Weird driver seat-belt issue.

ASSISTANCE Interior
1

Did a search and couldn’t find anything about my particular problem.

I drive a '91 DB1 and today when I got back in my car after running an errand, the seatbelt wouldn’t return to the back position when I closed my door.

I messed around with it a bit, checked the passenger belt which works, turned off car/unplugged seatbelt box/started car/turned off car/plugged box back in…still doesn’t want to go back when door is closed. It emits a series of beeps and belt light flashes every 5 minutes while I’m driving…and sometimes if I lock the driver door while the car is on, the seatbelt beep emits a single tone which is weird as hell.

Not sure if this is relevant…but lately I guess my fiancee has had a few problems with the driver door sticking, not wanting to latch shut, sometimes hard to open. I also recently swapped the power window motor on that door, nothing was modified or messed with other than some grease added and window adjustments made due to rattle.

Anyone else have this problem, and figured out a way to fix it? How does the seatbelt know when to return? Is the mechanism built in to the door latch? It doesn’t rely on the door switch, that only seems to control the dome light.

Note: I called Acura already. Technically the recall/warranty for seatbelts is only supposed to cover the lap belts not latching. In some cases, I’ve heard of people with my problem and they had it fixed for free at acura. Anyways, the Acura here told me it’s $55 just to figure out what’s wrong, and he’s almost positive it won’t be covered by any recall or warranty.

EDIT: Went out there and used WD40 on all the door hinges, door latches and dome light switches. Driver seatbelt is still having the same issue. After some more searching I’ve realized a lot of other people are having the same problem…everyone says go to acura, no one offers a fix. There has to be some way to fix this without paying out my ass for Acura to do it…read above note I made, they won’t do it under warranty for me…plus they aren’t really local so factor in gas money as well. Not an option!

EDIT2: Found my spare seatbelt control box, swapped it in…still having the same problem. Does anyone have any ways to fix this? I need this fixed asap, very unsafe driving without a seatbelt.

2

there is a way to manually return the seatbelt to to back position, and the acura dealer is not treating you correctly, if the belt is stuck forward as long as you did not tamper with or modify it in any way, that would be covered under their warranty due to it being a safety issue. The warranty is for the Lifetime of the vehicle. Let me look up in the service manuals on how to manually return the belt. I’ll post up once i find it.

There is a copy of the warranty from the manual, i’m still looking into if you can manually retract the belt, so it’s safer to drive.

3

I know how to return the seat-belt to the rear position…turn the hex key on the seat-belt motor or pull it back manually. I really don’t want to “rig” this, I’d rather get it fixed.

I’m trying to figure out what is fixed/replaced to get it working again…someone has to know if all these people went to Acura and had it fixed, there should be a list of parts they replaced on each person’s receipt/paperwork.

Also…would Acura not work on it if the B-pillar panel is removed, door panel is removed, door handle is removed, and car has no carpet??? I pulled the door panel to fix the window motor and door handle(still waiting on door handle), I pulled the B-pillar to view seat-belt motor tonight, and I pulled carpet because previous owner tried dying it black and failed miserably at that mission. The entire car has been a restoration-in-progress for about a year…high miles, otherwise she still runs strong.

4

I knew I’d find it eventually!!!

Here is the test procedure to be sure the motor isn’t bad.

And here is the directions on how to operate the belt manually

It pays to have the Acura Factory Service manuals sometimes!!!

5

Talked to a different tech today at Acura, over the phone, and this is basically what he told me…

The warranty will only cover all the components of the seat-belt assembly, only if malfunctioning under normal use, and only if none of the components were tampered with. If the seat-belt assembly is doing it’s intended job, warranty will not cover anything considered a “comfort” fix.

The warranty will not cover a faulty door latch assembly, which is commonly the cause of a seat-belt not working at all. That’s where the seat-belt assembly receives the signal to do its job. This is considered more of a door assembly component than it is a seat-belt assembly component, which I assume is the reason why it’s not covered by the seat-belt warranty.

He told me it’s a 50/50 chance of my issue being under warranty. I can bring it in and they’ll inspect it and figure out what’s wrong…if it’s covered, everything is cost-free. If it’s not covered, I have to pay the $55 diagnostic/inspection fee and they hand over the receipt/details that show exactly what parts are needed and I can fix it myself or pay them to fix it for me.

6

they have to replace it, my drivers side seatbelt was stuck half way, i took it to the “stearlership” they gave me the same bs. but they ended up fixing it for free

just make a big deal about it, if they try to charge you

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EVERYTHING is under warranty. If the dealer is giving you a hard time, give Acura customer relations a call, and it will get done.

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Agreed, if the belt is stuck mid track it’s not the switch that’s bad, and it’s a safety issue. If the dealership is giving you the runaround, get the name and number of the dealership, and call acura customer relations, they should take care of you.

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Had to bring up my old thread as this is still an issue. Several calls and visits to Acura all resulted in being told “it’s not covered by that seatbelt warranty.”

To re-explain the problem…

When I open my driver door, the seatbelt moves forward normally. When I close the driver door, the seatbelt does not move back and my seatbelt box beeps at me and the seatbelt light is on. In order to get the seatbelt back, I have to unplug the motor because if I try to pull it with the door open OR closed, the seatbelt constantly tries to go forward. It does not get stuck halfway, as long as the motor is plugged in the belt is constantly trying to move forward even when the door is closed. Sometimes the belt will stay back after manually putting it there, but as soon as I open the door and the belt moves forward…it stays there until I pull it back.

As a temporary fix, I manually moved the seatbelt back and then unplugged the motor. I now have to manually attach/detach the seatbelt.

What I’m wanting to know is if this is something easily fixable, and what part could be the problem. Apparently the motor is working, but only one way…it’s as if the motor isn’t receiving the signal that tells it to return the belt to the back position when the door is closed. Whatever sends that signal may be what needs to be replaced.

Another question I had was…if I replace that whole driver side seatbelt assembly…motor, track, etc…can I use one out of a DA or does it have to be out of a DB like mine?

10

stop calling the dealership.

acura customer relations is the place you want to call. the dealership will not willingly do the work if they dont have to or can weasel their way out of it bey trying to pull a fast one on you.

if your seatbelts stop working normally then you can get them fixed no matter what the issue is.

dealerships will try and tell you anything to get you to go away.
if you come with a letter from Acura USA telling them to do this or risk legal infractions, then shit gets done, have you actually called the national acura office?

i know they will do this because whatever wire goes between the door sensor and the seatbelt controller was shorting out on my car sending the seatbelts into psycho mode… and so i fucked with the local acura dealer for weeks before i found the tidbit in my OEM literature about lifetime replacement of safety belts.
one call to acura telling them simply that my seatbelt doesnt work (no details needed) and that the dealership is not honoring the original warranty… i had a copy of a letter sent to me, my lawyer, and the acura dealership.

result? entire interior harness was replaced free of charge. and now i assume the acura delearship knows i dont fuck around

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I’ll give that a try, would you happen to have the number of the place I should call? I’ll do some google searching and see what that turns up.

Found this - http://www.acura.com/CustomerServices.aspx?context=help

I’m guessing I call the number listed below “CONTACT ACURA CUSTOMER SERVICES”, right? I’ll call them on Monday

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yes, those are the people to call.
these guys are your allies against the dealerships, those are the people you call when the dealership fucks with you.

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Could they use my interior work against me, as a way to actually refuse the warranty work? I pulled the door panels to have them recoated, replaced the front/driver window motor, pulled the lower B pillar covers to have them recoated, and there hasn’t been carpet in this car for over a year…which means much of the interior wiring has been exposed. I’m afraid that they’ll have something to say about the B pillar covers being pulled since they cover the seatbelt motors, and the fact I pulled the door panel and replaced the window motor on the front/driver door which is where the seatbelt problem is occurring. I’d imagine they’d use this as a way to blame me for damaging the seatbelt components, which means it won’t be covered per the warranty terms.

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they asked me no questions other than my contact information.
when the dealership asked i told them that ive been chasing down water seal leaks, which isnt really a lie i just never put the shit back in.

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not sure if you figured it out, kinda lazy to read thru it all. but i just had the same problem. took it to acura and got it back to normal at no charge. the mechanic told me that theres 2 sensors, one when/where its retracted all teh way back and when its all the way forward. he told me that the sensors stop readin each other and somehow lost a connection that moves the seat belt back and forth. he said he manually pulled it all the way back and it went back to normal. he had asked me if my battery died cause that might of caused the seat belt to malfunction the way it did. try manually pullin the seat belt thing all the way back with the door closed, plug in the seat belt, then open the door, if it goes forward, then try closin the door and if it retracts back then problem solved.

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Tried manually pulling it back with door closed, plugged it in, opened door and it moved forward fine, closed door and it stayed forward and constantly beeped at me. Something is definitely broken/malfunctioning.

17

if your door is having problems locking sometimes then its your door latch
it tells the seat belt when to return just go to a junkyard and replace it i dont think dealer will replace for free u

18

Door actually does have trouble locking/unlocking with the key, sometimes it won’t let me unlock it at all.

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OLD THREAD… passenger side motor works, driver doesnot, (actually It has retracted twice in the last month) just installed newer front seats, the motor worked on the car it came out of so I know the seat pressure switch is ok. Seatbelt computer beeps when the door is open and quits when closed, I know if the latch goes bad the motor wont retract. However i remember three wires going the the latch from the last time I had my door apart, I wonder if the third wire is what controls the switch for the seat belt motor? anyone know? I might have a bad seatbelt computer.

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just checked all three wires, one is hot in acc, one is the latch switch, one is hot in run, … must be the seatbelt computer.