Rear seatbelts

[clean96GST]

So my car came with almost all the interior out, now I've gotten mostly everything back in but the headliner and rear seatbelts, the seatbelts came coiled up and seem like they are locked or something, you can't uncoil the seatbelt so does anyone know how to? And does anyone have a picture of what goes over the bolt where you mount the seatbelt?

 

[clean96GST]

Ok so I took a pair of rear seat belts off a 2g at the junkyard and as soon as they coiled up a little bit they locked up like mine are. I'm sure some one knows how to get these unlocked?

 

[SeaveeDSM]

Sorry I don't know how to unlock them for sure. There is apparently a latch mechanism inside the housing that once past a certain point jams down and it then no longer allows the belt to be pulled out. On my Fords when installing the baby car seats if you pull the belts all the way full out there is a click and then then once starting to retract it can not be pulled back out again until it is all the way back retracted first. Have you tried to open the spring hosuing?

Also there may be a pendulum type mechanism that locks the belts if the housing is not near vertical when the belt is pulled on. Try holding the housing at different angles and steady when pulling on the belt.

Whatever you do, fix the problem and reinstall the belts before you carry passengers in back. Many people think there is relative safety being in the back seats vs fronts in cars. Not really true. Last month the cousin of a guy I know was driving up to Gainesville from Miami on the turnpike with 3 other friends. Late at night, there was a stalled car partly on the road, she swerved to avoid it, lost control and rolled at 70+ MPH. Both back seat passengers who had no seatbelts on were ejected out the hatch and killed. Kids in their early 20s....

 

[clean96GST]

Sorry I don't know how to unlock them for sure. There is apparently a latch mechanism inside the housing that once past a certain point jams down and it then no longer allows the belt to be pulled out. On my Fords when installing the baby car seats if you pull the belts all the way full out there is a click and then then once starting to retract it can not be pulled back out again until it is all the way back retracted first. Have you tried to open the spring hosuing?

Also there may be a pendulum type mechanism that locks the belts if the housing is not near vertical when the belt is pulled on. Try holding the housing at different angles and steady when pulling on the belt.

Whatever you do, fix the problem and reinstall the belts before you carry passengers in back. Many people think there is relative safety being in the back seats vs fronts in cars. Not really true. Last month the cousin of a guy I know was driving up to Gainesville from Miami on the turnpike with 3 other friends. Late at night, there was a stalled car partly on the road, she swerved to avoid it, lost control and rolled at 70+ MPH. Both back seat passengers who had no seatbelts on were ejected out the hatch and killed. Kids in their early 20s....

Yeah I definitely don't like driving people around for that reason alone. I would hate to crash and get my friends killed but survive. That wouldn't be too easy to live with. But thanks for the tip I will go try and do that now.

 

[Jeff99GS]

I had to Unlock mine once. There should be a WHITE plastic CAP on the seatbealt mechanism. Pull that CAP off and you will see a ONE way Gear drive with the flipper that holds the seat belt locked. You need to lift up the flipper and PULL the seat belt out. Once its OUT dont let it go back in too far cause it will re-lock.

Also Hold the rear seat belts at a 45* angle to allow the plumb bob weight to hang down toward the ground like seaveeDSM mentioned

 

[clean96GST]

I had to Unlock mine once. There should be a WHITE plastic CAP on the seatbealt mechanism. Pull that CAP off and you will see a ONE way Gear drive with the flipper that holds the seat belt locked. You need to lift up the flipper and PULL the seat belt out. Once its OUT dont let it go back in too far cause it will re-lock.

Also Hold the rear seat belts at a 45* angle to allow the plumb bob weight to hang down toward the ground like seaveeDSM mentioned

Wow thank you, you just solved my problem. So when I bolt them onto the car the weight will release the little red clip that stops the gear?

 

[Jeff99GS]

When the Pundulum is in anyother position other than Straight up and down it will lock the belt up. Usually when you bolt them into the car that will hold them at the right angle.