Passenger seatbelt ratchet automatic locking feature resolved

[Bud_Dude]

Hey all, not sure how many of you have had folks in the front passenger seat of your 80 series (and maybe other models) go into ratchet lock when the passenger inadvertently pulls too much seatbelt out. It makes for a dangerous situation whereby they need to disconnect their seatbelt and let it fully retract before being able to use it normally again. Following some research it turns out that this dubious "feature" is intended for securing a infant car seat or maybe some other payload securely without need of other external mechanisms. Not that anyone in their right mind should ever put a car seat in the front of vehicle with an airbag that can't be shut off... My wife has complained about it for years, so I finally dug into the problem. The good news is the feature can be disabled, and even re-enabled if at some future point you want it to work again. Done correctly it has no effect on normal operation of the seatbelt functionality. Note that this feature is present for all 80 series seats, except the drivers seat... I guess they figured infants in car seats can't drive. See my write up about it here:

Change a passenger seat belt locking

Okay so I have a 1999 100 and everytime my wife leans forward in the passenger seat the seat belt locks so she can't sit forward until she takes the belt off puts it all the way back in then put the seat belt on again. Child safety aside is there a seat belt from another year 100 that doesn't...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[prwillard2]

This feature is on every non toyota I've ever owned, believe it's intentional.

Have had obese passengers complain because the seatbelt locks because they need to pull it out so far to fit around themselves.

 

[Bud_Dude]

This feature is on every non toyota I've ever owned, believe it's intentional.

Have had obese passengers complain because the seatbelt locks because they need to pull it out so far to fit around themselves.

Yep, then when they bend down to get something out of their purse or pack they trigger the ratchet again.... ugh... This simple non-destructive little fix remedies all that nonsense and makes life on a road trip more enjoyable.