The drivers seatbelt in my Suzuki Vitara is locked up. It’s as though it believes the car braked hard or something. It locked up after it was taken off so it’s all the way retracted and cannot be put back on.
I futzed with it several times over the past couple weeks and cannot get it to unroll.
So I broke down and took it to a few shops, including a Chevy dealership ( Vitaras and Trackers were basically the same vehicle so I thought why not).
To my surprise a lot of people don’t want to deal with seatbelts due to liability. Also, because Suzuki went belly up in the USA there are no dealerships, at least around here. The places that would work on it took the housing appart and said they couldn’t get it to unravel either. that seems odd.
I considered buying a replacement seatbelt on Ebay, but there appears to be several different versions and the specific one must be used or it won’t fit.
A locked up belt can be fixed sometimes. If the lock up is from lint or dirt, it can be cleaned. If it is broken, you are SOL.
You can probably get a new belt here.
But I already dealt with both. Suzuki told me it could take up to 6 months to get a new belt, and for some reason it was coming from Puerto Rico. On top of that I was looking at about $795 for the part. :eek: (this is just a beater car I use sparingly in the winter).
Ray told me that if I wanted them to order and install it it would be an additional $450-500. So I’m looking at a long drive to spend $1300 on a car I only drive a little bit.
It happened to me, and I managed to free the jam. The belt has a locking mechanism where if you pull it all the way out, then it won’t release as it feeds back in (it’s a feature so you can lock a car seat in place). You have to feed the belt all the way back in to disengage the mechanism.
In my case, I think something (a kink in the belt?) prevented it from feeding in far enough to release the lock. It was really close and just needed less than a quarter turn of the spool to release. I took off the cover and used some channel locks to turn the spool the last little bit, and I was back in business.
If this were the problem you’re having, I’d hope one of the shops you took it to would have resolved it, so it’s probably something else. But you might as well look while you’re waiting for them to swim it over from Puerto Rico.
Is there an adjuster like this that can slide up and down? If so, try sliding it all the way down to create a little slack in the belt and see if that helps anything.
Can you see the lower end, where it attaches to the car ? is there a bolt there that you can get undone ? Then when it loosens the ratchet should let the seatbelt move.
Did the mechanics already try undoing the lower end ?
You know who DOES this work ? smash repairers… panel beaters… they see this ALL THE TIME, they’ll know the problems with seatbelt tensioners and the fixes…
A quick google reminded me of something important:
Some seat belts have a pyrotechnic pretensioner in their take-up hubs. That means a gas generator (like in an airbag), except when it fires it rapidly snugs the seatbelt so that a driver can’t get hurt sliding under or into a slack belt.
Non-pros should proceed with extreme caution when messing with something with pyrotechnics in it.
Replacement parts containing pyros are also expensive and paperwork-laden to ship (since most carriers want extra protection in case their cargo goes BOOM).
It’s hard to tell, but the Grand Vitara some years had a pyro pretensioner. I couldn’t tell if this was true of the “regular” Vitara, which was a different (smaller) vehicle. Or which one you’re talking about.
ETA: Linkyto Wikipedia about pyrotechnic pretensioners
I did. Problem is, Suzuki was all over the place with consistency. Same year, same model may have a slightly different belt. So it won’t install correctly. I paid $35 for a belt out of a Vitara that was the same model, same year, the scrapped car looked identical (except for the damage from the truck that hit it). Yet the belt was different and did not fit.
Try Suzuki again. Try other dealerships. I’m surprised they’re not fixing it for free. I’m under the impression that seat belt fixes are covered by the manufacturer (obviously not for abuse or misuse, I imagine) because it’s a key safety feature.
I owned a Honda for 15 years and twice brought it back to a dealer for a seat belt fix - once to the dealership who sold me the car, and the second time to the local dealership.
Also try a consumer advocate place. I think this should be done at manufacturer’s cost, but I’m not certain about that. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
I thought all this too. You and I are wrong. There is no lifelong warranty on seatbelts. And although Suzuki automotive still has a presence here it’s minimal. “You’re SOL” is what they basically told me. I can get a seat belt, but it’ll take a long time, cost a shitload, and cost more if I want professional installation.
On top of that I was looking at about $795 for the part. :eek: (this is just a beater car I use sparingly in the winter).