Front Seat Belts Not Locking

I had this issues with a set of front belts.

When bolted into position they would not lock when pulled. As soon as you took them off the mount they would lock fine.

The solution?

I got hold of another set of front belts. They were not a direct fit as the bucklers were different. The belts were a bit rough in any case.

Taking both the plastic covers off the side to compare there did not seem to be much difference. Until I took the front plastic plate off and compared the two.

On the other units there was a metal spacer inside the plastic where as on mine there was not. It must act as a counter to spring the ball bearing movement.

I swopped over this part into mine, put back together, bolted onto the car and its fixed!

Its a lttle fiddly getting it all back together but it can be done without much swearing.

I never took any pictures but thought this would be good information as I could not find anything to work out a solution.

Good info Dave,

Just as a background the earlier mk1/mk2 seatbelts (the type where the buckle bolts to the floorpan) do not lock unless the nose of the vehicle is dipping. This is due to the nature of the ball bearing mechanism in the reel. The scary side of this is you must see what it is you are about to hit otherwise the belt may not lock properly. As I said, scary..

With the later mk2/mk3/V type belts (the buckle bolts to the seat base) this was rectified and they should lock when pulled.

MOT testers sometimes pick up on this but the earlier version is perfectly serviceable despite the seemingly arcane design.