Lazy rear seatbelt retractor anyone? Warranty period?

[pfsantos]

I have a seatbelt retractor that is lazy to pull the last bit of belt as it goes in. Rear driver's side passenger seat, for the record. Does anyone have a lazy one too?

I guess since it's safety related the warranty would be longer, if not forever? Does someone know off hand? I'm at work, driving the beater, so BabyB isn't near (o/m inside it).

[DEVOURS]

The B Class "Emission Control System" has an 8 year or 130,000 km warranty in Canada and the parts affected are listed in the warranty booklet. (pages 14 to 20 in my booklet)

Other than the general 4 year warranty on most parts for Canadian B's, I see no special warranty for safety items. So I'm guessing that the 4 year warranty applies to seat belts in this case. Anybody else...???


Paulo...What is your winter "beater"?

[amulder2001]

Dear Paulo,

This is "nicht gut"!
Key question: Is the "emergency stop" still activated?

To be honest, since you mention it is in the rear (and since this part my get a bit more dirty when folding down the rear bench every once in a while), it is VERY likely that this is casued by dirt.
Would it be a non-warranty issue, then I would strongly advise you to clean the belt with a bit of soap.
Yet, as Derek hinted, this is likely to be covered by a warranty, so do take the drive to the dealer.
Will you let us know what it was? (always curious to learn)
Best,

Arjen.

[Mike Tee]

The only way to get a safety item dealt with out of warranty in Canada is if there is a safety recall through Transport Canada. A slow retractor is not cause for alarm on safety grounds, but there is the inconvenience of the belt getting slammed into the door jamb if the person using that seat is not careful.

[pfsantos]

Will update once I have more info.

Derek, the beater is a '94 Chev S-10 Blazer 4X4 SUV I got for free from a family member around 2005 but needed some parts and lots of TLC and the garage queen is my '86 Mazda RX-7 (yes, rotary engine lol) that I've owned since '96. The Blazer is a gas guzzler (4.3L Vortec V6) but is great in the winter (when it's bad enough I turn on the 4x4). The '7 is the non winter driven toy. As you can see I maintain and keep cars for long...I guess I get attached to them lol!

Back on topic...kinda. Sometime in the early 90's, there was a rule (in North America) where cars either had to have passive belts or airbags. For a few years, some manufacturers installed belts where at least a portion would belt the front occupants in 'automatically' once you closed the door and turned ign. on. I know from the RX-7 club that those members with motorized belts (on '90 or '91 models) were told that if those stop working Mazda has to replace them for free, forever, and have actually done it.

I'll have to double check the warranty on belts and safety items. I can't accept it would be only be covered by the regular warranty. While a lazy retractor is not a BIG problem, I think it'd be worth replacing if cleaning doesn't fix it. But it's pretty clean, so not sure. I may take the interior panel out to get a better look when I have a little time.

Update: Sent email to M-B Canada asking about the warranty. Not expecting much, but we'll see.