Does anyone else have a problem with passengers shutting their seatbelt connector (metal piece) in the door jamb? I rarely carry passengers, but when I do, they always shut their seatbelt in the door jamb after getting out of the rig.

I have dents in all my door jambs from people slamming the doors on the seatbelt. My mother in law even continued to slam the door over and over again because it would not shut

I watched people get out last night, and it appears that the retractor for the seatbelt is not pulling the seatbelt back enough, creating too much slack in the strap. It also appears that people are getting tangled in the belt and "taking it with them" when they get out, then slamming the door on it.

I wouldn't really care if it wasn't for the massive dents this creates.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Is it just a 3rd gen 4Runner problem?

Let me know what you guys think. This is getting really annoying.

 

Its a toyota problem.

there are various articles on the net about taking the tensioner out and realigning the spring to get them to retract.

how many people take the 1/2 hr to actually do this... at least i'm too lazy.
i will some day..
just not today!

 

ya, im having a problem with my belts not retracting right now too. wheres this tensioner trick?

 

I have to do it myself on the '99.

Seatbelt Retractor Fix

 

Weeee I'm not the only one. Every time the girl gets out I gotta fix the belt. So far no "door slams", but the metal part hangs loose and bangs against the side annoying me while I drive.

 

Same problem here and I'm to lazy to take the sides off to get at the retractor

 

Both my Runners have that problem but fortunatly it seems to be more of a problem on the driver's side which I can live with. My pet peeve is people who slam my doors like they are on a dump truck.

 

Oh man, I hate that too! Some people slam my doors so hard that the windows rattle.

 

Yup, I have the same problem too.

I have not checked for dents but will have now that you mention it.

I have found out that even if you slam the doors on my truck, they do not slam as hard as other vehicles. All they do is close hard but no slamming, but that is another topic..

Either way, the thing I am more concerned about is actually breaking the plastic thing where the belt hook is attached to.

The driver side is so bad, it does not retract at all anymore.

It's also kind of emberrasing that my belts do not retract as they should when I have guest in my truck. It makes my truck seem even more cheap and ghetto.

 

I am totally doing this fix, I was contemplating how to go about it just today.
My wife constantly slams them in the door jam and it drives me nuts!

 

It has happened on my 4Runner, happened on my Nissan Maxima, and has recently happened on my JGC. If the belt doesn't have un unobstructed path EVERY TIME, it can happen. I just try to be more careful.

 

my gf closed the door once and the latch part got stuck in the door in a way that I couldn't open the door from the outside because it was jammed so tightly. I had to get inside the truck and almost kick the door back open. It was weird because she didn't even close it that hard.

 

My old 93 Camry had that problem. It had a ton of dents in the door jam from people slamming the seat belt in it.

I am glad there is a writeup, since I can tell that the spring on my 4Runner is getting weak!

 

my dad's 99 lexus rx300 has this problem pretty bad. the tensioner is so lame on the passenger side that he actually loops the belt over the seat when no ones sitting next to him so the metal end wont smack against the door with every turn he makes.

its not a problem in my runner... yet!

 

Isn't his Lexus still covered under warrenty?

 

no car, i mean no car has it as bad as my g/f's 02' mustang. it is junk! there isnt even room for the seatbelt and it falls out and into the door jamb every time! I hate hearing that thwang clunk noise when the door hits the seatbelt and bouces back open

 

yea, hes mentioned it to them, they "fixed" it once, but it still does it, just not as bad.

he doesnt seem to actually care about it, its pretty much the only thing wrong with it. that is one of the quietest, nicest, smoothest riding suv's ever... toyota scored huge with it, i think.

he's upgrading soon... thinking about the gx

 

All of my belts do this too. However, I know it's an issue, and flipping the belt on my side has become second nature. The PO of my truck had kids, and the rear door jambs are all dented up. My VIN Sticker is even cut up..Argh.

I'm doing this fix!

 

Thanks for the fix....my wifes runner does this on the drivers side and it has caused the drivers side door not to shut all the way two times now resulting in a drained battery the next morning...definitely gonna fix it now!

Thanks!

 

I have that problome all hte time on the passanger side. Yelling at them helps you feel better after they slam your belt in the door. I have tons of dents/ scratches from people doing this.