A common seat belt problem that many people face is having a seat belt that will not lock. As you can imagine, this essentially means that the entire seat belt cannot serve its purpose in protecting a driver or a passenger from his or her airbags and/or from potentially being projected out of the car when an accident occurs. There are several reasons as to why a seat belt may have a hard time locking. Below I will describe just a few.
First and foremost, a seat belt may not be locking because the actual seat belt is dirty. You may think that you are clean and keep your car relatively clean, but there are so many factors that can gradually make your seat belt webbing dirty. Have you ever buckled into your seat belt after a good gym session where you shed quite a bit of sweat? Have you transported a pet and had to strap them in with a seat belt? Do you have any children that could have touched the seat belts with sticky or gooey fingers? Now that you are thinking about it, there are probably many things that could have dirtied your belts throughout the years. The solution for this could be soaking your seat belts in some good old soap and water mixture.
Another possible reason why your seat belt won’t stay buckled is that there is something stuck in the buckle. Without you noticing, something as little as a small pebble, a hardened crumb, or a tiny button could have come loose and became lodged into the buckle of the seat belt. To see if this is the case, you can visually inspect your seat belt—you may need a flashlight to get a better look inside. Or, using a sharp slim object, poke around the opening to the buckle and see if you find anything!
Finally, the problem may be internal. For this, the actual seat belt mechanism would have to be disassembled. For the best results, and to avoid compromising such an important safety component, you’d be better off sending your seat belt into a professional company. The company Safety Restore specializes in seat belt repair and could be the one you turn to!
