Thread: Seat belt tension

My seat belts are lacking tension and everytime I close the door the seat belt gets caught in the door and it either chips the paint or damages the interior panel. Is there a way to add some tension on the belts so that they return to the buckle faster and correctly. I drive a b13 but This would apply to all makes and models.

I've always told myself I would fix this on my car as well some day.

The same fix used for self-retracting window shades should work for the belt spools.

Take the door panel off, unbolt the belt spool*, and disassemble the spool to the point where you can rotate the spool shaft to tighten the inner spring that has lost some of it's springiness. Tighten it until you get the desired results, then re-assemble.

There might be some anti-tampering safety doohickies that you'll have to deal with like when working with the steering column or air bag stuff. I'd watch out for that stuff.



*(If this is a B14 then the spool is in the B-pillar instead and there's no need to mess with the door panel.)

I thought seat belts were covered under a lifetime warranty? I had my B13 seat belts replaced for free at the dealer for exactly this issue back in '98 (the car is a '91).

Really? Once my new daily is done looks like I know where to go with some frayed seatbelts.

Where exactly I might be able to tighten the inner spring?

Even the brand new belt sucked after only 2 years of use...

Wondering what I can do

The life time warranty solution might be easiest.

However, if you're still interested in how you might go about tightening the spool, what you can do is pull the belt from the spool a bit, remove the spool from it's locking mount, and then hand roll the belt back up. After that, put it back in the mount and you should have a tighter spring. Repeat as necessary.



HowStuffWorks "How to Repair Windows: Tips and Guidelines"

Ok, I want.

However me and my wingnut attemtped to do someting with that stupid metal part rolled up big time and it said kepoooing and then I knew I could throw it away anyway.

Im AFAIK not getting the what to tighten part.

Last time I worked for nissan (2005) seat belts were covered forever. I know almost all automatic belts are covered forever. Unless this has changed. My seat belts do not retract after a long ride, but they seem to function right. The lock up and what not during hard stops/sudden movements.