I noticed that the front seatbelts in my 87 Supra don’t lock when you pull them quickly.:yikes: I did some research and found that in the 91 era Toyotas there was a defect in the seatbelts. This was posted as a fix to the problem:
Similar to other seat belt retractor systems, the device uses a small, steel ball which is supposed to react to sudden pulling on the belt. Pulling quickly on the belt (or in the case of an accident), moves the steel ball so that an arm drops down on a gear and halts safety belt movement.
Unfortunately, the steel ball is very close to the reel which rolls and un-rolls the seat belt. What happens (over years), is that the constant rolling and un-rolling of the seat belts creates static electricity. This charge is ultimately transferred to this steel ball. In time, the steel ball becomes magnetically attracted to the steel frame of the car. The result is that the ball is forever stuck in a position whereby the seat belt is completely free and you have no protection.
How can you tell if your seat belt retractors have this problem? Remove the unit from the car and hold it away from anything metallic and in the same position (not upside down), as it is was installed in the car. If the retractor works properly OUTSIDE OF THE CAR (and away from any metal), this is your problem.
The simple fix is to demagnitize the steel ball.
No need to open the retractor and pull the ball out (difficult anyhow). Get a cheap demagnitizer at Radio Shack or wherever and carefully remove the charge from the ball (everything else is made of nylon), and you should be good to go.
Has anyone ever tried this solution or know if it will work with my 87 seat belts? Anyone have any other suggestions or thoughts on how to fix this problem?:1zhelp:
Similar to other seat belt retractor systems, the device uses a small, steel ball which is supposed to react to sudden pulling on the belt. Pulling quickly on the belt (or in the case of an accident), moves the steel ball so that an arm drops down on a gear and halts safety belt movement.
Unfortunately, the steel ball is very close to the reel which rolls and un-rolls the seat belt. What happens (over years), is that the constant rolling and un-rolling of the seat belts creates static electricity. This charge is ultimately transferred to this steel ball. In time, the steel ball becomes magnetically attracted to the steel frame of the car. The result is that the ball is forever stuck in a position whereby the seat belt is completely free and you have no protection.
How can you tell if your seat belt retractors have this problem? Remove the unit from the car and hold it away from anything metallic and in the same position (not upside down), as it is was installed in the car. If the retractor works properly OUTSIDE OF THE CAR (and away from any metal), this is your problem.
The simple fix is to demagnitize the steel ball.
No need to open the retractor and pull the ball out (difficult anyhow). Get a cheap demagnitizer at Radio Shack or wherever and carefully remove the charge from the ball (everything else is made of nylon), and you should be good to go.
Has anyone ever tried this solution or know if it will work with my 87 seat belts? Anyone have any other suggestions or thoughts on how to fix this problem?:1zhelp:
