Ladies and Gentleman--

The female end of seat belt buckle on my 1983 Westfalia has started to
occassionally release the male end of the buckle on it's own--just a nice
gentle release while I'm driving even though it seems to have engaged
correctly when I buckled it. While it's only happend twice in the last two
weeks and it only causes a real safety issue in the unlikely event of a
collision I figure it's a problem I should solve--or pay up my life insurance.

Anyway...
I removed the female part of the buckle from the vehicle but it seems to be
unservicable by the user. I couldn't even figure out how to get a look-see
inside to see if it's just a lubrication problem or whatever. Seems the
plastic cover is somehow completely sealed--no screws or clips holding it
together. If anyone has experience with repair of this problem please share
it with me.

Or if anyone has replaced the unit with new from the VW dealer please let me
know. My guess is it is a dealer only part. Will I have to replace both front
buckles so they'll match cosmetically or will the part # get me a duplicate
of what's in there? Cha-ching!!$$$$  (BTW the passenger buckle works fine)

Also I assume I don't have to replace the belt and the male buckle since
there are no working parts there. But please don't tell me the belt and male
buckle have to be replaced with the female buckle as a unit....Cha ching!!$$$

Part number stamped on the female buckle--which has the short mounting
bracket to allow the front seats to swivel on the Westy-- is   251-857-777 J

TIA
Jeff
1983.5 Westy
LA, CA