Sticking seat belt retractor

[gbhrps]

For those of you who may have a seat belt retractor that doesn't do its job like it used to, and sometimes doesn't retract the belt fully, only to have it get slammed into the door jam when you shut the door, this one is for you. (Whew...I finally got to take a breath.) Now , I'm not referring to the power seat belts that are motorized in a track along the top of the door, but the standard seat belts that simply roll up into a slot in the B pillar. My wife's Lexus developed this problem slowly over the last couple of years, and I discovered the fix on the Lexus ES 300 Forum. The top anchor loop of the seat belt on the B pillar, right opposite your ear when you are sitting in the seat, will fill up with grunge/dirt over years of use. Where the seat belt rubs on the anchor loop the built up dirt will add so much friction that the belt will no longer slip easily when retracting. If you lift the belt up above the anchor loop and scrape the dirt off with a thin bladed screw driver or dull knife, being sure to do both sides of the loop, you'll be amazed at how well your seat belt retracts afterwards. I did my wife's car last night, and I couldn't believe how something so simple could make such a difference.