Okay... first off, I gotta say that I feel like a dumbass for even asking this question. Problem is, I can't figure out the lab belt on my 1g DSM. For those of you who don't know, I'm the guy that had my '91 Talon stolen. I've been working on putting her back together, and I'm actually making some headway, so far. Then I ran into a problem with the driver's side lap belt. See, when these guys jacked my seats, they decided that it would be a good idea to cut the seatbelts as well. I got the shoulder belts replaced with no problems. Then I started to work on the lap belts... different situation, all together!!

So, here's my trouble: for some reason, I can't get the belt to extend out of the seat belt housing. When I went to Illinois to pillage the parts car, I pulled the lap belt for the driver's side off of that. Funny thing was, after I got the lap belt assembly out, I couldn't extend the belt outward, no matter how hard I tried. So, I just chalked it up to a bad belt, considering that I hadn't tried to extend the belt before I yanked the whole assembly. Then, today I was working on my car, and I decided to pull another lap belt assembly out of another car. This time, I did check the belt before disassembling. This one worked. So, I removed the bolts and took the assembly out. The result was the same as before. I don't know what's going on, but for some reason, I've pulled two lap belt assemblies, but been unable to extend the belt itself when the assembly is independent of the body of the car.

I don't think it's a coincidence that I pulled two assemblies, then couldn't pull the belt itself out. Apparently, I'm missing something. Why can't I extend the belt?! Has anyone run into this before? If so, how do I solve it. I don't want to install another belt if I can't ever use it. If you have a solution to this problem, I'll forever be in your debt. I thank you all in advance for any help you can give.

Thanks
Jon

Try reinstalling one of the ones that seems to be locked up. There may be a pressure sensitive catch in the reel to keep it from coming out. It may be something related to the mechanisim that locks the reel when you're in an accident.

Okay, I think I figured this problem out. I was thinking about the way it is mounted in the car, and I realized that when you reach down to grab the lap belt, you don't pull it straight out. Instead, you pull it at an upward angle. I tried playing with it that way before mounting it in the car, and was able to get it to release. Then, I mounted it in the car, and it works like a charm.

Man, am I dumb!!

Jon