look better and hide the double sided tape (gray in the photo).

 

There’s pockets in the seat back designed to hold them when not in use. I can see them in the picture of your lexan stiffener. You stuff them up into those pockets when the seat bottom is lifted and it holds them in place as you close it.
I guess I don’t understand the issue he’s having. Can’t he hold the buckle with one hand while clicking the seatbelt in with the other?

 

The main problem as you age is that you become less flexible and your vision deteriorates. People become more proud and stubborn and refuse assistance. See if your wife can gently but firmly say something like I know you can do it but I'm going to help you with that. The extra time and effort is worth it from my experience.