[V8] Seat Belt Woes

[Scott Simmons]

I took an 01 M-Class to the dealership once.  This truck had so much 
mileage on it that if the warranty was Mercury, this thing was Pluto: no 
longer considered a planet.

The dealership fixed the seatbelt problem for free under a "lifetime 
warranty" thing.  I don't know if this is just Benz or if all 
manufacturers are required to provide lifetime support for life-saving 
devices...

~Scott S.

urq wrote:

>... when I was adding the wiring for the 10 disc changer on one of my cars I
>had the interior pretty much ripped out so I tried to see if I couldn't
>increase the tension on the retractor to get it to pull the belt fully
>taught when it was stowed.  The first retractor I removed was the driver's
>side, and I found it was a fairly simple matter to completely disassemble
>the thing, increase the tension and reassemble.  Of course there's a very
>thin line between keeping the retraction spring engaged to the belt reel
>while increasing the tension, but that was the biggest problem.  I'm
>probably mistaken, but ISTR that I could even disengage the ProconTen cable.
>When I went to do the same thing on the other side I found the retractor to
>be designed differently and sufficiently more difficult to disassemble that
>I decided to just put it back together as is.  AFAIK my car has the original
>belts, so there must be a difference between the two parts.  
>
>Anyway, the point was that It was a pretty simple matter to unbolt the
>retractor from the B pillar, and then adjust it so that the latch is
>disengaged.  While writing this note I realized that it is probably a much
>simpler matter to find the *other* end of the strap and unscrew it (DUH!).
>This should allow you the slack you need to release the latch and get it
>working again ... then you can reattach the end of the strap after you have
>repositioned the adjustable mount.  
>
>It does sound like the latch mechanism is worn out and it may be time to
>look into replacing the retractor.  The car has a driver's airbag anyway,
>not so big a loss for the seatbelt tensioning of the ProconTen.  
>
>Steve B
>San José, CA (USA)
>
>-----Original Message-----
>
>
>My '90 is giving me seat belt nightmares. It has done a lot of sitting in
>the past couple of years (wife in a wheelchair is the primary cause of
>that-the V8 is not a wheelchair friendly car unless you have a fold up
>wheelchair.. I digress) - Anyways the driver's seat belt has been geeing
>stuck so I can't pull it out. I have to lower the shoulder anchor point,
>which allows it to retract an inch, then I can pull it back out. I had a
>friend doing detail work on the car for me and he neglected to put the
>shoulder point back up, so now there's no more down to relieve the belt and
>we CANNOT get it out. Even removing the panel and fiddling with the catches
>on the retractor will not allow it to come out.
>
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