Nick Ferrari

The seatbelts in my '96 Toyota Corolla lock up when I get in the car and try to pull them out. I'll go to fasten my belt, but it won't extend more than an inch, and I have to tug dozens of times. Sometimes it takes me 10 or 15 minutes to buckle up. Please help!

After pulling the mechanism off a similar model year Corolla in the junkyard and examining how it works, I see two things that could explain your issue. The first and most easily remedied is the spot where you park the car. Toyota's mid-'90s belt-locking mechanism relies on the inertia of a ball bearing in a shallow plastic cup to move a small plastic lever. In a fast stop, that bearing rides up in the cup and raises the lever, engaging a ratchet mechanism and locking the belt. This system is very sensitive to the attitude of the car, so if you park the car facing downhill or uphill or tilted sideways, the lever will engage the belt lock.

The other possibility is contamination. The protective housing is not airtight, and if you do a lot of dusty driving, the cup or the bearing could easily become caked with dirt over the years; that could keep the bearing from rolling properly. Address this by popping the trim off the B-pillar and then unbolting the seatbelt recoil mechanism from the car (it's just one bolt). Pry the lock mechanism's protective translucent cover loose with a standard screwdriver, and then clean the cup and the bearing with a soap-and-water solution. Let it dry thoroughly, and reinstall the mechanism with a dab of Loctite on the threads of the retaining bolt. Test the belt to see if it works. If it's still stubborn, order a new one from the dealership and replace the whole seatbelt as a unitthere's no need to entrust your safety to a compromised device.

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