Topic: Seat belt stuck in lock mode?

[Blankman000007]

Maybe im being a complete noob, or im missing something completely obvious but both my front seat belts seem to be locked, and i have no idea how to get them unlocked.

Im using sti seat belts to go with my sti front seats. When i pulled both belts off the car, they work fine. The belt was able to retract all the way back once i unbolted it from the car, but i dont see why that would cause it to lock. So now im trying to put them back on the car but i cant get the belt to move because the safety lock system thing wont let the belt come out. So has anyone experienced this, or know how to fix it so i can use my seat belts?

[WhiteRex]

Ya won't be able to fix them if they were bumped hard enough it set off the tentioner and no way to fix I had that happen to me haha in the same boat.

[Sleeper]

^LOL, noobs.

The reason it's locked is because the belts have a little mechanism that senses a roll over (mimicked when you pulled the whole thing off) and completely locks out the belt. Simply bolt the top seatbelt bolt into the car (onto the slider), and then yank down HARD on the clasp end. You should hear a little 'ping' and the belt should be able to unravel. It has to do with alignment and geometry I guess... same happens in the rear. If you remove the rear belts, until they're bolted into their OEM position, there's no way they'll unravel.

[Zaider]

damn. im having the same issue with my passenger belt. ill give that a shot, thanks Sleeper.

[WhiteRex]

Not a noob thing its a body man thing I have tried that already. Didn't work so the spring locked and have to get a new one

[Blankman000007]

K well what i found is that the belt has to be basically straight up and down, or just ever so slightly off to one side, or the locking mechanism will engage as if the car was rolled or something. So all i had to do was adjust it a bit, and it works fine now

[Sleeper]

Not a noob thing its a body man thing I have tried that already. Didn't work so the spring locked and have to get a new one

Then you didn't do it right . They're designed to not be single use belts....

K well what i found is that the belt has to be basically straight up and down, or just ever so slightly off to one side, or the locking mechanism will engage as if the car was rolled or something. So all i had to do was adjust it a bit, and it works fine now

LOL, echo? Did you read what I wrote 3 posts up?

[Blankman000007]

Yes, but pulling on it really hard is going to do nothing if the belt is not positioned within the allowance of the locking mechanism.

The fun of doing custom stuff

[goalieboy1]

Simply bolt the top seatbelt bolt into the car (onto the slider), and then yank down HARD on the clasp end.

It doesnt get much more with in allowable locking mechanism position than where the manufacturer placed it...

[Zaider]

It doesnt get much more with in allowable locking mechanism position than where the manufacturer placed it...

but if you can't get it in that position, then there's you issue.

tried it today... just put it exactly in the same orientation as when its mounted and it worked. thanks guys.

[goalieboy1]

maybe im just missing something, different application i would assume at this point

[edicius]

Do subaru seatbelts have pre-tensioner detonators built in to them? That could be an issue on yellowbugeye's but otherwise its the safety mechanism thats built into (all?) seatbelts that lock under force or in the event of a rollover. A lot of the new belts are setup for childseats too where if you pull them all the way out they will ratchet in and lock until they are all the way in.