Tech Question?

Sorry about your battered C. Good to hear no one was hurt. It certainly would be good practice to replace the belts and tensioners after such an accident, unless there is a reliable way to test them to be sure they will work properly in the future. But not sure what Toyota standard practice is. Hope all is resolved quickly for you.

 

How do you get rear ended and sustain $9K in damage and the guy who hits y0u is able to drive away from the scene of the accident? Was it an armored car? In any event, if you did not fly into the sea belts and load them up really hard, they don't need to be replaced. Belts need to be replaced it a front end collision when they rub thru the belt holders with so much friction that the fibers in the belt begin to melt. You can actually see the stretch marks in the belt. When hit from behind, the belts receive no stress loading. Your spine, however, likely did get stressed.

 

If the belts were stressed to the point were yu need to replace them then I'd expect deep bruises on your body from the belts. If you were not bruised by the belts they did not take much force. In a rear-ender I think the seats took the force, then maybe you bounced forward

 

Actually, the shoulder belts would lock-up on a hard enough hit and should not retract post impact. That's the design and that's when insurance companies are required (forced) to replace them.