I have a problem with the passenger-side seatbelt in my '04 Avalon. If it is fastened, then the passenger leans forward even slightly, it locks and will not release without unbuckling it and allowing it to fully retract, then pulling it out and rebuckling. When it gets in this locked state, it tends to cinch up tighter and tighter until the release-retract-rebuckle operation is performed. Driver-side belt does not do this. Dealer replaced the belt under warranty, but new belt still acts the same way. After spending an hour with the dealer's service manager and mechanics, they decided this was a new 'safety feature' of the belts and that the passenger side is different from the rider side because of the way the air bags work. They say the only fix is to use a seat belt extender, but I find this hard to believe. Does anybody know anything about this and whether it is indeed a feature or whether I've just had 2 bad belts? Warranty is almost up and I'd like to get this fixed. Dealer is washing his hands of the situation.

Thanks

When the passenger seatbelt is being pulled out (in preparation to buckle it), is it being pulled all the way out and then allowed to retract? If I'm not mistaken, that activates the ratcheting feature that allows seatbelts to cinch down car seats.

By the way - your dealership sounds like a buncha winners - that's for sure! They "Decided" that was a new safety feature? Do they resemble Laurel and Hardy?

As I thought... (from the owner's manual):

"When a passenger’s shoulder belt is completely
extended and is then retracted
even slightly, the belt is locked in that
position and cannot be extended. This feature
is used to hold the child restraint
system securely. (For details, see “Child
restraint” on page 98 in this Section.) To
free the belt again, fully retract the belt
and then pull the belt out once more.
If the seat belt cannot be pulled out of the
retractor, firmly pull the belt and release
it. You will then be able to smoothly pull
the belt out of the retractor."

Pretty smart cookie - eh?

So? What that the case?

What Tom said is just what I was going to say. Most car seat belts will lock if you pull them out all the way and then release them quickly. That IS a safety feature.
But, if you're not fully extending the seat belt, there's no other reason for it to lock up like that.

It could be that the interior mechanism needs a drop of oil, sounds like it's "catching".

I disagree.

Go out to your own car and try pulling the passenger seat belt all the way out and you'll see that you've activated the ratching feature.

So, I'm confused ...what's a solution on this. Don't pull it all the way out???

Correct. Try this...

Sit in the passenger seat and pull the seatbelt all the way out and then buckle it. Let the slack slowly retract and you'll hear a ratcheting sound. Once it tightens you can't pull it out until you've let it retract completely.

Now try it again but don't pull it all the way out.

See the difference?

That's the normal problem, but I still wonder if there might be another problem making it do this? Is it possible that it might be catching prematurely? I've never had that problem, but I suppose the safety feature itself could be malfunctioning.

When I had the problem on my last car it was caused because the mechanism itself needed a bit of lubrication. But you have to remember that it was a 10 year old car too.