seat belt problem - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

jlbsam · 01-21-2011, 05:04 PM

the seat belt on the driver side of our 02 solara vert takes forever to retract. i have to push it into the slot where it goes. does anyone know why that is and how to fix it?

02SolaraSLEConv · 05-06-2011, 10:13 AM

My 02 Vert driver side is also VERY slow to retract, and has twisted and got completely stuck once (had to take apart to fix). Passenger side is usually slow too and has retracted twisted and got stuck on 2 occasions, stuck again now and I am getting tired of fixing it. I called Toyota corporate and they said I am SOL, would need to pay the dealer to fix, but personally I think that's a bunch of $hit, seat belts are a life safety issue, they really should step up to the plate and admit they did a piss poor job with seat belt design on the Gen1 and Gen1.5 Solara Verts.

***arabianobsession*** · 05-07-2011, 09:46 AM

Some seatbelts over time will do this. For some reason, every convertible I've ever owned has ended up with this problem. 85 Mustang, 89 Mustang, and a 2000 Sunfire convertible. All were a PITA to retract. What happens is that the coil has a spring that loses its tension over time, and when it does that it needs to be replaced.

02SolaraSLEConv · 05-10-2011, 10:00 AM

Mines never worked "properly" ever since I bought the car, and I bought it at 2 years old with 20k on its clock. I am pretty sure the problem isn't the tensioner, it seems to be the guide the belt slides through, it binds in them. In mine it keeps trying to fold over in the guide and getting stuck. Have taken apart both sides multiple times to fix, seat belts are really something that shouldn't have to be fixed repeatedly.

***arabianobsession*** · 05-10-2011, 10:29 AM

And the dealer hasn't done anything about it? You're right, it shouldn't be fixed repeatedly, it sounds like yours was an issue from the start to begin with.

02SolaraSLEConv · 05-10-2011, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arabianobsession

And the dealer hasn't done anything about it? You're right, it shouldn't be fixed repeatedly, it sounds like yours was an issue from the start to begin with.

Dealer fixed once earlier on, but they never "fixed" it, they just get it unstuck and moving, it would still bind in the guides and retract slow. now that I'm past 100k miles I'm on my own (actually they said I was on my own past 3yr/36k), either paying them to "fix" or just do it myself.

About 6 months ago I opened a case (and ticket number) with Toyota corporate and just got blown off by them too (they said its on me past 5yr/50k miles).