91 escort automatic seat belts

[pwright77]

Does anyone know how to make the drivers side seat belt go all the way back to the corner position. My passenger side works fine but the driver side does not move at all i don't really care if it works but my safety inspection demands it goes all the way down and stays there? Anyone have a suggestion on fixing it? When i turn on the car or open the door there's no noise by the motor of the drivers side setbelt so i don't think the motor works but i also don't want to buy another one. 200+ dollars. Thanks.

1991 escort lx hatchback
1.8

Pat

[kcaudill]

I pulled out the wire that pushes and pulls the seatbelt retractor from inside the track (this is a very messy job). I found that the teflon coating had torn away from the cable itself. After trimming the coating off the wire, I managed to get the seatbelt to move to the lock postion. Knowing that it would get stuck again, I removed the driver side cover panel to reveal the seatbelt motor. I the unplugged the motor so it would not move out of postion and used the quick release on the belt.

[pwright77]

thanks for the reply where is the wire to pull out from the track? i have the track exposed so i can see it and i see a wire on both sides but that looks like the wire to give it power not move the seatbelt? Thanks again
pat

[kcaudill]

Its realy a black covered cable. If your seatbelt thing is stuck in the forward postion( not locked in the back) take a small screw driver just behind the seatbelt thing(thing that moves) and fish around for the cable. If you cannt find it, turn the key to on and open or close the door to make the thing move back and forth(activate the motor)while the motor is running grab ahold of the seatbelt thing and try to move it in the same direction that it should move. After playing around with it, the cable just poped out on mine. Then I did the above.

[pwright77]

i don't see a cable at all so mine must already be gone and my drivers side doesn't move anything when i turn on the key nothing even tries to move. That's why i think my motor is dead but when i do look up there the little seat belt thing that hangs down moves about .5 inch back and forth but that's it so i think it's jammed in there on the metal track. i just wish it would either release or go down. I'm going to go pick up a voltmeter to see if any power is going to the seatbelt at all so then i know if it is the motor or not. maybe i can just replace the motor with the passenger side? Thanks

pat

[mgs2006]

Im not to sure how true this is but i read in a past thread a long time ago that any auto manufacturer has to have a warranty for life on the safety equipment and that ford should have to fix it for free. you might wanna look into that, but dont quote me on that becuase i definatly dont know for sure, i never had that problem.

[pwright77]

hmm have to look into that one. on the lifetime warranty.

Right now i took my whole track off and i found the part at the bottom that winds the cable around. i can turn it manually with a allen wrench so tomorrow i'm going to hook it up to my drill and see if i can get it to come up or something. either way i think it's history. I'd really just like to put in another shoulder belt there and lock it in place i want it to be safe but mainly i want it to pass the silly inspection. Either that or i have to go the local junk yard and get another one. which is not very tempting since i think they will cost an arm and a leg. Anyways i'll post the final result in case anyone else has to go through this. If anyone knows a legal kit to make this a standard shoulder belt that would be nice. Thanks

pat

[mlw35405]

No, Ford does not offer a lifetime warranty on restraints. (Nissan does). You can turn the motor manually with an allen wrench to get the belt to the rearmost position. I had the one go out on mine, and went to the junk yard and took it off myself (motor and track come as an assembly) and II think it cost me 30 bucks.