Just going through a few headaches at the moment with my octavia and want to get a quick heads up about the up-coming MOT. Both my front seatbelts do not retract back i think the springs have gone and want to know that if un-clicking a seat belt and then it dosent retract back is this an oficial MOT fail.

Thanks guys

They dont need to retract all the way back, but they must keep you snug in your seat and not become baggy whilst in use. eg, if you lean forward and then back then the belt must retract back as you sit back in your seat,

Sometimes they might just be stuck with the dirt and fluff that gets on them when you're wearing them. Somewhere on here it says try using spray polish to clean the whole belt.

My Octy just passed it's MOT with an advisory that they couldn't check the rear seatbelt because a child seat was in the way

Why not just move it then? Even worse, that the one belt they don't test is the most important

My Octy just passed it's MOT with an advisory that they couldn't check the rear seatbelt because a child seat was in the way

Why not just move it then? Even worse, that the one belt they don't test is the most important

They arent allowed to dude, same as if i m servicing a car, i wont touch the child seat, its due to our nanny state as people can sue if their child is injured in an accident and a garage removed and re fitted the baby seat previously

Oh and most mot testers will fail for the belt not retracting or even for retracting slowly

According to http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_510.htm the belts must take up all slack when they're fastened, but the seats are unoccupied. There is no requirement for them to retract fully, or even quickly, to a "stowed" position though.

Mine was slow, I sparyed some pledge polish on it and gave it a good wipe, it works as good as new now!

Mine was slow, I sparyed some pledge polish on it and gave it a good wipe, it works as good as new now!

Ah ha. Proof that it works

Mine was slow, I sparyed some pledge polish on it and gave it a good wipe, it works as good as new now!

I will give this a go, so do you just pull the whole belt out and then spray both sides with the polish, and is pledge the best polish to use for this job

Pull it out, spray the length and give it a good scrub. You will be amazed.

Pull it out, spray the length and give it a good scrub. You will be amazed.

OMG It worked sprayed both the front belts and gave them a good rub (passers by looking at me strange) must of been the polish on seatbelts but yeah they are as good as new, thanks for that.

I personally wouldn't want to spray any chemicals of any type onto my seatbelts but there you go!

You'd be surprised at what affects polymeric materials, but if you are sure that Skoda have tested the belts for resistance to Pledge carry on. It's not on any of the lists of chemicals that we use to test with at work as far as I can remember.

I'm wondering how much of that is the Pledge, and how much the result of the "polishing" flattening the webbing?

If you are worried about the corrosive properties of Pledge (personally I'm not), you can use silicon spray instead. Silicon is proper inert and cannot damage anything.

iep

Pledge is going to do feck all to the seatbelt. Its a good little trick and makes them as good as new.

Pledge is going to do feck all to the seatbelt. Its a good little trick and makes them as good as new.

OK, I'm only a test engineer, what do I know ?

I don't know whether or not Pledge (or silicone spray) will react with nylon webbing, but I do know that in a shunt you could easily be effectively hanging a ton or so of weight off your seatbelt. Does doing something that might weaken it seem so clever now?

and I am a checmical engineer who deals with acids and solvents everyday. I'm not trying to start an internet war but seat belts have to be designed to withstand a lot of abuse and the odd bit of pledge isn't going to cause any harm.

and I am a checmical engineer who deals with acids and solvents everyday. I'm not trying to start an internet war but seat belts have to be designed to withstand a lot of abuse and the odd bit of pledge isn't going to cause any harm.

wot about Mr Sheen?

and I am a checmical engineer who deals with acids and solvents everyday. I'm not trying to start an internet war but seat belts have to be designed to withstand a lot of abuse and the odd bit of pledge isn't going to cause any harm.

I don't want to start a war either. All I am saying is that we test lots of automotive interior components with all manor of chemicals ranging from the usual interior cleaners and vehicle fluids though to tomato ketchup, orange juice and synthetic perspiration and I have never known household polish be on any OEM specified test chemical list. For that reason and having seen some of strange effects that common fluids can have when you wouldn't expect it I would not suggest to anyone that they spray an untested chemical onto a piece of safety critical equipment on a vehicle. You won't find out whether any damage has occurred until you need the belt...

The handbook says not to clean the seatbelts with anything other than water and mild detergent.

Jonathan_1.8T - I hear that Mr Sheen causes seat belt webbing to turn pink and then disolve

I don't want to start a war either. All I am saying is that we test lots of automotive interior components with all manor of chemicals ranging from the usual interior cleaners and vehicle fluids though to tomato ketchup, orange juice and synthetic perspiration and I have never known household polish be on any OEM specified test chemical list. For that reason and having seen some of strange effects that common fluids can have when you wouldn't expect it I would not suggest to anyone that they spray an untested chemical onto a piece of safety critical equipment on a vehicle. You won't find out whether any damage has occurred until you need the belt...

The handbook says not to clean the seatbelts with anything other than water and mild detergent.

Jonathan_1.8T - I hear that Mr Sheen causes seat belt webbing to turn pink and then disolve

That's a fair comment, but have all detergents been tested :( (opens up a can of worms) I personally would prefer to have a seat belt that fully retracts than one that is loose. I don't know the stats but how often do you hear of a seat belt failing in an accident? They are bloody strong, we used to cut them out of scrapped cars and use them for towing.

Madmike01uk does not accept any responsibility for people using pledge (other brands are available) on their seat belts.

"...water and mild detergent" (my emphasis). I'd be prepared to say that all mild detergents are pretty much the same chemically; they're things like "Dreft" that don't contain "non-ionic surficeants", "parfam", "activated oxygen" and the like.

Edited 14 January, 201016 yr by KenONeill

Just had this problem with seatbelt, checked for dirt etc on belt everything look fine, but it didn't want to rewind, so potential MOT failure.

Stripped the seat belt out and had a look, checked for anything jammed between the reel and sides of frame, nothing evident.

Had some GT85 which is a ptfe lubricant and sprayed this down the sides of reel, not on belt

Exercised the belt again, and the belt suddenly started to retract OK, must have had a dry shaft/seal

Worth a try, now back in working

Seatbelts can be manually retracted to pass an MOT.

The 'Pledge' trick worked for me except I used just a damp cloth & gave the belt a good hard rubbing!

That was about 6 months ago; belts are starting to stick again now. I guess a wipe off each time you clean the interior (or just before the M.O.T. ) would do the trick.