At age 6 years (53K mi.), the front passenger seatbelt clasp began to refuse to latch when the belt buckle was inserted. Using a jeweler's headset, I could not see any foreign object causing interference. To rule out a bent buckle, I tested the clasp (after its removal) with 5 other buckles, and all failed to latch into the clasp every time. The clasp failure-to-latch showed no signs of gradual failure. The first notice was when a passenger tried to buckle up, and noticed it didn't latch. The car was still parked. The Volvo part that failed is 31369706 Front Right Seatbelt Clasp. I successfully replaced the part with a genuine Volvo replacement part from a Volvo dealer. A clasp latch-failure on this vehicle carries the extra hazard of inhibiting air-bag deployment, as the latch assy. embeds a strain gauge which casts a necessary vote for air-bag activation. If interested, email me. Question: Would NHTSA care to have me ship the failed clasp to do a mechanical failure analysis? It would be surrendered to NHTSA with no conditions.

- Pleasanton, CA, USA