V8 Vantage - stuck seatbelt
Discussion
Anyone had this?
I went out in the car today, stopped at a shop and when I got back in, The seatbelt wouldn't budge - it’s locked in a fully retracted position.
I opened the hood and can see down to where the retraction mechanism is and it doesn't look tangled or anything. The ratchet does rock back and forth slightly when I pull the seatbelt, but it wont release.
Is there any way to easily reach the mechanism to release it. I’m guessing I need to remove one of the internal panels behind the drivers seat.
Alternatively, it may be that there isn't enough play in the seatbelt to retract it far enough back from where it is now to release the mechanism. Is it possible to unfix it from the seat end to give more belt to play with and perhaps jimmy it free.
Cheers.
I went out in the car today, stopped at a shop and when I got back in, The seatbelt wouldn't budge - it’s locked in a fully retracted position.
I opened the hood and can see down to where the retraction mechanism is and it doesn't look tangled or anything. The ratchet does rock back and forth slightly when I pull the seatbelt, but it wont release.
Is there any way to easily reach the mechanism to release it. I’m guessing I need to remove one of the internal panels behind the drivers seat.
Alternatively, it may be that there isn't enough play in the seatbelt to retract it far enough back from where it is now to release the mechanism. Is it possible to unfix it from the seat end to give more belt to play with and perhaps jimmy it free.
Cheers.
Edited by Moonhawk on Sunday 26th January 20:11
In my experience, seatbelt retractors have two locking mechanisms; one is the belt inertia, which detects the belt being pulled quickly (which is why they lock if you pull the belt out too hard) and the other, the car inertia, works on sharp deceleration of the car (which is why they sometimes lock if the car is parked at a steep angle or when you brake hard. The belt acceleration sensor is a mechanical system with little bob-weights on springs that fly out if the retractor reel spins too fast and lock the belt. The car decelerator detector is usually something like a ball-bearing in a cup where the ball gets forced up and out of its resting socket if the car slows quickly, which raises the height of the ball, which operates a small lever device that locks the reel. In both cases the locking mechanism trips a one-way ratchet, so the belt can retract when the reel is locked, but it won't allow more belt out. If the belt is held tight against the locked ratchet the mechanism (either type) cannot reset - I think this is what has happened in your case as they need the belt to go slack, then everything can drop back to the unlocked condition.
You need to find out which of the two mechanisms has locked and won't let go. Make sure the car is on level ground and see if you can create a little slack in the belt by compressing the seat foam - don't pull on the end of the belt that goes into the retractor - that piece of belt needs to go slack. If you can create some slack you need to feed this into the retractor to see if the mechanisms can reset - you could also try gently tapping the retractor body to see if you can encourage the inertial mechanisms to reset - not too hard or you could trip one of the inertia systems.
If this doesn't work then you could try unbolting the end of the seatbelt from its anchorage (if you can get at it - they are sometimes on the sill or the actual seat tracks) so you can take the tension off, feed a little belt back into the retractor, then slowly extend it so you can re-attach the end - make sure you use the correct fixing torque.
If you decide to remove the actual retractor then don't forget that the belt's car inertial system will be tripped if the retractor is held at any angle much different to the design installation angle as the ball-bearing will ride out of its cup.
Hope this helps.
You need to find out which of the two mechanisms has locked and won't let go. Make sure the car is on level ground and see if you can create a little slack in the belt by compressing the seat foam - don't pull on the end of the belt that goes into the retractor - that piece of belt needs to go slack. If you can create some slack you need to feed this into the retractor to see if the mechanisms can reset - you could also try gently tapping the retractor body to see if you can encourage the inertial mechanisms to reset - not too hard or you could trip one of the inertia systems.
If this doesn't work then you could try unbolting the end of the seatbelt from its anchorage (if you can get at it - they are sometimes on the sill or the actual seat tracks) so you can take the tension off, feed a little belt back into the retractor, then slowly extend it so you can re-attach the end - make sure you use the correct fixing torque.
If you decide to remove the actual retractor then don't forget that the belt's car inertial system will be tripped if the retractor is held at any angle much different to the design installation angle as the ball-bearing will ride out of its cup.
Hope this helps.
raceboy said:
I had the polar opposite issue with mine, it wouldn't go back in.
Unfortunately it required a new belt mechanism which was a lorry load more expensive than I'd have hoped, keep meaning to take the old one apart to see which 99p component failed.
When you do, put some safety glasses on and protect your face, I had a lucky escape!!Unfortunately it required a new belt mechanism which was a lorry load more expensive than I'd have hoped, keep meaning to take the old one apart to see which 99p component failed.
raceboy said:
The garage that replaced it said 'be careful' they mentioned some sort of explosive charge in the unit. 
The explosive device they referred to was probably a seatbelt pre-tensioner, which uses a small charge to pull the belts tight in the event that the restraints control module detects the car is in a crash situation. In my limited experience these tend to be on the other end of the belt to the retractor or in the buckle itself.Aldhun said:
The danger of an explosion is only relevant to Volante models I believe.
Again, in my limited experience, there is no difference between coupe and convertibles in terms of fitment of belt pre-tensioners - in a frontal crash in all cases you still want to pull the belts tight to limit forward movement of the occupants. The additional item the convertible/volante models sometimes have is deployable roll-over protection bars; most of these are again released by the restraints control module when it detects a potential roll-over situation and use strong springs to deploy them against a one-way ratchet device to hold the bar or hoop deployed against the vehicle weight once the spring has done its job. On AML models these live under the little rectangular covers in the tonneau cover and are designed to punch through the glass rear window of the hood to maximise their deployment height. Not all convertibles use these, as you can see when the convertible in question has fixed hoops behind the occupants that are taller than the (average) occupants' heads. Some people think the deployable bars use explosive deployment - some may. As far as I'm aware all recent AML volante and roadster vehicles use deployable roll-over protection.
Edited by LTP on Thursday 30th January 15:19
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