How do I get the seatbelts to zip back up again

When my car was new the seatbelts zipped right up when I unbuckled. Now it
seems like you have to pull them and put effor into making them go back up.
Anybody have any ideas how to put the pep back in my buckles? Thanks.

-Kevin
99 SC2
Michigan

 

I'm gonna presume that, like me, you are a person of girth, and you
pull your seat belts out a considerable distance. If you are the
regular driver, and your most frequent passengers are not persons of
girth, I'll bet that the driver's belt is the only one with this
problem.

Over time and repetition, the return spring weakens. To put the zip
back, you need to replace the spring. The cheapest way to do that is
probably to find a junked Saturn of your car's age that once belonged
to a skinny person and remove the whole belt return mechanism from
it, for installation in your car.

The not-cheap way is to have Saturn replace the mechanism with a new
one.

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I'm not sure that I'd use a used seatbelt. You don't know what
stresses it was exposed to. IIRC, some places, selling used
seatbelts is illegal, but my memory's fuzzy on that one. Check
your local laws.

Most car manufacturers, if not all, recommend replacing any seat
belt that was stressed in a collision. Tap somebody at 10mph,
it's probably OK, but T-bone somebody at 40 and the belt may have
stressed to the point where it can no longer be relied upon to
restrain someone.

IMO seat belts are like motorcycle helmets. If they've done
their job once it's time to replace 'em.

Biker Geek
'03 Ion 2
'02 Suzuki Bandit 1200S