For all of you with sticking / slow retracting seatbelts.

[Harlan_Kovacs]

Heya,

Sticking / slow to retract seatbelts. I know this has been covered here before but I thought I'd share my findings.

I was frustrated by my slowly retracting belt so I removed a bit of carpet behind the belt mechanism so that the coiled up belt no longer rubs on it. This worked to a point but lead to another discovery. The primary point of friction the prevents the belt from retracting, at least on my car, is the anchor point that's at shoulder level - the bit the belt passes through. If I list the belt so it passes vertically through this anchor, it retracts at speed. As soon as I drape the belt down, the friction overcomes the retraction force for the last 18 inches. It is better with the little patch of carpet removed but it's not good enough. Argh.

What I really need is a stronger retraction spring in the seatbelt mechanism.

While I'm confident I could disassemble the mechanism and replace this - it's a very simple system, after all, but I don't know what I don't know and I can't risk altering the function of a seatbelt, designed to save my life, by people who know what I don't.

What do you think? Age-related? Is the spring just tired? Will a new seatbelt retract with more vigour?

Mark

[Harlan_Kovacs]

Ah brilliant. Thank you to you both. I think I'll do all three. Make the brackets, change the belts and swap out the guide bit, what ever that's called.