Seatbelt Mounting Point Differences

[Blue Fox]

Long story short, I want to swap in some better front seats into my 2005 Outback. As many know the passenger side front seatbelt is attached to the seat base, not the bottom of the b-pillar which makes the seat swap unbelievably complicated.

 

I spent all day researching this and I can't find anything definitive depending on what year had the seat belts mounted to the lower b-pillar, but I know for sure with my own eyes that Spec B's from 2009 definitely have the passenger seat belt attached to the b-pillar. This is leading me to believe that the mounting location is there, it just wasn't done this way for some "reason". That "reason" is what I'm trying to figure out.

 

Anyone out there have LGT/Outbacks with the passenger seat belt attached to the b-pillar, and if so, what year/model?

[technicalgarage]

I have 2 05 LGTs and both have seat-mounted belts.

A friend's 06 obxt had a pillar mounted belt.

 

It's been a while since I had the interior apart but I seem to remember a bolt hole being available on the pillar, though I'm not sure if it's reinforced like it would be on a car where it's supposed to mount there - not sure how you'd go about verifying that it's a valid mounting point either.

[The Yeti71]

Having recently converted my LGT wagon to leather Outback XT seats, I can help a bit here. The mounts for the belt after 05 are on the B-pillar.

 

You can't really do a "plug n play" if you want to try and install a set of 06 seats (or other years) to your 05. Yes, the seat belt mount is different, and so are the connection wires under the seat (I do not recall the specifics, but it is on the site somewhere). I think the 07-09 are different too. I do remember that whoever went through with the swap went through headaches to get it done right.

 

j.