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Technical Rear Middle seat belt Stuck

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Technical Rear Middle seat belt Stuck

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Rusty B

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My 2003 1.6 active has just failed it's first MOT because the middle rear seat belt won't pull out. It has hardly ever been used. It moves half an inch then locks and no amount of coaxing will get it out.
I've taken the seats out with a view to investigating the inertia mechanism, but can't seem to get anywhere near it. The seat covers have a nice zip system that is sealed at both ends. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
Rusty B said:
My 2003 1.6 active has just failed it's first MOT because the middle rear seat belt won't pull out. It has hardly ever been used. It moves half an inch then locks and no amount of coaxing will get it out.
I've taken the seats out with a view to investigating the inertia mechanism, but can't seem to get anywhere near it. The seat covers have a nice zip system that is sealed at both ends. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:confused: :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

I have very nearly had the same problem. I was miles from home, five-up and the third belt just refused to budge. After about five minutes of frayed tempers and tears it did fortunately freed itself, but I guess it's not much help me telling you that! It has then gone on to do it again so that now I make sure the belt is permanently left extended and in the clip. At least you know you are not alone, hope some bright spark on here can help you out.
 
You need to allow the belt to feed back inside the seat, so you need to unscrew the 2 screws that locate the plastic stop in the top of the seat, with this removed the seat belt can retract further into the seat to release the ratchetting mechanism. When pulled out hjust refit the plastic stop surround. This problem can be caused by folding the seat forward, to avoid it reoccurring clip the centre seatbelt into place if you ever fold the seat down or tip it.
 
Worth mentioning that the centre belt is designed to "jam" (ie not release so you can't use it) if the seat back isn't fully locked into place. There's a cable going to the centre seat belt inertia reel from the rear seat back release catch on that side and it lets go if the catch is in place but locks the centre belt so you can't pull it out if it isn't. All very Wallace and Grommet stuff:)
centre seat belt 5.JPG

Sooooo if you go for MOT and the chap can't move the centre rear seat belt and you're facing an MOT fail then make sure the rear seat catch isn't just off the catch. There's even a small red indicator on the catch which shows when the catch isn't fully "home".

centre seat belt 2.JPG
Also, if the centre belt just won't release then there may be a fault with the release cable
 
Last edited:
Have had this happen to me twice now. Never used to do it but then I put a wheelie bin full of bricks in the boot...

To release the git I found removing the bottom of the belt (two Torx headed bolts) to be the only reasonable solution. So, remove bolts with seat folded forwards a bit (mine was under mega-tension otherwise), fold seat back up, replace bolts.

Belt then works fine till you fold it down again but will pass and MOT.
 
It also happened to me but all it turned out to be was that the seats wasn't properly positioned after it had been folded forward... always worth a check to make sure they're in the fully upright and tray up position! (y)
 
Deckchair5 said:
Worth mentioning that the centre belt is designed to "jam" (ie not release so you can't use it) if the seat back isn't fully locked into place. There's a cable going to the centre seat belt inertia reel from the rear seat back release catch on that side and it lets go if the catch is in place but locks the centre belt so you can't pull it out if it isn't. All very Wallace and Grommet stuff:)
View attachment 24900

Sooooo if you go for MOT and the chap can't move the centre rear seat belt and you're facing an MOT fail then make sure the rear seat catch isn't just off the catch. There's even a small red indicator on the catch which shows when the catch isn't fully "home".

View attachment 24901
Also, if the centre belt just won't release then there may be a fault with the release cable
Click to expand...


Spot on to correct this issue but we learned also


The Bolt heads are Torx type...like a star shape The indicator is a small round rectangle at the front of the seat on the outer edge and turns grey when fully locked.
 
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