I have have 3 88-91 bonneviles, recently i found several 90-91 with the seat belts not on the door. What is the deal with this, is it custom or an option?

Seatbelt on door kinds were deemed dangerous and phased out in 1996-1997. MOst GM cars after 1991 no longer had them, but some did.

my seat belts are on the door

Yeah it was something about if a accident occured, it would make it harder to get out of the car, but isn't severely dangerous.

i was reading the manual one day and it turns out that the belts on the door are "automatic" theyre meant to be left buckled and youre just supposed to slide in and out when you open the door, never worked for me :?

I thought I was the only one who actually tried that yeah it doesnt work.

It does clean up the door to NOT have the belts attached to it. I never knew it was a safety issue having them there

I just allways assumed that the belts in the doors were an american standard thing, since I've only seen one here in Canada, and it had american dealer tags on it...

add me to the list, I tried it for a day and got annoyed with it too

I think the belts can be changed. It is easier on the Buick because the H body Lesabre was all pillar belts in 1986, and the C body Electra was all pillar belts 1985-1988. (USA) Unfortunately the H body Bonneville was introduced in 1987 when the door mounted belts began, so it can only be done with parts from a Canadian model.

For my Buick, all I need to do is get the proper belts and trim panels from a 1986 Lesabre or 1985-1988 Electra. I have checked, and the upper anchor exists in the B pillar, with the required reinforcement, it just needs to be threaded. The lower anchor point I have not checked for yet.