Sluggish seatbelts on older vehicles

BillyW wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Explosive?
!!!

Glad I have a 95. Thanks for the tip Gdetrailer!

LOL! :B

Lucky for me (or not) the vehicles I'm talking about are both pre 2000. I like the idea of cleaning them as Mex has mentioned, but that will wait for Spring. I found a recommendation for a dry lubricant that goes right on the belt to free up travel through the automatic tensioner. I'm ordering some and will report back on the results.

Make sure the belt has not flipped over (AKA "twist") when it was rolled up.. Pretty easy to twist the belts and a twisted belt in the mech would definitely jam things for sure.

Don't put anything on the belt. It is the mechanism that gets dirty.

Wotta fight dirty seatbelt retractors are. Danged passenger side has the whopee slipee shoulder belt retractor over the door. Sucker'll eat a finger if a person gets careless. Every square inch of this country has ultra intense enforcement of seat belt laws. Many areas have a thousand peso fine. Howmuch izzat? Sixty-eight USA dollars. Kinda weird getting written up as a stake truck with 28 people standing up in the bed passes by. The driver had danged well be belted-up though.

Suzuki's belts quit retracting easily in about 25,000 miles. Mine were replaced twice in its 70,000 mile warranty period. I tried to lube after that and had little luck.

I heard a *rumor* that cars sold in the US are required to have lifetime warranties on the seat belt retractor mechanism. This was the case for my 2000 Chevy and my 1986 Ford anyway. Both replaced for free with no hassle from the dealer.

As Gdetrailer explained, you should not be trying to clean the retraction mechanism other than vacuuming. These mechanisms are not owner serviceable. Some manufacturers cover their seat belts for the life of the vehicle, some for 10 years/ 100,000 miles, some for 8 years/ 80,000 miles, and some for 5 years/ 60,000 miles. So the best thing to do is contact your vehicle manufacturer, NOT THE DEALER, to determine coverage. Who knows you my get new belts.

Yes..Explosive...after an event that sets off the airbag, the seat belts will be locked up do to there deployment to save passengers. Once they have been locked up, they of course need to be replaced. And..if a local dealer does not have replacements..you will wait forever to get replacements..ground shipping only..no explosives in air shipping.