Tech Article Title Author Date
Installing a Schroth Rallye 4 Harness Bob Cotton 1997

Follow all instructions and warnings given the Schroth manual! The follow is my experience. I am not responsible for your installation, and I have no affiliation with Schroth.

Instructions for how I installed a Schroth Rallye 4 harness in my A4.

Time: about 1 hour
Tools: A Phillips screwdriver, a 17mm socket, a torque wrench.

Received the harness, and started looking around in the car for the mount points. It because obvious the 3 of the 4 mount points would be easy, and the fourth, the right-hand side of the drivers seat, would require removing the seat. (more on that later).

Before you remove the rear seat, notice where the seat belt hardware exits the seat (on the drivers side).

  • The shoulder belt is between the two cushions nearest the door. The harness belt will exit here also.
  • The buckles exit in a notch in the seat. The other side of the harness will exit to the inside of these buckles.
You will have the play with the configuration of the rear belt to make sure its not twisted when installation is complete. My belt is not twisted, and the release buckle is facing up.

To access both rear mounts you must first remove the rear seat. Very easy to do, just lift on the front of the seat, and remove. Here you will see the four seat belt mounting bolts. These will be the same anchor points you will use.

Note: I mounted all the Schroth mounting brackets on the outside (top) of all stock anchor brackets. This is because the standard brackets have raised dots that lock into depressions in the frame.

The mount points are as follows with instructions:

  1. Left rear: The drivers side rear shoulder belt anchor bolt, nearest the door. Remove the anchor bolt and belt bracket. The Schroth bracket must be mounted pointed toward the rear (and up) of the car. If pointed forward, the belt will put unnecessary force on the back seat. I rotated the stock bracket to point at about one o'clock position, and the Schroth bracket pointing at about eleven o'clock. Tighten the bolt per the Schroth directions.

  2. Right Rear: The driver side rear buckle mount point under the rear seat. This assembly contains the buckles for both the rear drivers side and middle seat belt buckles. There is a square assembly that the anchor bolt penetrates. Remove the bolt, and reassemble with the Schroth bracket on top. For this mount you will need to bend the Schroth bracket to almost a 90 degree angle. To complete this mount I did two things:

    • Mounted the Schroth bracket pointing directly at the drivers side rear door. Tighten the bolt, and pull up on the Schroth belt, bending the bracket to almost a 90 degree (up) angle.
    • Loosen the bolt, and reposition the bracket 180 degrees from step 1. The bracket should be parallel to the stock seat belt buckles, that are pointing up. This will allow the Schroth belt to exit the rear seat in the same place as the buckles.


    Tighten the bolt per the Schroth directions. Replace the rear seat.

  3. Left Front: The standard driver's seat belt mount point at the bottom of the B pillar. To access this anchor point, you must first remove the trim that runs the length of the interior. First remove the floor board kick panel. To do this remove the two screws that hold it in. One is under a cover towards the bottom, the other is near the hood release.

    This allow access to the long trim that runs the length of both doors. To remove this, firmly pull up. It is held in place by several metal clips, that secure into the body. Where the trim meets the b pillar, there are plastic clips that are part of the lower trim that attach to the B pillar trim. Carefully remove. There are more metal clips from the B pillar back. Move the seat as far forward for easy access.

    Remove the bolt, secure the bracket and reassemble. The bracket will bend as you re-tighten the bolt. You'll probably have to pull on both belts to keep them from twisting while tightening. Reassemble the trim pieces.

  4. Right Front : Ahh yes. From looking at the power seat I have, the thought of removing it was less then exciting. Which is what you would have to do to access the anchor point for the buckle. If you are interested, I've included a message from Keleigh Hardie about how to do this (see below).

    I, on the other hand opted not to do this. Upon further inspection of the Schroth Rallye 4, the belt that connects from the RF anchor bracket to the rest of the harness is about 18" long, and can be easily removed. Because the Schroth harness is build using standard 3" belts, I decided to replace that anchor strap with a middle, rear lap belt from a junk-yard Audi. ($10 Look for one without an adjustable buckle, but rather one where the buckle is sewn in and attached and the belt is attached to a retractor). Just unthread the Schroth anchor belt, and replace with the Audi lap belt. Attach to the standard drivers seat buckle. Because the harness is not bound on all four corner, this also has the advantage of being able to stow the entire harness neatly behind the drivers seat when not in use.

    From: "Keleigh Hardie"
    Subject: Re: Removing the drivers seat. 97 A4Q
    To:
    Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 21:52:10 -0700

    Run the seat all the way forward and remove the plastic trim bits at the aft end of the tracks. Now, run the seat all the way back, and remove the plastic trim bits covering the bolts that hold down the front (careful with these, they break if you take 'em off wrong). Remove the two bolts holding down the front and lift the front and disconnect the wiring. Slid the seat backwards out of the track, and try and get it out of the car without sliming your carpeting or gouging your console. Good Luck!

    Keleigh!
    88 80Q

    PS. I was assuming you have power seats. I they are manual, the instructions are the same except the front has only a small metal clip limiting rearward movement. Squeeze and remove...




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