My seatbelt will not retract. I did a search to see if there is a fix.I didnt come up with one. anybody know of a link to fix it or how to replace it ? Thanks. Larry.

 

Is it the passenger seatbelt? What year is your car? If it's 97-00 then read the following. There was some sort of safety recall or bulletin where they sometimes put a plastic guide in the seatbelt retractor. What happens is the seatbelt twists and gets stuck in there. You can get it out of there but pulling on it until it stops and then let it back in just a little bit and pull again. You do this over and over until the seatbelt comes out all the way. Then be careful about letting it back in so it's not twisted. I sometimes can get my seatbelt to come back out after doing that a few times over a couple minutes and sometimes it takes 10 minutes.

GM says they put in the guide in my car but it still does it and now my seatbelt is frayed on the edges. So I would take it down to the dealer and see if they can install the guide for free under the safety recall. If you do that I would leave it as is so they can see what the problem is.



Here is the recall info:

-------------------- RECALL INFO --------------------
Make : CHEVROLET Model : CORVETTE Year : 1999
Manufacturer : GENERAL MOTORS CORP.
NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number : 00V111000 Mfr's Report Date : APR 06, 2000
Component: SEAT BELTS:FRONT
Potential Number Of Units Affected : 71569
Summary:
VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER VEHICLES. THE LAP BELT WEBBING CAN TWIST ALLOWING THE WEBBING TO BECOME JAMMED IN THE RETRACTOR.
Consequence:
WHEN THE BELT WEBBING BECOMES JAMMED IN THE RETRACTOR, THE SEAT BELT MAY BE UNUSABLE.
Remedy:
DEALERS WILL INSTALL INSERTS TO THE BELT WEB GUIDE OF EACH LAP BELT RETRACTOR.
Notes:
OWNER NOTIFICATION BEGAN NOVEMBER 13, 2000. OWNERS WHO TAKE THEIR VEHICLES TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER ON AN AGREED UPON SERVICE DATE AND DO NOT RECEIVE THE FREE REMEDY WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME SHOULD CONTACT CHEVROLET AT 1-800-222-1020. ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S AUTO SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-DASH-2-DOT (1-888-327-4236).

Here was my original thread about myself trying to go through it.

 

Before the recall the seat belts could become jammed under special conditions. If somebody pulled them all the way out and put them in cinch mode and then let the belt snap back into the retractor with a twist in the belt it would become jammed. Once in cinch mode the belt cannot be pulled back out unless it is retracted all the way into the retractor. You can clear the jam but it will take some patience to do it. You need to work the belt in and out slowly to get to the twist and straighten it out and then let the belt retract all the way. Cinch mode is used when you are autocrossing or running on a track where you want the belt to lock tight and hold you in place. My wife accidentally did this on my 97 and she got it fixed in about a half hour.

The recall put some inserts in the retractor opening which narrowed it enough to prevent the belt from entering when twisted. Your car may not have had the recall performed on it and it would be advisable to check with a Chevrolet Dealer and see if the recall has been performed.

Bill

 

mine is a 2000. drivers side belt. I can see a black guide in the rewind it appears to be loose, I will try to remove it and see if it goes back in.Thanks for your comments. Larry

 

My 2004 had the same problem on the passenger side THREE TIMES. Dealer replaced it all three times. Funny, my '97 has no issues at all.

 

Every once in a while it happens to my driver side. I just fool with it right where it goes into the housing by pulling on the belt in short jerks and it will eventually free itself. Sometimes longer then other times.

 

I just had the passenger seat belt get stuck on my '98. Followed the advice found here, got unstuck in less than 5 minutes. Problem was retractor got into cinch mode, and belt had gotten lengthwise fold near an edge, and belt stopped retracting with about 8 inches to go.

I found that a repeated pull/release on the belt slowly released more and more of the belt out of the retractor until I got past the fold, and once the fold was straightened out, the belt retracted normally. iIn doing the pull/release I found I needed to develop a bit of a touch that came short of fully relaxing the tension on the belt; this seemed to let the ratchet mechanism pay out a little belt on the next pull.

Corvette Forum -- gotta love it!

 

That is a good description of how to release the belt.