The passengers side seat belt keeps getting stuck (retracted) in my 89 SSE. I pulled the door panel off thinking it was twisted in the assembly but it wasnt so I'm going to replace it with a junkyard part for safety, but.... curiousity is killing me There are 2 wires going into the lap belt and shoulder belt retractors. What exactly are these for? There is a "click" when the wires are removed & installed. Is this something to lock them in case of an accident? I thought most were inertia activated??

It may sound petty, but if this is what locks them I'd rather have a mechanical (inertia) locking mechanism than electrically controlled-considering all the other electrical problems I've had with the doors so far.

It is my understanding that they are electronic. Mine only lock up upon hard braking, but not on taking a corner too fast [trust me, I have tried this]. Personally, I will agree with you, there are a lot of electrical problems on my car, too. I would just stick with what it has, you may just run into more problems trying to replace something. If it works, don't fix it.


-justin

I have the EXACT same problem in my car, except i have an 87 LE. I'm asuming that yours has the stupid door mounted belts like mine does. My shoulder belt it like LOCKED against the door, i can't pull it out even an inch. The weird thing is though is that the lap belt will pull out fine. I'm sure that the retractor is shot in the door, but i'm not willing to go out in sub 20 degree weather to mess with it.

Try seeing if you can move the seat belt in further. Mine used to do this when you pulled the seat belt all the way out, then let it back in. This may be what happened to you, and you just need to push the seat belt in further. If not, there is probably just a connector needing unplugging for the belt locking.

I went out to my car, and tried pulling on the seat belts and hard and fast as I could, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get them to lock. I don't have a battery in my car, so nothing electronic works, so I can pretty much guaruntee if I went out there, put in a battery, and repeated the same process, I could get them to lock.


-justin

Description and Operation

The automatic safety belt utilizes an upper-torso belt, a lap belt and two retractor assemblies mounted to each front door. The belt assemblies are permanently buckled to fixed hasps mounted near the vehicle'* central console.
When a front door is opened, the corresponding safety belt retractor switch is closed and battery voltage is applied to the Safety Belt Shoulder and Lap Retractor Solenoids through the Safety Belt Indicator Driver Module. The Lap Retractor Solenoids are energized and restrain the safety belt retractor lock pendulums.
The operation of the Retractor Switch results in a voltage across the Safety Belt Indicator Driver Module, which serves as a relay for the Fasten Belts Indicator. The voltage energizes the coil and closes the contacts which apply battery voltage from Fuse 16 to the Indicator. The diode in the Safety Belt Indicator Driver Module limits the voltage across the coil so that there will be sufficient voltage to operate the solenoids.
When the door is closed, the corresponding Safety Belt Retractor Switch is opened. The Time Delay Module keeps the solenoids energized for approximately one second after the Safety Belt Retractor Switch is opened. The Safety Belt Indicator Driver Module and Retractor Solenoids then de-energize. The indicator light goes out and the Safety Belt Retractors are then allowed to lock up in the event of sudden deceleration.
Voltage is applied at all times to terminal A of the Safety Belt Indicator Driver Module. Voltage is also applied to terminal D when the ignition switch is on Run, Bulb Test or Start.

Ay-yup and I wonder if anyone actually tried to use them that way, it is not easy to open a door from the seat with the belt attached but very easy to get tangled trying to get in.

So basically all i gotta do is unplug the seatbelt thing and it will work. My drivers one doesn't lock-up no matter what so i don't care if the other one does too.