Ruprecht

OK. I decided to start another thread about these wimpy seatbelt tensioners after a lengthy search without finding any answers. The belts mounted inside my front seats just will not retract all the way into the seat without my help. I've removed my seat upolstery and trim to get at the belts and could not find any way to adjust the belts. I was hoping I could find an obvious way to give em a little more 'spring', but had no luck.
Anyone have this problem? Anyone find a solution short of replacing the entire assembly?

Ruprecht

Had to take my mother to the emergency room last night around midnight. When I got her in my passenger seat and went to buckle her in, the seatbelt wouldn't budge as if the auto-tensioner had locked it up.
I had to close the passenger door and get in the driver's seat and reach over to get at the belt, which worked fine at that point. I'm scratching my head over this one. It worked just fine today, as I tested it out several times to see if it was broken or something. Very odd. Hope it was a one-time thing, but these belts have been a little annoying.
Guess I'll just have to go to the dealership to get them checked out.

squirrelyyy

Mine do the same thing they don't always get pulled back tight its annoying I've slammed the male end of the buckle in the door more times then I can count. If you find a fix please post Good Luck

TexAG_09

AMEN!!!!
My door and door panel are both scratched from the male end REPEATEDLY being closed in the door. I have to say the integrated seatbelt is among the top 3 dumbest ideas ever. I have complained about the seatbelts in this truck since the first day I got mine. I even sent a letter to Ford with a suggestion for an improved design. My biggest problem is the fact that I am a pretty big guy. My shoulders are about 6 inches above the back of the seat, not to mention my neck is wider than the headrest. If I make a long drive the seatbelt literally cuts into my neck... it's drawn blood on more than one occasion. Well, that didn't help you any, but you do know that there are several more of us with the same tensioner problem.

Ruprecht

I hear ya Tex, I'm 6'1" with wide shoulders and the belt is not comfortable. Even worse than this, in case of an accident, the belt will cause injury. The proper position of a restraint is so the belt (between shoulder and mounting) is horizontal to the floor and perpendicular to the driver/passenger body. Any angle greater than 90 degrees causes the body to lift up out of the seat in a crash. Any angle less than 90 degrees causes compression on the body/spine in a crash. I'm not sure why they don't have any adjustment built into these, other than cost.
I'm not a fan of these belts, but I can see why they switched to this seat mounted design. My '97 SCab had the belts mounted between the ceiling and floor and were a pain in the when getting things out of the back seat. The new design is less awkward in that way. I'm just not sure they are safer.

foolwitools

Hi,

You prob'ly already tried this, but I thought I'd ask............... Pull the belt all the way out, get a flashlight and look in the retractor's slot. See if the belt has a half twist at the begining of the spool (it shouldn't).


You guys talk about comfort issues.. At 6'6'' and over 300lbs the only problem I have is the ash tray cup holder pokin' me in the knee.......

Bob the Fool

kifels

are you talking about your seatbelt pre-tensioners? they only go off if you get into an accident, and once they go off the don'e retract. I am not quite follwing your termonalogy, automatic tensioner.

big cube 426

your one big boy bob.

Ruprecht

I'm talking about the tension on the belt that is always there, that retracts the belt when you get out of the seat, or that just holds the belt up against your body as you're rolling along down the road.
Mine is very weak on both seats. Sometimes when I get out of my truck the belt just won't retract back into the seat. It looks sloppy, and it makes it hard to get back into the seat and put the belt back on, since I'm now sitting on the belt, or the buckle is hanging out the door, jamming in the door as I close it.
The emergency tensioner seems to work ok right now, I hope.
I was hoping there was an adjustment I could make to put a few extra ounces of tension on them.

Ruprecht

Imagine driving a Mini Cooper or Prius! Wait till the tree huggers force all us adult-sized folks into green cars.