Seat belt retractors are locking up constantly..

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FiremanMike

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I have a 2016 ram big horn that i bought used In 2018. When driving, my seat belts will lock up in the retractor seemingly at random. I‘ll be driving along, shift my position in my seat or slightly lean forward only to find that at some point my seat belt had locked up. It also takes several attempts to get it to release.. When my wife and kids are in the car, they say it does it to them too in their respective seats, although to be honest I've never really paid attention to whether all 4 were locking at the same time.

I realize that even leaning forward too fast can cause this, but I don't believe this is the case. My movement habits aren't any different in this truck than in my previous ram (2014) or any of my other vehicles, and I have never had this problem before..

I took it to the dealer last year and they had no idea what could be causing it. They replaced the drivers side retractor though, and it happened less often for awhile but it’s back to happening a lot (6-8 times during my 45 minute commute).. If it helps, it seems to more prevalent at freeway speeds..
 

BWL

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Steep downhill, bumpy roads.and of course heavy braking are when it should lock up. I wonder if they're just not installed at the correct angle making them more sensitive.
 

Mission72

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I find mine a little overly sensitive at times too... Annoying at times when youre just trying to reposition in your seat but not a big deal to me.
 

Justin33

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Steep downhill, bumpy roads.and of course heavy braking are when it should lock up. I wonder if they're just not installed at the correct angle making them more sensitive.
So this is normal? I mean I live in Maine and the roads are **** this year but I can’t even look in my blind spot without it wanting to pin me in the seat it’s honestly getting annoying.
 

GTyankee

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Mine has done it on occasion

It must be the mechanism above your shoulder
 

Hemi395

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Not my Ram, buy other vehicles I've had have done this. I ended up pulling the trim off and spraying some WD40 into the mechanism, never had the problem again. Not sure if that would work on our trucks but I figured I'd throw it out there.
 

PaleFlyer

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Steep downhill, bumpy roads.and of course heavy braking are when it should lock up. I wonder if they're just not installed at the correct angle making them more sensitive.
My "new" (I bought it new off the lot 5 years ago) 2018 Rebel has been doing this the whole time. I understand how they are supposed to work, but like OP, mine trigger ALL THE ******* TIME. They have damn near CAUSED a few crashes, as I go to check over my shoulder for a merge, and the ****** locks up.

I'm guessing this isn't the sort of thing I should be fixing myself though, for insurance reasons...
 

PaleFlyer

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Not my Ram, buy other vehicles I've had have done this. I ended up pulling the trim off and spraying some WD40 into the mechanism, never had the problem again. Not sure if that would work on our trucks but I figured I'd throw it out there.
That... Sounds like you are probably either removing some of the factory lube, or "adding" gunk (As WD-40 isn't lube...), making the swing weight less able to lock up.

Need to get some WD-40 this weekend...
 

BWL

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Wd40 trick is usually for seatbelt that is hard to pull out because the mechanism is sticking. Not sure it would help it being extra sensitive. There's probably an adjustment on the mechanism somewhere, but likely is made to be non serviceable in some way to keep guys from messing with them and have a failure in a crash.
 
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