Seat belts not retracting

i gave up trying to get them to work, my avalon, my tundra, and my tacoma all dont retract.

but the damn corollas do.

 

Heh sorta minor means that the tow company declared it a « total loss » and said they would consider the towing service free if I signed it over to them.

Four years later (after paying in cash for the tow and swearing off any legal liability), I haven’t seen any evidence of damage. Aside from the body...

 

WTF? The tow company doesn't get to decide if it's a total loss, that's the job of your insurance.

 

In my case, the insurance company wasn't going to cover the damage anyway, so they were really just trying to convince me that the truck wasn't worth keeping.

That said, I've heard of this happening to other folks. I think once the tow company gets you to sign over ownership of the vehicle, they don't care how you sort it out with your insurance. I should also mention that the towing industry in Quebec doesn't have a great reputation: https://montrealgazette.com/news/lo...stry-run-by-organized-crime-inspector-general

 

Sorry, told you I'd get the receipt, was at the hospital all day yesterday,, so i looked this morning and i can't find the receipt,, this is no jueno' on my part, i don't throw away truck docs. i'll keep looking but they were new from Toyota, I also had to shop for somebody (parts) to sell & ship them, that's a safety issue according to the people.

 

No worries, whenever you find the receipt I’m good

 

I bought a new belt for my 2000 Taco just before Christmas. It was $156.85 from Camelback Toyota. Here is the receipt...

 

I never wear seat belt in my Corolla
Being that it's a fire hazard plus I rarely hit the highway with it
I will check it's retractioness next time
It still starts out in the street in below zero temps!
Not bad for a 24 year old car

 

"I've actually never heard of "stretchy" seatbelts."

They stretch like rubber bands when you're in an impact. If they didn't you'd be cut in half. They're designed to slow your rate of deceleration and it's not uncommon in a head-on collision to actually hit the windshield, particularly in pre-airbag cars.

 

I tried this out today, but unfortunately (at least on a 2001) this doesn't really work. If you try to wind the spool any tighter (after removing the seat belt end), once you reinstall the seat belt will enter the mode where you need to let it fully retract, but once fully retracted it will still not let you pull it out. That probably made no sense. Basically, the point at which you pull the seat belt so far and it starts making that clicking sound is calibrated to a certain number of turns of the spool, so when you add a few turns, it messes this up and will want to retract the seat belt too far before letting you pull it out again. A wasted couple of hours but at least I know how to replace the seat belt in the future.