sashir

Hello,

This is regarding a 2013 Q7 TDI PP.
A few days back, when my daughter unbuckled the center seat belt in the second row, the seat belt did not retract back. I didn't think much of it then, and thought that it got twisted and hence couldn't move.

I took a closer look at it yesterday, and tried to get the seat belt to go back all the way. However, it is stuck, and when I try to pull on it just makes a click sound.

Any ideas or suggestions on how I can fix this? The car was not in an accident, and is not parked on an incline.

Thanks!

sashir

Bump!! Anyone?

iconoclast

inertia reel is probably jammed and assumes you were in accident.
the easiest way to resolve this is to get access to the belt and open the side with the ratchet (not the spring) once you remove the cover you will see there is a sprocket with a hammer. release the hammer and the belt should retract. if this does not resolve your issue you need a new seatbelt assy.

sashir

Thank you iconoclast!
Are there any instructions on how to open up the rear of the seat to get to the seat belt? I would like to check this out myself.

I visited the dealer, and they want to charge $160 or so to open it up and take a look. They say its likely the seatbelt needs to be replaced at a cost of $400 + 700 labor
The center seat is only used occasionally, and my car is just a few months out of the 4 year warranty

CompNrdCR

Make sure its not the child seat lock. You have to pull it all the way out to disengage the lock. The lock is used to mount car seats and child boosters securely in place.

sashir

The seat belt is stuck mid way - I cannot pull it out any more, and it does not retract back either.

CompNrdCR

Damn... Wonder why the least used seat belt failed. I thought I had a brilliant idea about the auto locking feature for child seats. Maybe if you do get back in there it just needs to be un-jammed.

bdogChicago

We're you ever able to access and ilen the rear centet seatbelt? We're having the same issue; e.g. lowered the second row to access the third row at which time it locked .our mechanic was able to disconnect the belt allowing us to raise the seat but we're currently without a middle seatbelt - a necessity for us as we're hauling kids. I found a place (safety restore - https://www.safetyrestore.com/) that can reset the original belt mechanism but we have to remove it.

sashir

I was able to get this fixed by the dealer as part of the TDI Bridge warranty. The problem was that someone (one of the kids being hauled around, probably!) stuck in a wooden stick (like a chopstick) in the hole on the seat that the seat belt retracts into. This had caused the mechanism to get jammed up. The seat belt could have been used after it was removed, but the dealer suggested replacing it since it is a safety component.

bdogChicago

Thanks. Ours is used and the TDI warranty already addressed so we'll have to address ourselves. Our mechanic is excellent but has never dealt with the seatbelt and/or had to disassemble a seat, the latter of which is my understanding must be done in order to access the seatbelt latching mechanism.