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Collision & body

Seat Belt Repair & Replacement

A seat belt in a modern car is a one-time device in the same way an airbag is. Once it has restrained someone in a collision, it is finished.

What happens to a belt in a crash

Most cars fire a pretensioner that pulls the slack out of the belt in the first fraction of a second, then a load limiter lets it pay out under control so the belt does not injure the person it is holding. Both are consumed in the process. A retractor that will not pull out afterwards has locked for exactly that reason.

Why it is replaced rather than reset

A used pretensioner cannot be recharged, and webbing that has been through a load limiter has stretched. It may still latch and still look normal, which is the dangerous part. It will not perform the same way a second time.

It goes with the airbag work

Belts, pretensioners and airbags are one restraint system controlled by one module. They are inspected together after a collision, because replacing one and leaving another is how a car leaves a shop looking repaired and is not.

While the car is here

One shop, both halves.

If it has been hit and it also needs mechanical work, it does not need to go anywhere else.