A seat belt device for a vehicle seat, having a seat belt, the belt tongue of which in an engaged state is releasably connected to a seat-side belt buckle. The belt buckle is guided via at least one wire rope through a sleeve-like deflection element, which defines the course of the wire rope between its connection point on the seat side and its connection point on the belt buckle side. The sleeve-like deflection element has a predetermined deformation point, at which the deflection element is deformed in the event of a head-on collision, more specifically with the belt buckle being displaced from its use position into a crash position in which the tilt or twist moments acting on the belt buckle are reduced.