Seat belt retractor locked

J

JayR

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2010 Jeep Patriot North Edition, 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT

Joined Mar 17, 2021

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15 Posts

Discussion starter · #1 · Dec 7, 2023

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Hi, on my daughter's 2010 Patriot she has indicated that the front passenger seat belt cannot be pulled out. Although I won't be able to see it until she brings it home in a few weeks, she has said that it has no play at all and is locked solid.
The only things that occurred with the Jeep recently were that one of her lower control arms tore apart while she was backing out of her apartment parking stall, so the Jeep was put on a flat deck and taken to a reputable garage where I had a bunch of front end work done.
Anyway, I have an ongoing SRS issue that I am still troubleshooting but wanted to know if there was a way to reset or defeat the retractor mechanism or whether it needs to be repaired/replaced.
Thanks in advance.

 

RossoRacer

· Unsponsored Baja racer

Joined Oct 26, 2012

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5,300 Posts

#2 · Dec 7, 2023

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This has happened on mine a couple times, fortunately while the shoulder height adjustment in the B-pillar was on a higher setting. Have her move that down and the tension should release. If it's already in a lower setting, somebody's going to need to momentarily remove either that piece or the end of the belt that connects to the seat itself. Passengers should also be advised in the future to not pull the seat belt out quite so quickly, as these particular seat belts gain tension with quick pulls, whether the vehicle is moving or not.

 

J

JayR

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2010 Jeep Patriot North Edition, 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT

Joined Mar 17, 2021

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15 Posts

Discussion starter · #3 · Dec 8, 2023

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I hadn't seen the issue in person to be able to troubleshoot it but I am almost doubtful i would have picked up on this.
I got them to try what you suggested and bingo it worked. I had them pull the belt out as far as it could go and let it retract slowly multiple times and it was flawless.
I made sure that they put the height adjustment back up so that if it happens again they can get some slack on it. Guessing they retracted it too aggressively or something.
Thank you so much for the suggestion. I had just dumped almost $2000 into it for doing front end work including suspension so I thought 'what now?'.....