I have a question mainly for those of us who are on the "portly" side. I weigh in at 280 lbs, and on those (very) rare occasions when I sit in the front passenger seat, I have serious problems with the seat belt retractor locking on me and not releasing. I have tried different ways of fastening the seat belt and it still does the same thing. My service advisor said to slowly end evenly pull the belt all the out of the retractor, fasten it and slowly let it retract, but no matter what I do, the same thing always happens. As soon as I make any move that pulls the belt out of the retractor, It will lock, and not release. If I move VERY slowly it will lock after I lean forward one inch!! If I push myself deeper into the seat to let the "window blind action" loosen the belt, It will only get tighter! I have to remove the belt, let it fully retract, and refasten the belt, but it will still do the same thing!!
Now my service advisor has said two things:
#1. That's how they all work. Every Av does thet same thing, changing the belt will not help.
#2. That's how it's supposed to work, THE PASSENGER SHOULD NOT HAVE/ DOES NOT NEED AS MUCH MOBILITY AS THE DRIVER.
WHAT A CROCK OF DOO-DOO!!
I mentioned to him that my brother has a Yukon XL that has the same problem, but that the GMC dealer was going to replace it for him. His response was, " That is a GMC, not an Av, they are different vehicles and that would be like comparing apples and oranges. Just because it works for a GMC doesn't mean that it will work on an Av." He would not even consider the fact that our interiors are identical and use the same parts.
Now I sat in my brothers Yukon bafore and after. Before, it worked identically to mine. After they changed the belt assembly, IT WORKED LIKE IT SHOULD HAVE. So long as I did not make any sudden moves, it would not lock up on me. Now when it DID lock, I had to unfasten the belt to reset the mechanism.
What I would like to know is for those of us "portly" guys...
1) Does your belt lock up at the slightest movement
2) Has anyone had this problem corrected by replacing the seat belt mechanism. (or in any other way).
For the record, my wife and daughter do not have this problem, nor could the 170 lb service advisor reproduce the problem in front of me. But When I got in and showed him what it was doing, that was when he gave me that cock-and-bull story.
Sorry this post is so long, but I needed to vent too.