Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (buckles, retractors, anchors and pretensioners).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 1999 Ford Mustang owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Dt: the contact stated the air bags did not deploy in a crash. The vehicle swerved to miss debris in the road and hit the guard rail at 55 MPH. The vehicle spun and hit the guard rail four times. The driver's side seat also snapped , not allowing the contact to reach the brake pedal and stop the vehicle. The seat belt came unlatched at the buckle assembly. A police report taken at the scene ,and the vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The contact sustained contusions to head, neck, shoulder, hip, back, knee, and ankle. The vehicle has not been inspected.
Tl contact owns a 1999 Ford Mustang. The contact stated that the seat belt on the passenger and driver side would not retract properly upon entering or exiting the vehicle. She received a recall notice and took the vehicle to the dealer. The dealer repaired the vehicle, but the failure still persists. The dealer is charging her $100 to repair the failure again. The NHTSA recall # was unknown. The current mileage is 88,000 and failure mileage was 20,000.
My seat belts do not function well. Sometimes, they retract very slow, lose and sometimes they do not even retract. Also, sometime they get stuck. When I brake hard, they stuck and too tight....on the other hand sometimes they are very lose and doesn't stay tight to my chest, same is the case with the navigator seat belts and also the rear seat seat belts. It been happening for couple of weeks.
Tl contact owns a 1999 Ford Mustang. The contact stated that the front driver and passenger seat belts have malfunctioned. The seat belts have failed by not retracting enough nor does it secure the person properly. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer who advised him that he had to replace the seat belts. The vehicle has not been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 36,000.
The front seat belts malfunctioned, they will either not release from holster, or when released will not retract back into the holster without excessive force being applied. This caused the belts to fray at the edges. Dealership will not provide any remedy or cause for this problem. Seat belts started getting hard to pullout and would not roll back up .
Tl contact owns a 1999 Ford Mustang. The contact was repairing his vehicle when he noticed that the passenger side seat belt latch did not work. The mechanic advised him to replace the seat belt. There is a recall on the vehicle's seat belts, but the recall # was unknown. The current mileage is 12,000 and failure mileage was 5,000.
Car stalls out while in motion. Has happened turning a corner, on a bumpy road (2" road construction drop off), and for no apparant reason. Does not happen very often, but can be very dangerous if in heavy traffic. 2) when trying to put car in reverse while stopped (coming out of my garage or a parking space, for example) gear shift refuses to go into reverse. Putting into first does not help. I have found that letting up on the clutch just the right amount will usually let it go into reverse. 3) seatbelts are much to sensitive. Just driving down the road you can hear them repeatedly clicking, locking and unlocking. You have to make any movement very slowly or else you will be snapped back to the seat. Turning to look over your shoulder at traffic will get you locked in. Extremely dangerous. …
My seat belt (drivers side)does not retract real well you have to push it back into the side wall of the car. I have noticed that other VIN numbers have had a recall but not mine. I called Ford in michigan to ask them how to get a recall started and they told me that I can not. Then I asked them to fix my problem free of charge and they told me if I wanted it fixed that I would have to pay for it. I told them that it was a safty issue and that they should have to pay for it free of charge. Dt
Tl contact owns a 1999 Ford Mustang. The contact noticed that the front driver and passenger seat belts would not retract similar to NHTSA campaign id number: 99V250000 (seat belts:front:anchorage). The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was advised to have the entire mechanism for both sides replaced. The contact did not inform the manufacturer nor was the vehicle repaired. The current mileages were 92,658 and the failure mileages were unknown.
Passenger's side seat belt gets tighter and tighter when going over a bump, to the point where consumer can't breath. Consumer has to either undo belt while driving, or hold belt in hand to avoid being squeezed to death. Consumer has to hold seatbelt in hand while driving. This could cause an accident. Dealer said seat belts were made for a baby seat, and that they all were made that way. Consumer feels this is very dangerous.
Related recalls
Seat belts › Front › Anchorage
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The seat belt retractor May have a pin shaft in the switchable elr/alr mechanism that is incorrectly formed. In some circumstances, the switching mechanism could become nonfunctional, preventing the seat belt webbing from being extracted from the retractor.
Remedy: Dealers will inspect the lap and shoulder belt assemblies. Assemblies with julian date codes of 200 through 223 are suspect and will be replaced.
Seat Belt complaints in other Mustang years
Frequently asked questions
How common are seat belt problems on the 1999 Ford Mustang?
NHTSA has 22 complaints about the seat belts of the 1999 Ford Mustang, 9% of the model year's 258 complaints. The component named most often is front › anchorage (5 mentions).
Is there a recall for 1999 Ford Mustang seat belt problems?
Yes — NHTSA recall 99V-250 (anchorage, Sep 20, 1999). Recall repairs are free at authorized dealers.
At what mileage do 1999 Ford Mustang seat belt problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 36,000 miles, and 22% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 2 crashes, 0 fires and 3 injuries to seat belts problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.