Seatbelt won’t lock

[MCtree]

Experts,
I need some help.
I’m in the midst of a road trip and am currently in Death Valley and my seat belt (driver’s) won’t lock.

I’ve been camping in some dusty places and wonder if dust got in to jam it.

But the male end will not go into the female end. I estimate that in only penetrates about half an inch in.
Like it’s locked without the male end inserted.

Further, I’m not getting any of the usual warnings telling me to put my seatbelt on like I normally would.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[BrownDog09]

Experts,
I need some help.
I’m in the midst of a road trip and am currently in Death Valley and my seat belt (driver’s) won’t lock.

I’ve been camping in some dusty places and wonder if dust got in to jam it.

But the male end will not go into the female end. I estimate that in only penetrates about half an inch in.
Like it’s locked without the male end inserted.

Further, I’m not getting any of the usual warnings telling me to put my seatbelt on like I normally would.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I’ve seen this before on another car I had - ended up being a coin had slipped into the female end of the buckle.

 

[MCtree]

I’m guessing that the bar down in the groove is supposed to go through the hole in the male end. But since it’s locked in place, it’s blocking the male end now.

 

[MCtree]

So I was able to lever that little bar back with a screwdriver and I did get the seatbelt to latch properly.
But I fear it’s giving up the ghost all the same.

Google searches suggest spraying some DW-40 into the slot.
Any thoughts on that? I fear I would just end up with dusty gunk down in there.

 

[MCtree]

I’ve seen this before on another car I had - ended up being a coin had slipped into the female end of the buckle.

Could you see the coin?

And how did you get it out?

 

[BrownDog09]

Could you see the coin?

And how did you get it out?

This was on an old 4Runner, and I ended up unbolting the receptacle and emptying out the coin. I could see goo build up from a drink or simply debris gumming up the works.

IIf I tried anything, I would find a can of brake clean or contact cleaner and give her a few shots while depressing the button to see if you can get things moving.

Someone else may have a better idea.

 

[BrownDog09]

This was on an old 4Runner, and I ended up unbolting the receptacle and emptying out the coin. I could see goo build up from a drink or simply debris gumming up the works.

IIf I tried anything, I would find a can of brake clean or contact cleaner and give her a few shots while depressing the button to see if you can get things moving.

Someone else may have a better idea.

Yes I could see the coin. It was evident when I looked in the slot there was a penny in there.

 

[MCtree]

Just to close out this thread I started;
The problem of my seat belt receiver not accepting the male end, never went away. It would just re-occur about every other week and I realized that I could temporarily fix it by tapping on the side of the receiver to get that internal tongue to retract and thus allow me to insert the seatbelt so it would click shut.

I don’t know if it’s related, but I also noticed that the belt had become extremely slow to retract when I unbuckled.

But I took it in to the dealer and they replaced it all under warranty; the belt, the retractor, the male end and the receiver.
It all seems to be working now. Took them about 2 hours to do the work. (Plus two weeks for them to get the parts).