Seat Belt Return

[A horse with no name]

Hi, is there a spring kit? -or?- for the front seatbelt recoil mechanism?

[Bob Kontak]

There is or was a company that makes the assembly. New belt and spring "pack".

You have to "core" your clasp to them as the new belt has another sewn into it.

I have the info at home if no one knows. To be fair to Pelican, I will take a look to see if they sell.

[Bob Kontak]

I guess to answer your question. I can't. I have not seen a spring kit only.

Here is a Porsche kit from Pelican.

Pelican Parts - European Automotive Parts and Accessories - Porsche • BMW • Mercedes • Volkswagen • Audi • Saab • Volvo • MINI

[john walker's workshop]

Too important to fiddle with. Buy new.

[Bob Kontak]

I will say the aftermarket one I purchased did not hold great spring tension across the ten years it has been in. It's not floppy but it ain't peppy.

[A horse with no name]

Howdy Bob and John, thanks for your info. For the price of new one it's not worth it to me to replace it. Mine still works in that it rewinds but not quickly.

Trivia:
Uniquely we traded in our 2004 Lexus last year, and even it's rewind was more or less gone, I can definitely say that for a 30 yr old car the belt still rewinds. To give Lexus/Toyota credit, I would though say that other than that we never spent a dime on it other than normal servicing, brakes etc.

Again, Thanks!

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by A horse with no name

Uniquely we traded in our 2004 Lexus last year, and even it's rewind was more or less gone,

2003 Passat. Driver's seat belt is coaxable for retract but not near as lively as my 81 911's that I replaced.

[jjeffries]

I work in the car biz, and two notes to make here:

1. Customer complaints about the return spring tension hurting their shoulders have led to the wimpy feeling versions you describe;
2. The belts have to be longer than they used to, because there are so many fat people out there. This makes the return spring's job more difficult because there is more material to pull back in and neatly roll up. Despite this extra length, car companies customer satisfaction departments still have to ship out seatbelt extenders by the thousands per year to extra corpulent car owners.

John in CT.