I bought my car wrecked and both safety belts are locked up in the "up" position. Is there a way to unlock them, or do I have to buy a new system? Been driving the car for 3 months with no belts, its about time I fix it...

 

you have to buy a new set of belts. there is a sort of belt tensioner, which is much like an airbag. theres an explosive that goes off to instantly tighten up the belt upon impact. these are not reuseable and are pretty expensive. and unfortunately not recomended to buy these parts used, your taking a big risk if you get them from a junkyard/off a wrecked car.

 

I'm not sure if our cars use a pretensioner or ratchet gear and paw system belt, however in the ratchet the force of the accident can sometimes break the paw in place causing a replacement part to be necessary. You can try to take the assembly out of the car and turn it upside down or jiggle it around to try to break the weight free and maybe start the belt to start to roll the belt back in, just make sure it's right-side-up otherwise the weight will lock in place and it won't roll back in(until it's right-side up that is.).. this is to lock the belt in-case the car flips over..


if it's the pretensioner then simply put, small explosives are used to roll in the seat-belt prior to an accident, these must be replaced every time they're acctivated and are quite expensive.

 

I took the cover off (ripped rather) and saw a canister threaded into the ratchet. I'm going to see if I can free it up. Hopefully it will still ratchet.

I'm assuming this system goes along with the airbag for airbag safety reasons. My airbags are gone. So I just need it do its simple job of not letting me smack into the windshield.

I'm gonna tear into it, unless someone thinks its absolutely hopeless.

 

You can probably get the belt to un-latch, but you won't have any saftey from another wreck. The charge has already been depleted as ghost6303 has said.

 

Right, but the charge is only to pull you against the seat so that when the airbag goes off, it doesnt harm you.

The seatbelt should still lock up under braking conditions. Hopefully.

 

It has nothing to do with the airbag. The tensioner "pops" to hold you in place (so you don't go through the windshield). Replace the whole belt and tensioner. It's no good and won't help you when you need it. Check the rest for rips and poor retraction while you're at it.

 

When you hit the brakes, the belt locks up, so are you saying that everytime it locks up the canister discharges, and you have to buy a new set?

What do you think triggers the canister? I'm guessing the same device that says "unleash airbag", as a way to make sure you are planted firmly against the seat when the bag goes off to avoid any personal injury from the force.

This is only my theory, but I'd be more than happy for you to provide some proof otherwise.

I have no airbags anymore, so I don't need this system. I just need the ratchet to work.

 

yes the belt tensioner is controled by the same system that tells the airbags to fire. its a one time use thing. you can probably get the belts to work and simply lock up when force is applied to them, but you are circumventing a key safety feature by doing this.

but think of it on a linear scale, a score of 0 is you die in a crash, a score of 10 you walk away with no harm done. with a fully working safety system, your car is a 10, you have the best possible scenario when in a crash. if you have no airbags and no seatbelts, your car is pretty much a 0. instant death.

whats worse then a 0 is actualy a 1 or 2. you wont die from it, whats left of the seatbelt system may save your life. however your going to have some pretty serious injuries that you may wish you didnt live through.

its completely up to what your comfortable driving with, but il tell you il never go for a ride in your car. you may be the best driver in the world, but the roads are filled with idiots, its only a matter of time.

 

Your absolutely correct, but if the belts lock up like normal, then its just as safe as any car without airbags.

Having belts that don't lock up are worthless. Even though I never wear my seatbelt and have been in a few wrecks. So its really not even a big deal to me, I'd just like to know that when I do put my belt on, its going to work, and also for the police's sake.