Yes, ladeez n Gennulmin, I have pretty much sorted my seatbelt's apparent inability to retract at more than glacial speeds, here's how to do it ...
NOTE: I take no responsibility for you doing this. It worked on my car using my 30+ years experience of fettling odd vehicles and sorting my own stupid mistakes - do this mod at your own risk.
Time taken - 10 minutes, 15 if youâre of a nervous disposition, 20 if you stop for a brew between seats
Tools - stanley knife or similar and a big hammer (this is important, ideally use something with a bit of weight about it, bigger than a claw hammer, maybe a good 500g 1/2lb)
Step 1
remove the trim covering the seatbelt hoop by pulling out the plastic pin beside the seat and unclipping the plastic.
test that the seatbelt now goes back quickly when fed vertically. If not then your seatbelt may need replaced.
Step 2
holding the belt material RIGHT out the way, carefully trim back the plastic bar between the belt and the back of the loop (about 1mm thick - no need to go deeper)
Test that the belt now retracts quickly when fed horizontally (ie as of youâre in the seat and unclipping it and handing the belt back to avoid the clip hitting the window.
At this stage, if you reassemble the trim it will not be much better and shaving plastic off the trim panel wonât help so here comes the important part
Step 3
again holding the belt material out the way, use the hammer to hit the top of the loop DOWNWARDS. Use a firm, single, hit at each forward corner to bend the loop down by a small amount.
reinstall the trim panel and test. If it is not much better then hit it again but you only need ~1mm extra space to sort it out. The outside corner may need a shade more âpercussionâ to improve the angle of dangle.
Once youâre happy, re-install the trim and sit in the car and feel the wave of pleasure that for 10 minutes effort and exactly ÂŁzero youâve sorted something extremely annoying.
Youâre welcome.
