Multivan - captain's seat seatblet buggered

[Sarajevo]

Hi all

2013 multivan. Had the captains seat out for a while. Put it back in. Seatbelt is now well stuck. My volkswagen place is closed for the holiday so took it to a mechanic nearby who - long story short - is flummoxed and suggests 'whole new seat'. Yuck.

Any thoughts on how to fix this. Seatbelt won't release and kids need to be transported. many thanks.

[sports racer]

So you've taken the van to a mechanic who doesn't know what he's doing and wants to take the easy way out instead of trying to isolate the problem.

If it worked before you took it out of the van then something has either crawled inside the seatbelt mechanism or some moving part has stuck. Either way can you spray some WD40 in there?

When you stored the seat was it kept upright or laid down? I know on old cars the seatbelt mechanism had to be in the correct up/down position for them to release the belt. Maybe yours is stuck and just needs a good hit?

[Sunny43.5]

Most retractable seat belts will only release when the seat is in its correct position , so if the seat was tilted or some other position the locking part may have become stuck . I would suggest tilting the seat one way or the other and then if possible stretch the belt t allow it to retract a bit more then the lock should release .We used to see this a lot with Commodore wagons , the built in retractable belts would lock up when the back rest was folded so when you put the seat backrest back up the belt would be jammed . We used to pull hard on the belt to create some slack and then let it retract a bit more and it would then work .

[Kiels3927]

Got breathalyzed one night driving the wife's Volvo 244. Pulled over down a dropoff & bounced back into the seat just as the belt locked up. By the time the police officer got to me, I was turning red, and she directed me to drive further off to release the belt, with the tears running down her legs, damn her.

[Sarajevo]

Thanks for these really good thoughts. The seat was stored folded down so I suspect what has happened is as you have suggested. I'll give it a good hit /tug and spray some lubricant in. cheers

[Sunny43.5]

Well our new T5.2 was delivered with the drivers belt locking each time you moved , it drove me nuts as you could not move forward to reach out the window to pick up stuff from drive through plus you were pinned to the seat all the time .VW eventually replaced it under warranty .

Got breathalyzed one night driving the wife's Volvo 244. Pulled over down a dropoff & bounced back into the seat just as the belt locked up. By the time the police officer got to me, I was turning red, and she directed me to drive further off to release the belt, with the tears running down her legs, damn her.