Myriads of things can go wrong with a seat belt, but that seatbelt won’t click is among the worst.
Even if you hear the belt click into the latch, it may not actually clasp onto the safety belt. This matter, of course, is plaguing you much.
Fortunately, there are steps you may take to alleviate the frustration you’re feeling at the moment. Here, you’ll find out.
What Are Parts Of Seat Belt And How Does It Work?
Latch Plate
A seat belt’s latch plate could slide up and down on the restraint’s webbing, then lock in place when you insert it into its buckle. Upon depressing the buckle release, the latch plate is then freed from its buckle.
Buckle
The restraint’s latch plate is fixed into the seat belt’s buckle. Once you fasten the passenger belt, that plate will lock into your buckle until you manually release it.
Pillar Loop
The seat belt’s pillar loop is attached over a driver’s shoulder, enabling the webbing to pull out and retract comfortably. Pillar loops vary by vehicle.
Webbing
Drivers frequently refer to the seat belt webbing as the “belt” since it wraps around the car’s occupant and acts as a restraint in the event of an accident.
The polyester fibers of seat belt webbing can tolerate aggressively high shock levels and save your life in such risky situations.
Retractor
Under typical use, a seat belt’s retractor disperses the webbing outward and inward.
When a belt is abruptly pulled outward, like in a crash, the retractor locks the webbing and entire seatbelt in a fixed position. As such, it keeps you safe on the go.
Seatbelt Won’t Click: What Are The Root Causes?
The seat belt won’t click often stems from 2 main reasons: faulty retractor and buckle.
The retractor may shield your car from unforeseen risks while you are driving. Hence, this part needs replacing immediately since it poses a safety threat, such as being stuck and making your belt hard to click.
You will suffer a critical injury if the retractor does not lock properly.
Regarding the buckle, coins or tiny toys falling in are regular occurrences. It also malfunctions due to spilled drinks and food particles.
The buckle can also get blocked as the female belt buckle part can’t latch onto it because of dirt buildup or some broken inner parts. The situation can be lookalike to a hood latch that won’t close.
How To Fix When A Seat Belt Won’t Click: 5 Common Approaches
How to fix a seatbelt that won’t latch? Let’s take a peek at all remedies regarding the seatbelt not clicking, as follows:
Inspect The Belt
Examining the adult seat belt tongue is the first thing to do. Once you find it is dirty, give it a thorough clean and try the buckle once more to see whether that addresses the issue.
What’s more, now is an ideal time to look for any scratches or tears in the webbing, as these could hinder it from retracting later. Completely pull it out, then gently allow it to coil back in.
Check Your Buckle
Given that the buckle is adjacent to your seating positions, something likely dropped inside, disrupting the way it functions, as stated.
Such stuff in your buckle can halt it from working correctly. Prying it out using a screwdriver or a pointed instrument would help.
Remove Your Buckle
The buckle could be tricky to reach owing to your car’s design. Before prying it open, you will need to take it out, as working on it in the vehicle is highly uncomfortable.
You must also remove the seat for some automatics, which is a big challenge, requiring cautiousness, effort, and much time. Consult the driver’s manual if you’re not sure how to proceed.
Disassemble The Buckle
Opening the driver seat belt buckle is quite simple. Most buckles have just a couple of screws that need redoing, or you could unlock the buckle via its two pieces of plastic.
Be cautious during the process, though, as there are multiple tiny bits inside that may fall out and go missing.
You’ll find a simple inner system with a cam catching the male connector while you insert it into your buckle. There is a “push” button, often red, and several springs.
Once you press this button, the cam releases the clip before the springs push it out of the buckle.
After opening your buckle, insert the male connector to test how the system functions. In most cases, some broken or loose parts or stuck things can block the buckle.
Use a Q tip to clean everything with rubbing alcohol to tidy all tiny broken.
Lastly, check to see whether the buckle functions correctly after reassembling. The work completes if everything is in order with no more minor breaks or cracks.
Cautiously assemble the buckle’s remaining elements and ensure that everything fits tightly.
Buy A New Buckle
For most seat belt buckle repairs, the previous steps often work. But a piece in the buckle may break, and you’d better use an old spare buckle to find those parts easily.
While all else fails, you must go for a buckle replacement. It may cost you a few hundred dollars.
How Do You Fix A Seatbelt Stuck In Retractor?
Fixing a seat belt or webbing jammed in the retractor is not rocky. Nonetheless, before buying a new retractor, you can try to retract the webbing back into place by doing the following:
- Step 1: If the belt doesn’t retract after the belt tongue has been released from the buckle, give it a brief tug to verify the retract results.
- Step 2: Pull this belt to its longest point and give it a firm tug once again should step 1 not work. You will activate your retractor in no time this way. Give it a few more firm tugs if it still won’t move.
- Step 3: Change the retraction when no result is yielded.
Other Seatbelt Common Issues
Slowly Retracting Seatbelt
Slow-retracting seat belts can be a typical problem. The twisted or kinked seat belt is frequently at blame when this occurs.
While checking for the twist, slowly pull the seatbelt inside out till it’s entirely broadened. After that, let your belt return to its resting position.
Slow retraction may stem from an old seat belt stiffened up from the dust. In this case, dismantle this belt and wash it with soapy water.
Sticking Seat Belt Release
A seat belt buckle’s release button may get harder to press or depress over time, frustrating many drivers.
Even though buckles might occasionally fail inside mechanically, it is far more common to come across them that get polluted with sticky substances and other kinds of gummy residues.
Electrical contact cleaner or rubbing alcohol can wash away contaminant deposits to address such concerns. Lucky you, this method only takes a few minutes.
Key Takeaways
Questions surrounding the issue when a seatbelt won’t click never show signs of cooling down. This situation is as annoying as stuck or locked seatbelts.
Supposing you’ve given all-out effort but in vain, perhaps the above solutions can be the game changer. Hopefully, you can fix the seat belt not clicking yourself with ease.
On note, one of the tricks above may help you avoid buying a new car buckle, retractor, or a whole seatbelt assembly.
If you find any method handy, share it with other guys and keep their safety too.