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Locked 242 seat belts.

I’m in the process of reassembling my 242 after having it painted. I removed the seat belts and they have been sitting in a box for 2 plus years. I went to reinstall them back into the car and find that I can’t pull them out of the retractor. Is there a way to unlock these? Thanks








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    Locked 242 seat belts.

    Hi,

    The apparatus itself has to be held in a certain direction as if it was mounted.
    There is a bobble weight inside that engages if it is slung or tilted suddenly like in a sudden stop or definitely in an impact.
    It doesn’t take much for it to engage and it has to jiggled sometimes under normal usage of pulling the strap. The car’s movement locks and unlocks it more times than not, but you never notice it.

    I assume you have not taken them apart especially the coiled up spring thats under the cover. You don’t want to let the “Jack” out of the box! You can open it carefully but don’t let the spring get up.

    You should be able to rotate the whole assembly to hear a or feel a slight clunk of the bobble weight moving.
    It’s not much as it only toggles or engages a ratchet paw to a toothed wheel.
    Maybe … you need to blow out the mechanism. That is unless it has rusted as they have only a flash coating of chrome or cadmium. I haven’t seen what happens the snow belt cars.

    As far as locating newer ones I do not think Volvo changed their winder design over the many years.
    Unless the cover in the lower Pilar changed to fit under the plastic interior trim, there should be no need no problem getting one from other cars.

    When I snagged my spares I went for the passenger side units to get around that.
    What you have to watch out for is changes in the buckle that fits into the console as Volvo kept doing different notch configurations through the years to fit their console. In the last years of the 240s separate button releases were bolted in to the floor. Again changes are minuscule but bite you in getting replacements.
    The belt webbing on the rear seats are definitely a different length.

    It’s the belts web material is what shows wears and that is of course on the driver side.
    A newly painted car needs a nice belt to go with it. 👀
    All aging has to be a concern if you think out there to the the extremes of safety.
    The webbing stuff was meant to stays strong for a long time for a couple hundred pounds of a sudden stop jerk. I meant that for the force not the for the jerk in front of you 😳

    It is probably over engineered as the width was needed to spread any pressures out across the bodies contact surfaces during restraints.
    I have seen where people even put fabric accessory sleeves on them for their shoulders no matter the make of the cars.
    A real long thin one might work cosmetically but it’s not going to roll up nicely through the guide at the top. It has enough problems with twists and drag.

    There might be someone that applies new webbing and can stitch it properly but I never heard of any.
    That might be in another posted thread or a search engine job.

    Phil








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      Locked 242 seat belts.

      Phil, it's actually not uncommon to have frayed, door damaged and even dog chewed seatbelt webbing replaced. A local auto upholstery shop should be familiar with doing this and even have standard colored webbing in stock (esp. black). Local body shops will likely also know of someone local capable of doing it. A bit of research should soon show you it's really not rocket science, just something many of us aren't familiar with as it's not a common issue and generally not considered a DIY project as it requires a decent sewing machine and bit of sewing skill.

      You can source your own auto seatbelt webbing online, which comes by the foot in a wide array of colors. Almost any place with a heavier duty sewing machine and familiar with doing thicker materials should be able to do a proper job. They need to use a decent weight of standard multi-strand poly thread so it's reasonably strong and won't decay. Mostly, it's just following the original double-stitched criss-cross pattern at the ends. The stitching pattern is where most of the strength is. With a bit of effort a household sewing machine could also do a decent job. There are a number of online videos, but this is where I start drawing the line as not many of us would have that kind of sewing ability and experience doing thicker materials, which includes me.

      Going for used seat belt assemblies may be an adequate replacement option, but for some makes and models they may not be readily available, even new. Re-webbing and possibly needing to recondition the retractor may be your only option. Of course 30+ year old sun damaged and aged seatbelts are likely well past their best before date, so re-webbing may be a better choice even if it's a few dollars more. There are places listed online who specialize in checking and repairing the retractor as well as doing the webbing.

      Automotive seatbelt webbing is almost all standard 2" (nominal 2"=50 mm, manufactured to a width of 47+/-1 mm, ISO min width for auto webbing is 46 mm). There are international testing standards for tensile strength, elongation and durability that vary by application. Thickness for auto applications is fairly standard so it's sure to retract under typical spring tension.

      Most webbing sold as automotive seatbelt webbing should be adequate, but do try to source from reputable manufacturers/distributors. This is a case where going for cheapest may not be best the best idea. Ideally the webbing will be listed with an ISO or other testing certification, if not you can always ask. There are different requirements and testing standards for industrial applications, such as used in heavy equipment, and for that you might want to see some kind of proof the webbing is certified to those higher standards.
      --
      Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now








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        Locked 242 seat belts.

        Hi Dave,

        As usual you cover the threads very well with your posts.
        So you mean we shouldn’t use the webbing from a broken lawn lounge chair. 🤫

        Art didn’t plug in his web site photos of the working or ratchet end of a seat belt in this thread.
        So I will. http://cleanflametrap.com/v83belt.html

        In the second photo it displays the finger that grabs the wheel to lock the winder.
        The bobble weight or inertia weight is in behind the plate.
        Just by using something close to X-ray vision, it’s not hard to imagine how sensitive it is to engage.

        Nice to read about the ISO organization.
        Now I know why there are so many numbers after ISO - x x x x x .
        Thank heavens for these people doing such work.

        Did you know that there are many public projects engineered in many states where there are laws to exempt using licensed and accredited engineers.
        Only Arkansas and Oklahoma do not allow such practices to over ride federal mandates that are supported by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1889.

        Maybe that’s why entertainment stages of night clubs and such have collapsed.
        This may have cause Boeing’s 737 Max 8 to be plaque with issues because of a bottom line attitude over teams working with less than professional engineers and then it is allowed to creep about.
        2.5 billion was the fine for the 349 passengers & families to get only 500 million to squabble over.
        I just gave out a synopsis.

        Steam is building up in the Machine Design world to bring up more attention about the whole engineering thing in the past.
        If you would like to have something to mull over like I did with the ISO you put in that very informative post, try this.

        https://www.machinedesign.com/community/guest-commentary/article/21235491/getting-rid-of-engineering-licensingexemption-law?utm_source=MN+MD+Today&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS230719031&o_eid=9049F9628890F7D&rdx.ident[pull]=omeda|9049F9628890F7D&oly_enc_id=9049F9628890F7D

        It is a two part article in a subscription I maintain @ no cost so far.
        It’s sort of industrial in nature but it’s world wide.

        Thanks for being on the Brickboard.

        Phil








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    Locked 242 seat belts.

    Hold the retractor level in the position they'd be in the car. They lock when an inertial weight is not plumb.

    http://cleanflametrap.com/v83belt.html
    --
    Art Benstein near Baltimore

    "They say we need to stay six feet apart but I just can’t fathom that. "








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    Locked 242 seat belts.

    If those are your original seat belts, they are way overdue for replacement. You might get them to open but I certainly wouldn’t trust them anymore. I realize finding new ones is probably impossible due to the age of your car, but finding good used ones that work might be an viable option.
    --
    Will I buy another Volvo??? We'll see....








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      Locked 242 seat belts.

      If the seat belt webbing is fraying, you should consider getting them replaced or repaired.

      Last time I checked, new seat belts for 242 are available from Volvo.

      They aren't the originals for a 2 door, but they work.

      You can also have your original seat belts re-webbed, but that costs more than new ones when you include shipping.

      If you opt for re-webbing, only use a company that knows what they're doing. I've seen some DIY re-webbing and who knows whether it'll hold up in an accident.



      --
      Eric
      Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
      Torrance, CA 90502
      hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com







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