johnathanrn

Hey all. My passenger side seatbelt is stuck on my 1997 c5 corvette. its stuck from the bottom. It was working for a bit though it would get stuck eveyr once and a while. Now its just plain stuck. Any ideas on how to free it up? thanks.

JUSTIFIED C5

Pull on belt very slow, when it comes out of the retractor you will see where it is folded over, keep pulling until fold is all the way out. Hold belt straight and slowly let retractor take belt back in. It will eventually go. If you can't get belt to come out at all be patient, just keep tugging on belt and it will come out. What it needs is new belt. There was a service bulletin on these, to bad GM dosen't have lifetime warranty on belts. Mine does the same thing

bucwheat

What he said ,not hard to fix.

Oldvetter

There is a safety recall on early years seatbelts, they put a "snout" on them to prevent tangling.

I have freed mine by removing the door sill and seatbelt housing. It just takes some time.

Turnpike Cruiser

My 2000's VIN was not on the recall list.

I was able to pull the seat belt gently multiple times to release the seat belt about a 1/4" to a 1/2" with each pull (about a single rachet click).

That did not solve it getting stuck again.

To fix this permanently I removed the two trim pieces that cover the seat belt retractor.

The upper hinge pillar trim(held by a single round clip), the lower hinge pillar trim (this is also part of the door sill trim held by 4 spring clips), the lock pillar trim (held by a retainer clip).

I was then able to visually inspect the seat belt retractor and remove a pile of lint from the top and bottom of seat belt retractor rachet lock. This lint was forcing the retractor lock to engage, which locks the seat belt. I guess it would be the same with spare change or anything that goes into and gets stuck in the the retractor housing.

About a 20 minute repair. Hope this helps someone else with the same issue.

Problem happened again 2 years later. This time it would not release but one time without failing to extend again. I removed the seat belt retractor with a T-50 torx. Once it was removed, I opened the unit up. I noticed that the metal gear was not spinning freely on the nylon ring gear causing the intermittent locking condition when releasing the belt. I lubricated nylon and metal gears with silicone spray and carefully reassembled. So far the issue is gone and the belt extension and retraction is good. The belt locks with a quick ****** as it should. The attached photos show what is inside the unit. The green circular ratchet is what cams out the white nylon arm that locks the metal lever and the belt's ability to extend. The silver pendulum is apparently some kind of inertia device that engages the ratchet lock when you have enough gforce.

Vetteman Jack

Give this a try - it usually works to free up the belt.