04 Es330 Seat Belt Rewind

[JudysES330]

I am short so seat must be up all the way in height and fairly close in depth. When unclicking seat belt it does not retract. Dealer rewound it but it doesn't help. This is a nuisance, anyone know anything I can do. Thanks greatly.

JudysES330

[gbhrps]

Judy,

There was a Lexus TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) several years ago about seat belts that would not retract properly on their own, and I'm assuming that you have this same issue. My wife's last Lexus had this problem, and it was certainly easy enough to correct.

The TSB said that grime from your hands gets transferred to the seat belts over time, and collects on the plastic/metal loop support on the B pillar (the overhead loop at the back of the driver's door right at your ear), and builds up enough friction to prevent the belt from retracting on its own. They suggested lifting the belt up away from the loop to expose the hidden sides of the loop, and just scrape off the grunge collected there with a dull knife or small flat bladed screwdriver. Be sure to do both sides of the loop. On my wife's car, just as soon as the loop was scraped clean, the belt's retraction returned to an as new condition. Good Luck!

[JudysES330]

Great suggestion, I ran right out and did as you said, and waa lah there was a piece of thick plastic tape stick to the loop. But alas, it didn't correct the problem. The retractor is working ok, I now see it is the clearance between the back side of the seat and the post that the mechanism is on. It's as if the back side drivers seat closest to the door is too fat. Could it be the previous owner was a large person and squashed the back so that it makes the sides of the seat protrude more than they should? Could this be corrected?

Judy,

There was a Lexus TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) several years ago about seat belts that would not retract properly on their own, and I'm assuming that you have this same issue. My wife's last Lexus had this problem, and it was certainly easy enough to correct.

The TSB said that grime from your hands gets transferred to the seat belts over time, and collects on the plastic/metal loop support on the B pillar (the overhead loop at the back of the driver's door right at your ear), and builds up enough friction to prevent the belt from retracting on its own. They suggested lifting the belt up away from the loop to expose the hidden sides of the loop, and just scrape off the grunge collected there with a dull knife or small flat bladed screwdriver. Be sure to do both sides of the loop. On my wife's car, just as soon as the loop was scraped clean, the belt's retraction returned to an as new condition. Good Luck!

[gbhrps]

Judy,

Anything can be corrected, but I doubt that a previous owner could have made the seat any wider than it was at the factory.

Two things come to mind: that the car was jacked up in the air incorrectly and the floor pan under the driver's seat has been deformed. This may have caused the driver's seat to lean more towards the side of the car rather than sit properly straight up and down. Sitting in the back seat should let you see if this may have occurred or not. If it has, the floor pan can be pushed back down into its proper position.

The other reason for your problem may be that the plastic finisher on the door post (the B pillar) between the front and rear doors, and that the seat belt mounts to, may not be properly seated in the B pillar, and needs to be reattached correctly to provide the clearance your seat belt needs to work properly without snagging.

Without actually seeing your car its hard to really see what needs to be done, but for sure you should not be having this problem, because it didn't come from the factory this way. A look at my wife's ES330 shows at least 3/4 of an inch clearance between the seat and the B pillar, even with the seat as far forward and as far up as it will go. You may have to go back to the dealership and see if they installed the B pillar finisher correctly, or that the seat's bottom side panel is correctly attached to the seat frame. I suggest that you have a look at other ES's from the same year on their lot and compare the clearance with your car. Good Luck, and keep us posted! We're curious as to how the problem will get resolved.