Hey all - driver's seat belt doesn't fully retract when I take it off, and about a foot of it is left hanging out the door when I shut it. I figured it was the retractor mechanism, so I got it cleaned and lubed and it's doing just fine, but I'm having the same problem. I was trying to figure it out and realized that the belt itself seems to be dragging pretty hard over the "thing" that it runs through over my shoulder. Upon closer inspection, it appears there's a piece missing that would cover the area that the belt rubs against. Here's the driver's side that's missing that surface piece:



Here's the passenger side that works fine and has that piece in place:



Any idea what that long clip thing is called and where I could find one?

Thanks a ton!

 

They don't breakdown the individual parts of the seat belts in the parts catalogs.
Checked out a couple and they just list the seat belt whole.
So no idea what they would call it.

 

You won't get individual parts of a seatbelt really. They are not designed to be worked on, only replaced when faulty. Have you got a picture of what's on the other side as I don't notice anything missing from that? It's also possible that although cleaned, the spring isn't quite what it used to be on the retractor mech and doesn't have the pulling power it used to.

P.S, My drivers belt does the same and doesn't fully retract on its own.

 

It's very subtle to be sure! Basically like a Long, c-shaped plastic clip that covers the surface that the belt contacts. It wasn't immediately clear to me that anything was missing! May try to steal one from the boneyard if I can get it off!

 

measure the diameter of the metal that was covered by the plastic. then get some plastic tubing of that Inside diameter or perhaps ideally a bit more
. (you will need to determine the best fit) cut tube to length, slit tube lengthwise and slip over the metal part.

Polypropylene, Teflon tubing are choices with very little friction.


However that piece alone is likely not the cause of failure to retract, sure it may help if the retractor is marginal. a new retractor I am sure wont notice the difference.

My guess is the plastic is simply to reduce belt wear rather than be a significant help in retraction. But hey a short piece of teflon tube from the hardware store is maybe worth a try. But over all I think the retractor is weak.

I am old school, pre retractor seat belts, thats how I grew up. so I have a habit ingrained in me to flip a floppy belt onto the seat so it dont get shut in the door. It to me is an auto response to closing a car door. oh the old ways!

I also manually lock my doors upon exit, which friends when I ride with them in their cars think is silly, as they remind me that they have auto locking via a thing they call a key fob!