There were some significant changes again from 92-93 (different sunroof on some cars, different half-shafts, different valvetrain, etc), then again from 93-94 mostly just the PCM. Things stayed the same from 94-95, then the new body panels and full OBD2 in 96.

There were alot of changes even in the 2nd H generation.

I think it should be...
The b pillar option/mod.

Jim... wanna chime in and say was the RLD was? Just for comfirmation on our CDN US theory.

RLD had the traditional seatbelt, not mounted to the door.

My '87'* got 'em in the door...

My 89 sse has seat belts on the door too. i had a corsica that had the same it was a 90. I think GM did that on most of their late 80'* early 90'* cars

How bout the genius that designed the seatbelt that straps you in once you get into the car. It was mounted on the door then when the door was closed, you were strapped in.

Spoon fed too?

yeah... my buddy has that in his Villager. The funny part is, once you get strapped in, you still have to attach a second lap belt, which is of course done by hand!

My '87 has the door mounted one (i'm in U.*. tho) and my '87 service manual only shows pics of the door mounted one.

I heard that the problem with these is that if the door were to fly open apon colliision, there woulldn't be all that much to hold you in place from flying out the door.

BUT i also know what they tried to do with the door-mounted belts. I read it in my cousin'* 1990 Chevy Beretta owener'* manual (it has door-mounted ones too).

The Idea is that you leave them hooked in all the time! That way you NEVER have to even t hink of putting on the belt or taking it off. There is a l ong enough belt in there to open the door completely and you can also slide right out with the belt still attached. Of course it'* not the most graceful of moves to get out of there with the belt sitll hooked up but it'* not too bad.

Hope this sheds some light on the subject.

p.*. my cousin claims one big reason why the Beretta was discontinued was because it didn't meet the then-upcoming safety regulations. In particular there was a safety issue with the way its doors opened from outside (it has the old old gen Grand Prix style door handles where its a vertically mounted handle on the edge of the door (up around the middle of the window). In any event i'm sure the seat belt thing added one more issue that didn't vouch for a full-scale renewal of the Beretta. Hehehe funny how the grand prix did get an approval while chevy'* beretta didn't.. i'm sure the GP was much more popular though.

Mike Diaz
'87 Pontaic Bonneville

Alright, I'll throw this into the equation:

My neighbour'* '87 LE has B-pillar belts.

Safe to conclude this was a US/Canada thing.

As a former 1988 Bonneville driver, I can shed some light on this.

The seat belt on the door was a US regulation. Here'* what the issues were:

- US government stated that by 1990, a certain percentage of cars sold within the US must have "passive restraints." This could be satisfied by a driver airbag or automatic seatbelts (or just automatic shoulder belts) for both passengers, even though the automatic systems were clearly less safe than regular ones. US made Chrysler cars all had driver airbags...that'* why you'll never see anything like GM'* door mounted belts in American made Chryslers or most other vehicles at the time with driver airbags.
- GM decided to be cheap and install door mounted belts. If you left them buckled, you could theoretically never unfasten the belt to get out of the car. Getting into the car, they would get out of your way, close door, you're fastened. Of course we all know they're a pain to use that way, and not safe if the door pops open. But complied with the letter of the law.
- 1987 Bonnevilles have the belts on the pillar. 1988 and beyond are door mounted. This was to comply with the law requiring automatic belts by 1990 if there was no airbag.
- When the Bonneville was redesigned in 1992, GM installed driver side and later dual airbags in the Bonneville and other high end luxury/sports cars.
- In 1994, all vehicles were required to have automatic seatbelts or DUAL airbags. Anyone who has ever driven a Chevy Corsica will notice, they had door mounted belts, lost them when the driver airbag arrived, then regained them again in 1994 (since no passenger side airbag was installed). GM was less consistent with other models, like the Ciera, but the rule after 1994 was, if there were less than two airbags, belts were attached to the doors. The main exception was the Grand Prix 2 door, which retained door mounted belts despite dual airbags up until 1997.

Now you understand GM'* cheapness when it came to safety and the lameness of US government regulations. Canada never required the automatic seat belts. The owner manuals for cars of this vintage always have a section noting that the belt system in Canada is different because the horrible automatic belts were not required there.