Removal of front seat belts - side trim ?

[domi]

I've dealt with that in a bit of a silly manner:
The seatbelts the car came with were not locking properly, so i took a trip to a scrapyard and got a pair from an old Tercel. Fitting them was a frustration within itself, but the main problem was placing the abovementioned slit-plates. I had to cut them in order to slide the new belts in, because the Tercel's floor mounts had the bolts fixed in them, but in order to take them off the old belts it was no issue - i managed to bend them enough to pass the buckle-head through. Using a screwdriver i bent it enough for the edge of the buckle to hold it open and pivoted the rest out. They are quite flexible like that [at least mine were]. If you're afraid you'll break them - cut them at an upward anlge on one side of the slit - that way you'd be able to slide the belt out and when you place them back it won't be visible unless you look at it from above, in which case I'd be wondering what on earth you're doing sticking your head in the B-column...
Cheers and good luck with that.