Seat Belt Retractor Maintenance??

[Old Guy]

I finally got my NSX out of storage and noticed that the driver side seat belt retractor has become rather arthritic. It was getting slow before; but, now requires a lot of help for it to retract. The belt itself, at least the exposed portion when fully extended, appears in good condition. With no evidence of fraying on the belt I am attributing the retraction problem to an accumulation of dust bunnies in the mechanism or lubricant that has dried up and hardened so I was thinking about disassembly, cleaning of the mechanism and re lubrication. Before I consider fiddling with the retractor I may try a belt cleaning as 'Youtube authorities' ascribe a lot of retractor problems to dirty belts. My belts do not look obviously dirty; but, they are black so hard to tell

I have disassembled and maintained / replaced webbing on the belts on vintage vehicles with inertia reel style shoulder belt systems. However, my car is a 2000 which has the pyrotechnic pre tensioners so disassembly may be not such a straight forward process. The service manual treats the retractor as a ' no user serviceable parts' device. Instructions are limited to removal and replacement of the complete belt assembly. I am curious as to whether anybody has removed and attempted to carry out maintenance on the later pretensioner style retractors. I have yet to set eyes on the retractor and I would be particularly interested in whether this is a don't even bother going there thing because the retractor assembly can't be disassembled with regular hand tools or whether disassembly becomes a one way trip because stuff always gets damaged in the process.

 

[Honcho]

I finally got my NSX out of storage and noticed that the driver side seat belt retractor has become rather arthritic. It was getting slow before; but, now requires a lot of help for it to retract. The belt itself, at least the exposed portion when fully extended, appears in good condition. With no evidence of fraying on the belt I am attributing the retraction problem to an accumulation of dust bunnies in the mechanism or lubricant that has dried up and hardened so I was thinking about disassembly, cleaning of the mechanism and re lubrication. Before I consider fiddling with the retractor I may try a belt cleaning as 'Youtube authorities' ascribe a lot of retractor problems to dirty belts. My belts do not look obviously dirty; but, they are black so hard to tell

I have disassembled and maintained / replaced webbing on the belts on vintage vehicles with inertia reel style shoulder belt systems. However, my car is a 2000 which has the pyrotechnic pre tensioners so disassembly may be not such a straight forward process. The service manual treats the retractor as a ' no user serviceable parts' device. Instructions are limited to removal and replacement of the complete belt assembly. I am curious as to whether anybody has removed and attempted to carry out maintenance on the later pretensioner style retractors. I have yet to set eyes on the retractor and I would be particularly interested in whether this is a don't even bother going there thing because the retractor assembly can't be disassembled with regular hand tools or whether disassembly becomes a one way trip because stuff always gets damaged in the process.

You may want to consider sending it to Safety Restore for service and re-webbing. They have the right equipment to safely service the OEM belt and airbag mechanisms. I found their service to be excellent and the price was reasonable. Maybe give them a call and see if they can solve the issue?

 

[Old Guy]

That option would have to wait until late Fall when the car goes back into storage. NSX season is pretty short here and being without belts for a couple of weeks during the summer while they get serviced is not an option.

 

[RYU]

Safety Restore did mine. I'm happy with the service except the long return period (after their initial timeframe quote)

 

[tucsonsx]

You might try cleaning the belts, spraying a rag with silicone spray, and wiping the belts - that made mine retract much better.

 

[Old Guy]

I have one of those carpet / upholstery shampooer devices that I regularly use for cleaning the carpets on the car. I was planning on using the upholstery attachment to clean the belts because the vac parts should suck most of the water out of the webbing which would speed up the drying process.

The idea of a wet lubricant such as silicone spray on the belts or in the mechanism leaves me a little cool. I am inclined to think that would be a dust / lint magnet. I was thinking that one of those dry PTFE spray lubricants might be good option for inside the retractor - if I had reasonable access to the insides.

 

[tucsonsx]

I spray CRC silicone spray on a rag and lightly wipe the belts - they don’t get wet and don’t attract dust - it’s an old trick used by mechanics ( after cleaning the dried Ketchup and juice off ) when the customer complaint is “ seatbelt is slow to retract “ and the car is under warranty. Once it’s customer pay the recommendation is to replace the whole unit which also corrects the problem of the retractor spring getting weak and eliminates comebacks should the customer OK the work, which no one ever does after being quoted the price.

 

[Old Guy]

A little progress to report.

I cleaned the driver's side belt using my hot water carpet / upholstery cleaning machine. I fully extended the belt and clamped it there and then did 3 slow passes on each side of the belt with the upholstery cleaning attachment. After doing this, I checked the machine's recovery tank and the water was dirty; but, not spectacularly dirty so I was not expecting any material change in belt operation. However, after allowing the belt to dry I fed it back into the retractor and then pulled it out and allowed it to retract. The change was remarkable. Sitting in the car and releasing the buckle the belt will now completely retract itself without assistance once you move the belt completely to the left (so that it is not dragging across you). Before I had to reach up and feed the belt into the slot in the trim to get it out of the way.

The belt on the NSX is incredibly long. You could probably belt in a 30" exercise ball in the driver's seat with the seat all the way forward. The belt has probably never been fully extended so it is possible that the act of fully extending it and then allowing a controlled retraction allowed the belt to align itself on the retraction reel making for smoother operation. That said, the recovery tank did have dirty water in it so cleaning the belt didn't hurt.

Short story - if your belts are slow to retract, based upon my experience giving them a clean is worth a try and (edit) give them the full extension and slow retraction exercise.

 

[tucsonsx]

I never thought that fully retracting the belt was what made the difference but I think you're right. I tried it on my tape measure and it worked there too.

 

[Wild Turkey]

For those south of the border, the USDM Owners manual says:
US Models:
Acura provides a lifetime warranty on seat belts. Acura will repair or replace any seat belt component that
fails to function properly during normal use. Please see your Acura Warranty Information booklet for
details.
- I'd like to hear of someone bringing in a 32 year old NSX for warranty work!

Owner's manual: Seat Belts
If your seat belts get dirty, you can use a soft brush with a mixture of mild soap and warm water to clean
them. Do not use bleach, dye, or cleaning solvents. They can weaken the belt material. Let the belts air dry
before you use the car.
- So it sounds like the hot H2O upholstery cleaning machine is just what the doctor ordered.

 

[Old Guy]

Just about the end of June and still retracting nicely. I don't know whether it was the cleaning or completely retracting and allowing the belt to re align on the reel; but, it seems to have fixed the problem. The cleaning with a fabric friendly soap solution can't hurt.

 

[vivanshah]

Very cool. My driver's side also retracts a bit slowly, but still on its own except the last few inches. I don't have the same cleaning equipment handy, but I'll try out a full retraction and see if that makes a difference. If not I can tell my detailer to try the steam cleaner on it next time.

 

[MexiRicer]

I'll be sending belts to safety restore shortly. Anyone have leads on the vapor barrier for the retracting mechanism that sits in the cabin? Tried looking it up on the acura parts sites but no luck. TIA!