Car: 04 WRX. Mileage: 110K.

Kinda trivial, but it does annoy me a bit on daily basis. Any recommendations for getting the seatbelt to return faster?

Mine tends to keep a lot of slack in it after being unbuckled, enough to get caught in the door after it's closed occasionally. I hate having to manually feed it back in almost every time I get out of the car.

I'm a bigger and taller guy, but I'm not *that* big nor tall, so I figure that's not the issue, least not one I could readily correct.

Might this just be addressed by replacing (or swapping from another seat) the spring etc. that keeps tension on the belt? I haven't played too much with the "slide" position, I'm about 6' so I've just kept it at the top.

 

maybe take it apart and clean it out, regrease or whatever needs to be done

 

Just getting a new seatbelt setup should work just fine... or u could always upgrade to a harness with a harness bar

 

I'd love a 5 point but that's a bit extreme for now. And no matter what I'll need to get in there, to relube or replace, so I'll give that a go now. Thanks for the replies, will report on findings...

 

Ok, got the trim off and made it to the tensioner. I would have taken it out to inspect more, but apart from being pretty snug in there, it is one of those life-saving measures in the car, so I figured best not to fiddle with it too much. The assembly proper is not to be disassembled as well - just something I didn't want to eff with

I shot some WD-40 through the silly straw on the sides of the roller, spun it back and forth a bit.

Verdict: it did help some. Def shoots up a bit quicker. Now, ideally I'd have the sucker snap back in less than a tenth of a second, but in the interim it's fixed for practical purposes.

Thanks again for the feedback folks




Removing side trim. There's a little tension bolt thing that holds it in - no threads.




Detail. The bottom of the door "stoops"/"rims" what have you go over the trim, so you'll need to jimmy the trim out from under there a little bit.




If ever you wanted to know what the tensioner looked like, now you know.

 

These are safety items. If they don't work properly, they have a lifetime warranty with the dealer by law and you can have them replaced for free. For legal and safety reasons, something you definitely don't mess with as a consumer.

 

running a harness bar and harnesses as the only form of restraints in a DD is never a good idea. the dynamics/physics of the two, stock 3pt vs harnesses, is waay different in different angle collisions. i have a harness bar/harness setup. but i ran longer bolts through the top mounting hole so i can still run harness bar as well as my stock 3point seat belts.

leave harness bars and harnesses on the track. IMO

 

in terms of the seatbelt retracting issue. i had the same problem, but found that sometimes the top mount (plastic where seatbelt slide up along pillar and then back down to chest) gets dirty or clogged with w.e and does not allow the plastic to pivot and follow the line of the seatbelt. when the plastic is tilted off center, the belt slides along the plastic alot harder and may create enough drag to not bring the buckle up.

 

I talked to a service advisor at Subaru and he said all Imprezas have that issue with the the plastic part at the top.

 

good to know armrest extension and top seatbelt mount are both added to my 03 "defect" list. not really defects but common issues.

 

Im also having this same issue with my 09 impreza. Lol

 

damn! 03-09....i mean its not a "critical" issue. if youre wearing your seatbelt, you still will be secured in the event of a crash.....ull just have dings along your door jamb from the buckle sandwich. LOL

 

I agree, but sometimes, the retractor doesnt give enough slack and feels like i'm tied down to the seat. I mean its good, but when im just driving to school in the morning, its really annoying/frustrating.


Yea I closed my door and heard a loud bang to it I freaked out.