Hi
On my 96 Tacoma the seat belt tensioner does not appear to work too quickly. When exiting the vehicle the belt will fall and hang out the door. I have to feed it back through the upper loop to take up the slack.
My question is:
Can this easily be repaired with a new tensioner/retract unit by a do-it yourselfer?
And does this pose any danger to the driver in its current condition.
Are the panels easily removed and are the parts expensive.
Thanks for any input. Martin
Yank on the belt and see if it locks up. If so its probably okay. Make sure that the belt isnt twisted on the roll. Pull the whole belt out to check for twists. Is there untwist and let back in.
I suggest simply adding some spray of oil onto the retraction spring. They tend to get slight rusty and have too much friction to retract the belt.
Worked fine for me the last 18 years. Function of the belt remained unchanged at my vehicles.
Axel
This might be some help
This seems to be common. The belt has a weak spring so the belt doesn't pull your chest too tightly and become uncomfortable. The problem this creates is that the belt doesn't retract well. My daughter has an '02 Tacoma that has the same problem. She has to guide the belt as it retracts, or it catches and leaves a small loop that hangs out the bottom of the door.
That looks like it should work. I'll have to give it a try.
It's easy enough to get to the retractor assembly. I've done the fix where you put an extra rotation on the retractor spring twice. It will enhance the retraction for a while and it gets weak again. The only thing I've found to help is keep the belt clean and lube it occasionally with silicon spray. Make sure it's liquid silicone not the foamy stuff. I've developed a habit of looking at seat belt before I close the door to make sure it's retracted out of the way. HTH, davidj92
Its my experience that every toyota truck I've every driven or been in has had this problem. My '95 tacoma had them replaced 3-4 times during the warranty period with no improvement so I don't think getting new ones would be worth the effort. I do like davidj92 and push it in as I'm closing the door.... or forget and leave it hanging out where it gets wet and freezes solid ;-).
I remember ready marketing one year for new Tacoma that boasted re-engineered seatbelt tensionators. whooo hooo! Haven't heard anyone say if it has actually improved anything.
Maybe you can find working post 1999 ones to replace yours.
Dave
Something else that can contribute to your problem: accumulation of dirt and grime on the belt guide can increase the resistance bad enough to slow the retraction of the belt. Cleaned my old '89 up and the problem was significantly reduced.
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