— A Volkswagen Tiguan seat belt webbing investigation is closed after safety regulators took nearly five years to decide the safety consequences.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was testing a 2018 VW Tiguan which involved the SUV crashing into a rigid barrier at 35 mph.
In two tests the driver's seat belt webbing separated where the webbing loops through the crash locking tongue.
NHTSA says separated webbing isn't a violation of federal safety standards, but the problem is the crash test dummy injury criteria.
Safety regulators say they have never known of similar seat belt webbing separations in any vehicles for 40 years.
VW has tested and inspected several of the returned seat belt systems and found no problems with the webbing or any other part of the seat belts.
NHTSA estimates up to 3,500 frontal collisions have occurred in 2018 VW Tiguans since they were built, but the government doesn't know of any real-world incidents where the seat belt webbing separated.
In November 2020, Volkswagen recalled more than 12,000 Tiguans to replace the driver and passenger frontal seat belts.
According to NHTSA, with no field incidents reported and the fact VW recalled the 2018 Tiguans, there is no need to continue with the seat belt webbing investigation.
