How might I fix a locked seat belt?

Replace the belt, you life may depend on it.

mike hunt

Jiggle harder, try it upside down or in different positions, check it for dirt or debris in the mechanism, look to see if the webbing has a fold or crease in the throat or on the reel that is jamming the works. And realize if it doesn't respond to any of that, it's time to toss the old retractor and look for a replacement.

There are several mechanical bits in the retractor - the main retraction springs, inertia flyweights and their springs, crash sense flyweights and their springs, and the designers try to design them fail-safe - it's probably jamming on purpose because an important spring or ratchet pawl jaw broke. If they get seriously out of whack I wouldn't even try to fix them - You have to get it right, because the belts must work when called on.

And on some high-end cars there is an explosive pre-tensioner system in the belt tensioners that is triggered by the airbags, and before the crash forces reach you the reel yanks all the slack out of the seat belts in the first few milliseconds of a bad accident. If those are triggered, you toss the entire tensioner.

If you get a junkyard belt, be certain it hasn't been in an accident with a person in it - feel and flex the nylon, if it's stiff and rigid that belt was more than likely in a wreck with a person in it. (When the nylon webbing stretches in a crash to absorb a few tons of impact forces, the nylon reaches melting temperatures internally from friction and it fuses into a hard belt.)

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And check the label on the belt - if it says "Replace" it has been in a severe enough accident to pull out that tag, then it is no longer useable.

My wife said it was folded over when she'd gotten out of the car and the belt retracted itself, so the fold has gotten itself wrapped up on the reel. It's been a couple days, maybe I'll get lucky and it's losened up. Thanks.

Is the belt a safety item with lifetime garantee by law?

No.

I have looked at a lot of seatbelts with problems and in almost every case, the belt was twisted or a foreign object got caught up inside somewhere, neither of which is a warrantable condition.

It might be in Canada Ray...or Chrysler-Dodge may be using it for promotion, I had an expensive problem with seatbelts on a Dodge truck years ago and they fixed it free...didn't seem to want to discuss it either...almost like it was a secret...weird.

Possibly true in Canada but in the U.S., there is no law that says the seatbelts (or any part of a car) has a lifetime guarantee.

If I heard correctly, Honda has such a warranty in the U.S. Don't know about Canada.

Maybe your WIFE will loosen up and you will REALLY get lucky, eh?

replying to Mike Hunter, Justice wrote: I have come from 2012 to tell you, mike, that your post on this thread is utterly useless. Shame on you for posting such worthlessness, you fool.