Seatbelt MOT failure problem

[172jmss]

Some advice would be much appreciated, My clio 172 Cup failed its MOT today as the rear seatbelts are both stuck in position and cannot be pulled out at all.
I am wanting to rectify the problem myself as i also have to change the rear discs and pads in order to pass so will do the work myself.

Does anyone have any ideas of what the problem is ? Or is it in need of two new rear seat belt units ?

Help would be excellent

 

[Henry]

it sounds as though the inertia reels have locked; you could try removing the units to see if that releases them. failing that, i'd try picking some up from a scrap yard (shudder to think how much Renault would want) - apart from in the colour, i guess they're the same in all contemporary Clios - ?

 

[nozza89]

this happened to my freind in his corsa. spent the afternoon at the scrapys, bak the next day and pasted the mot

 

[172jmss]

Yeah i dont dare ringing renault i can imagine them to be horrific! I am going to have a look tommorow night and see if i can sort them, i cant imagine it being to serious ? it is also strange how both the rear seatbelts are the same ?

 

[ForceIndia]

Remove seats and seatbelts. If they aren't in, they don't need to be tested, then get them sorted at a later date.

 

[172jmss]

If i was to take the seats out and the seat belts out then it would pass ? Is taking the seats out a five minute job ?

 

[Peperami]

You dont even need to take the seat back/ boot out.

Just the seat base so theres nothing to sit on, similar to you'd do to get the seats comletely flat (mine passed mot like this)

No bolts required!

Might still need to remove the seatbelts though, not sure if they'll test them without seats or not.

 

[Henry]

you might be lucky and find that removing (disturbing) them frees the mechanism. interia reel belts can be sensitive to correct alignment (in their mountings) and can lock if they're not as they should be. also worth checking that whatever they're mounted to isn't bent (?) - although does seem odd that they're both a problem