Seat belt not returning

[kropsch]

The front seat belt of my '97 C 280 is not returning to the self reeling device. Did somebody try a repair in this device ?

I already removed it from the car but I'm afraid to open it without any previous advice. I believe there must be a broken spring that perhaps could be fixed.

[NEA-4311]

If what the guy at the stealership told me is true, dont bother cause there is no way to repair this, just replace it. Or since you re gonna buy a new one, try to fix this anyway.

[Logic]

just a question, is the seat belt all the way out and you dont have enough slack to pull a little harder? sometime the seat belt tensioner gets locked up and if the seat belt is pulled all the way out its hard to get it to pull back in. in some cars it all about having the mech. at the right angle to free the belt. if the spring isn't broken opening the casing can be dangerous since as soon as you open it the spring can pop .

[kropsch]

Hi Jim and Logic:

Thanks for the answers.
The seat belt is all the way out.
It seems to be a broken spring.
I'm not afraid to be hurt by the spring.
My fear is to activate the gas bottle assembled
in the device. Other fear would be to repair the spring
and do something wrong that later could activate the air
bag.

[xvvvz]

Wow. I didn't know the pre-tensioning device had a gas-charged component. I thought it was just a spring loaded contraption.

What about going to the breakers/salvage yard/junk yard and just pulling one off an old car? Some manufacturers in the past would replace defective seatbelt parts free just because it was/is such a safety issue. Honda used to be that way. I don't know if they still are that way or if Mercedes does it either but you might call the stealership to ask.

[kropsch]

I opened the device and the repair was very easy. The spring jumped out from the washer that connects it to the reel shaft.
I put it back with a shim to make it stay there. Mechanically it works very well.
The problem is that the SRS light remains on indicating some malfunction. Disconnect the battery didn't reset it.
Is it possible that only the dealer hand held can reset it ?

[xvvvz]

The dealer computer probably could reset it but you might run into a problem where they don't want to reset it for liability reasons since they did not fix it themselves. There are SRS code resetters sold on ebay that might (or might not) reset this code for you.

[kropsch]

Hi XVVVZ:

Thanks for the answer. I will go to the dealer. Probably this will be the most difficult part of the fix.