Some people do not mind if their seat belts aren’t working properly, some do not even use seat belts despite its obvious importance. A malfunctioning seat belt might not bother you until you get into an accident.
Either it’s a slow recoiling seat belt or a seat belt that won’t retract, both are really irritating.
Dirty seat belts are one of the main causes, so I have written something which would give you an idea on how to fix a seat belt that won’t retract and get your car back to its original state, but first you must check out what might be the cause of this problem.
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Cleaning Your Seat Belt
Your car’s seat belts are very important since it’s the primary thing that we use to keep the passengers safe, including yourself. They minimize the impact in case of any accidents.
However, we can’t really avoid that seat belts can be stuck or clung for some particular reasons. One main reason is dirt. It sounds a little disgusting, but over the years your seat belt accumulates dirt.
Have you ever wore your seat belt without a shirt on, or using your seat belt after you had your workout.
These examples I gave are some reasons why your seat belt accumulate dirt and are the same reasons why it can be stuck. But don’t worry, there are simple ways on how to fix a seat belt that won’t retract because of dirt.
You Simply Follow These Steps:
- Get a small bucket and fill it up with hot water and put a little laundry detergent in it.
- Put a towel in the front seat, this is where you will be putting your bucket.
- Take the seat belt and pull it all the way out until it stops, put something on the seat belt to stop it from retracting.
- Now take the seat belt and put it in the bucket for around 15 minutes.Squeeze it afterwards and get as much dirt out as you can, let it sit there for another 15 minutes.
- Take the seat belt out and put it on top of the towel and ring out as much water as you can with the towel.
- Stretch the seat belt out and let it dry.
Other Way to Unlock a Seatbelt
Removing the Seat Belt Completely
Part of our how to fix a seat belt that won’t retract guide is removing the seat belt completely. This would ease the way of cleaning the seat belt.
Aside from cleaning, removing your seat belt would also fix some problems like a stuck or jammed seat belt which may cause serious problems if would ever get into an accident and your seat belt is not functioning quite well.
Here is What You Should Do :
- Try releasing the seat belt from its auto-lock function by pulling it. If it’s buckled in, remove the belt from the cartridge and slowly pull it away to release more of the seat belt. Release the belt in order to see if it would snap back into place, if not, it may be jammed or tangled.
- Use a screw driver or a needle nose pliers to pry the plastic covers off, these holds the mechanism for the seat belt, once done, the belt loop and hardware would be exposed.
- Pull out the seat belt completely. Doing so will let you know if the belt was twisted or some objects are jammed in the belt.
- If there are any part of the seat belt that is jammed, untangle it. Remove some objects that are stuck within the belt.
- Test the seat belt if it locks in place and releases perfectly. If everything is functioning well, put the seat belt mechanism in place and it’s plastic covers too.
- In addition to that, be extra careful when taking off the plastic covers which covers the seat belt mechanism, do not take it off on just one spot of the cover. Pry the covers gently on different areas to avoid wrecking the cover.
If you do not have the time to do all the cleaning but want to know how to fix a seat belt that won’t retract, you might want to buy yourself a silicone spray. Just spray it to every moving part of the seat belt and it would work quite well.
But be careful with the seat belt’s fabric since using the silicone spray inappropriately can degrade your seat belt’s fabric which can weaken the belt itself.
A car or RV vacuum is also a handy tool in keeping your seatbelts clean. When vacuuming the interior of your car, run the vacuum on the seatbelts, too.
Conclusion
As you can see, aside from the seat belts getting jammed, the reason why seat belts’ malfunctioning occur is because of dirt.
Keeping your cars interior clean would minimize the dirt, which will also minimize your seat belt’s dirt accumulation. As much as possible, avoid such things like wearing your seat belt without a shirt on, or wearing something dirty and wearing your seat belt.
If you have kids, watch out for those tiny toys that they play with in the car. These might get stuck into the seat belt mechanism and might cause some problems. You might want to give them bigger toys to avoid this.
Do not let your kids play with the seat belts, imagine a kid with a hand full of chocolates wiping it all over your seat belt. In addition, be sure clean your seat belt. Do not wait for your seat belts to malfunction before cleaning them. Remember, accidents happen without a warning. You’d better be prepared when it happens.
Hope you learned something from our tips on how to fix a seat belt that won’t retract. Share it with your friends, you might help them a lot.
