Why Does Your Seat Belt Sometimes Get Stuck When You Lean Forward?
Photo: The News Wheel
You know those times when you’re sitting in the passenger seat of your friend’s car and you go to lean forward, and your seat belt locks up? Wiggle and tug as you might, the seat belt won’t loosen up and, in fact, ends up becoming increasingly constricting.
Why in the world does this happen, and what’s a good way to fix it?
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The Reason Your Seat Belt Locks Up… Even When It Shouldn’t
Your seat belt was designed to lock up at particular times by utilizing a device called a retractor. This device, which looks like a spool with teeth on the edges, will normally allow your seat belt to extend and retract freely, but during crashes and sudden braking, will lock the seat belt from extending any further than it already is. Thus, the passenger will be secured in their seat instead of being thrown forward by momentum. It’s a pretty simple but effective system that has been around for decades.
So, if the retractor is designed to activate in sudden speed shifts of the vehicle, why does your seat belt lock during normal driving speeds?
This could be due to a number of reasons. For instance, if you lean forward too quickly, the retractor might engage. Or it might engage if you happen to lean forward at the same time the driver brakes. If you’re descending down a steep declining road, the gyroscopic sensor can cause the retractor to engage. Or, the belt may have twisted and caught behind the pillar trim. Unfortunately, once it’s activated, the belt has to fully retract before you can extend it again.
If the belt frequently locks up whenever you try to pull on it, there’s a good possibility that there’s an issue with the calibration and sensitivity of the mechanism, which should be inspected and cleaned.
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Sources: The Car Seat Lady, Life Hacker
Aaron is unashamed to be a native Clevelander and the proud driver of a Hyundai Veloster Turbo (which recently replaced his 1995 Saturn SC-2). He gleefully utilizes his background in theater, literature, and communication to dramatically recite his own articles to nearby youth. Mr. Widmar happily resides in Dayton, Ohio with his magnificent wife, Vicki, but is often on the road with her exploring new destinations. Aaron has high aspirations for his writing career but often gets distracted pondering the profound nature of the human condition and forgets what he was writing… See more articles by Aaron.