Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown; Confusion
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Maintenance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Procedure
After arriving at the [departure airport] gate; a Flight Attendant (FA) gave me a list of about 10 main cabin seatbelts that were installed upside down. The passenger would have to twist the seatbelt in order for the buckle to be right side up. I called Maintenance Control and told the Mechanic I was speaking to about the issue. He told me that he couldn't find anything in the Embraer (EMB) maintenance manual about passenger seatbelt installation.So I again described the position of the seatbelts and asked the same question again. Again; he gave me the same answer. So I asked them if they were okay and he told [me] he guesses so; since he can't find any info on them. So I hung up the phone without writing any of the seatbelts up in the maintenance logbook. I told the flight attendants what Maintenance Control told me. The outbound flight had a very light load so the flight attendants still made sure that no one was sitting in those seats.Upon arrival at the [destination airport] gate; one of my flight attendants told me about another broken item in the cabin so I wrote it up and called Maintenance. Contract maintenance came to the aircraft to fix that write-up and also asked me about the main cabin seatbelts. I explained to them the issue and they told me that they were indeed installed incorrectly and needed to be fixed. I wrote up all the affected seatbelts into the maintenance logbook and was then swapped planes through Dispatch. Upon arrival at the next aircraft the flight attendants also found 11 more main cabin seatbelts that were installed upside down so I wrote those seats up as well and contract maintenance reinstalled the belts; taking a lengthy delay.I don't know why; or how these seatbelts are being installed incorrectly; but I think it is safe to assume that there are probably many aircraft in our fleet that have this same issue; so I feel that this needs to be brought to the company's attention. Equipment malfunction.
Reporter stated he has been seeing a lot of flight crew write-ups for passenger seatbelts found twisted due to incorrect installation at passenger seats. The unlatching buckle ends up facing the passenger's body when the two belts are connected at the buckle. Even though flight attendants are no longer required to check for passenger seatbelts; they can still see the belts are installed incorrectly by the way the buckle part of the belt lays on the seats. Passengers also inform flight attendants about the twisted safety belts.Reporter stated the Maintenance Controller he spoke with didn't seem too concerned about the seat belt installations. At a later point in time; he (Reporter) was shown pictures from the Embraer Maintenance Manual indicating the correct installation for the main cabin passenger seat belts. He doesn't know if Maintenance is installing a large number of seatbelts at one time during an overnight check and do not realize they are incorrectly attached to the seats.
A Captain reported that on two separate flights involving two different company EMB-170 aircraft; flight attendants informed him that several main cabin passenger seatbelts were installed upside down; with the unlatching buckle twisted and facing passenger's body. On first flight; Maintenance Control said there was no information in maintenance manual; okay to go. Prior to second flight; Contract Maintenance said it must be corrected. Pilot suspects numerous other aircraft have same condition.