okay cousins, here's the problem. the passenger seat belt is having difficulties locking. the piece that the belt plugs into just wont catch or lock. what wrong? its getting kinda agrivating. people get in my car and go to put their seat belt on and i have to tell them they are out of luck lol, some of the looks i get are pricless, but its a serious safety hazard, any help?
thanks

 

mine does the opposite it locks in but you have to pull on it like a bastard to get it out so im gonna keep my eye on this thread

 

ooh dang, that sucks, but its safer than mine! lol. Hopefully someone knows.

 

This may sound odd, but my passenger belt is the one that won't retract... my drivers one is perfect.

Mike

 

I had that happen. Same side as well. I think it's from people getting into the back seat and stretching the seat belt out too far. Take the little hard plastic cover off the seatbelt/roof area. With a flashlight you should be able to see the metal bracket, the belt, and a small wheel near the side that looks similar to the scrolling wheel on a computer mouse.

The wheel will jam up and your seatbelt won't retract. Reach in there with your finger and start fidgeting on the wheel while pulling on the seatbelt every so often with your other hand. Once that little wheel frees itself, your seatbelt will zoom back up into the ceiling like it normally would.

As for the locking bit down by your waist. I have no idea. I've never taken one apart.

 

haha, ya mike, its my passenger seat belt thats not working. just the lock down bit.
thanks Reid, any help is appreciated

 

Do a search for seatbelt recall. All of the problems listed are covered by one or another of the manufacturer's recalls. If you can't get help at your local dealership after you've armed yourself with the appropriate information I'd recommend hitting the JYs and acquiring alternate receivers.

Fourth gen receivers are supposed to work. I installed passenger receivers from a mid-90's cavalier (I'm sure other models have some that work). The plastic sleeves on mine were ripped and it wasn't worth the effort to repair them as I'd still have crappy looking stuff. Cost me $10 for the pair.

May be worth the fight to correct the non-retract issue that's covered in the recall on some models.

 

I asked the dealer about ordering a new passenger seatbelt a few months back. They said they'd been discontinued. Hmmmm.

 

So your saying that the male buckle won't stay in the female latch? That happened to me on a 4th Gen I had and it turned out to be a Dime was stuck inside the female side under the red button. It was real hard to see in there but when I spotted it I just unbolted it, turned it upside down and shook it until the dime fell out...

Good as new

 

im pretty sure the recall was for 91-92 and ive seen seatbelts on ebay all the time for thirdgens just never in blue and maybe they still produce the fourth gen ones i think they are exactly the same
edit: sorry i just checked it the recall was 82-89 so id say thats your best bet

 

Oh dang, i never thought to look and see if there was anything stuck in there. i'll check that when i get the motivation. WE GOT 24 INCHES OF SNOW HERE!

 

same with me

 

I don't think that over use breaks them as much as heat from the sun is killing the plastic parts inside them. (The plastic cover over the spring pops out a little and the spring unwinds)

It just gets too hot under the roof for the design IMO. Other cars with shoulderbelt winders that anchor to the floor and then loop over a buckle hanging from the roof seem to last alot longer

 

After awhile, even with fidgeting with the retractor mine stopped retracting. I got some 4th gen ones, I love them!!!! $90 for the pair used. they look brand new.

They work so nice and make me feel safe, those third gen ones were scaring me and my passengers.

 

Hey, i was fiddling around with my seat belt and fixed it!!

all i was doing with it was pulling it and slightly it will retract, after alil while doing this repeatdly with one good tug the whole thing retracted and now its as good as new. (: