Seat belts, like all other parts of a vehicle, can become faulty or break over time. However, unlike other components of a vehicle, there are numerous reasons as to why a seat belt may stop working. Below I will name a few.
For one, a seat belt may become faulty because of the pretensioner. The pretensioner, otherwise known as the buckle, is the female portion of the seat belt. It is where the seat belt retractor fits into. Whereas most seat belt buckles do not come with a gas charge, some do and it serves as a secondary restraint. If the gas charge goes off for instance, in a car accident, the seat belt pretensioner is no longer able to work properly. It would have a compressed appearance, and would not be able to project any gas charges until proper maintenance was to be performed.
Of course, if a faulty seat belt has a perfectly normal pretensioner, the problem may lie in the seat belt retractor. The retractor is the male part of the seat belt that plugs into the pretensioner. It is responsible for locking up in a sudden stop. Its other responsibility is connecting to the airbag system and employing a gas charge that goes off in an accident. When a seat belt is deployed in an accident, the seat belt retractor becomes locked and needs to be replaced or repaired.
Besides the retractor and seat belt webbing, seat belt issues may also be due to bad seat belt webbing. Over time, the material webbing on a seat belt mechanism can become cut, torn, frayed, or even chewed through by pets. As you can imagine, this can cause poor seat belt retraction and bad protection overall. Without proper webbing, an occupant cannot be perfectly shielded from the force of an impact.
Fortunately, there is a company that can deal with any of these seat belt issues! Safety Restore is a seat belt repair shop that knows how to fix seat belt tensioners, retractors, and webbing. The great thing about this company is that it has affordable prices, a lifetime warranty on all services, a fast turnaround time, and a quality and satisfaction guarantee.
