I don't use my 244's rear seat often, but after my sister broke a seat belt buckle by slamming a rear door on it I noticed that the rear seat belt retractors are pretty weak. They don't pull the belt back up unless you feed it manually. I've only had my car since '03.

Can you original owners tell me if they're always like that, or does that come with age? Also, would I have to replace the retractor mechanism along with the belt and buckle, or can I remove and replace just the belt and buckle?

Excellent advice from Art Bernstein.

Washing the fabric of the belts really does work. And you can do it without risk to the retracting mechanism by fully extending the belt and holding it fully extended with a couple of sturdy spring clamps. I did mine by removing the whole kit from the car. It did involve some maneuvering around interior trim pieces, but it did allow us to thoroughly soak the belts.

First tried this to help resurrect my brother-in-law's work truck. Not hard to imagine the grime that accumulated in those belts. The driver's side got so stiff that it was almost sharp!

Good luck with it!

I am pretty sure the Volvo engineers do not want us
messing with the deep innards of the belt system.
IE: Swapping the belts.
I opened the other end of a 140 spool,
and the coil spring from hell jumped out
and when I got deeper,a special rivet assembly
made it impossible to swap the belt anyway.
I would have gone to the JY like I did for Mom's
rear 245 belts,but the 140's are dried up now
even in Cali.
Check the wire clip as the other poster so kindly
demonstrated,then I vote JY.
--
69-145-S ; 71-145-S ; 72-145-E ; 72-1800-ES ; 87-245-DL

Hi,

I think most of us have to help the belts back in on our older 240s. On our first one, my daughter's 83, we spent some time learning the seat belt innards.

The biggest improvement getting them to retract like new again was made by washing the belts, a tedious process of dipping sections of the length into a soapwater solution, scrubbing, rinsing, and clipping them open to dry. We came to the conclusion the old and stiff fabric was no match for the springs, and have mostly lived with the need to guide the belts back before slamming the door on them.

Wherever you would get a replacement belt, it would probably be just as easy to get the whole assembly already wound on the retractor. I am assuming NEW parts are beyond your consideration. Sorry, I do not fit the "original owner" spec.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings...but this one is real, and it's important.

So please send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list:

If someone comes to your front door saying they are conducting a survey on deer ticks and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!!

IT IS A SCAM; they only want to see you naked.

I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid now....

I didn't check the Brickboard yesterday. Now I sure wish I had. The neighbors are still laughing.

Art, thanks for getting my day off to a good start.