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Seat belt won't lock

31K views 27 replies 10 participants last post by  Knuckelhead 
#1 ·
I searched for this but only found it in a thread about a KK.

My 2000 TJ's seat belts simply will not lock no matter how hard I yank on them. Is this a safety concern or does the TJ have the same sensor of the KK that will retract the belt if there was a collision? I thought I'd ask before having a dealer take a look. The Jeep in is exc condition, and neither the drivers or passenger belts will lock if pulled as fast as I can.
 
#2 ·
I have a similar problem with my 2002 Wrangler. The drivers seatbelt will lock when yanked hard whereas the passenger side and rear seatbelts do not. I talked to a friend of mine who works for dealership and he gave me one possible solution. When you pull the seatbelt hard, two metal clamps lock up on the seatbelt making it lock in place, keeping your butt in the seat in a stop short situation. Often times, especially when you dont use the seatbelts often, these plates can seize up, rendering them useless. He also said that this problem is particularly common with jeep wranglers and other convertables because moisture and humidity compounds the problem and I have had my fair share of getting caught in the rain with the top down, etc. If this is the case, there are two solutions. One, take the seatbelt housing appart and locate these two metal clamps. If you can free them up and get a little lube or WD40 in there to free them up you are golden. Option #2 is to replace the seatbelt altogether. The parts can sometimes be purchased through your favorite autoparts dealer, or directly from the dealership. It isnt too terribly difficult to do if you have a torx wrench and possibly an impact drill as you will probably find they tend to be too tight to remove with a standard rachet set. The seatbelt can be removed by removing 3 bolts. One at the housing, one at the shoulder belt anchor, and one more on the side of the seat. I also discovered this problem when I tried installing a car seat in my back seat, which rarely gets used, only to find that the seatbelts dont lock. I have not tried this fix yet so I am not sure how well this will work, but this will be this weekends project. Good luck and hope this helps.
 
#3 ·
Jeep seat belt doesn't grab

The issue I see is when you're driving with the doors off, the belt won't stop you from simply FALLING OUT! Whether it's during a turn, or maybe a child or elder in the passenger seat, or whatever reason, I don't want to have to plow my Jeep into a tree before the seat belt engages. It wont' grab just by pulling hard either, but I understand that (hopefully the inertia ball is working). I've been to multiple threads that give conflicting information regarding ELR, ALR, and switchable mechanisms but all I know is that on my '97 Sahara if I lean too far to the left while driving doorless, I'm laying in the street or dangling from the belt. Its hard to believe Jeep would design their belts to only engage in a collision. Is there a fix for this?
 
#4 ·
If you need the seat belt to keep you from falling out, you're doing it wrong.

That's not to say a seatbelt that doesn't lock when it's supposed to isn't a concern, of course. That would concern me as well. But you don't need a seat belt to keep you from falling out. When was the last time you found yourself driving around up against the door when otherwise with no belt you would've flown out into traffic?
 
#5 ·
My 2000 TJ's seat belts simply will not lock no matter how hard I yank on them.
They're not suppose to, they don't work like that. The Wrangler's seat belt was not designed to lock up from being pulled fast or hard, it won't lock up no matter how fast you yank on it. It only locks up when the mechanism's locking mechanism locks up from its steel ball rolling out of the center of its orange plastic cup as below and locking the retractor via its yellow lever, like from sudden deceleration or if the Jeep is parked on a steep hill.
 

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#6 ·
My post only referred to driving with the doors off. When I buckle myself or wife or kid up, I want to know that we won't and can't slide or lean over the side at any time. Sure the lap belt makes it difficult to hang too far over, but in a situation like swerving to avoid a critter or rocking side-to-side on a creek bottom, I want my shoulder strap to hold me tight. Ratcheting Automatic Locking Retractors just make sense for offroad vehicles like Wranglers. Can anyone out there confirm the type of OEM retractors that came standard on 1997 TJ's?
 
#16 ·
Well, I've flopped when only wearing the lap belt, I don't think the shoulder harness would have been any better in that particular situation:

It was a down hill driver side flop and when this large boulder started coming in through the drivers side window, it was reflex to try and push it back out. Bad idea as the downward travel and getting my arm trapped between the boulder and B pillar, I was waiting for the bone to snap.
Fortunately I was able to get it back on all 4 wheels and continue to the bottom of the trail (that's not a tan line)
Getting back into town was another story...
 
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