I have not tried this yet, but I think the seatbelt retract problem is not in the mechanism, but in the piece that redirects the seatbelt. My reasoning for this is that when I replaced my speakers this summer I intended to get to the seatbelt mechanism and try to fix it. When I started to try to make it hang up and not retract I could not duplicate the problem. I tried it on both of them with no results, the damn seatbelt retracted as fast and as quickly as other vehicles I have been around. I started looking at the whole mechanism and I think the plastic piece causes enough friction with too tight of tolerances to allow it to retract. The spring in the mechanism is not strong enough to overcome the friction, so the fix as I understend it is to strengthen(tighten) the spring to overcome the friction.

I have a few concerns with this approach. Mainly I think that taking apart the seatbelt mechanism and adjusting it may cause unforeseen problems in the future. Vehicles with airbags also have an explosive charge built in the retracting mechanism, called a pre-tensioner. In the event of an accident that triggers an airbag, the pre-tensioner tightens the seatbelt to pull the person back into the seat so as to minimize the air bags negative features. It is right there where a person would be working on the drivers side retracting mechanism. I checked my FSM and I could not find the pre-tensioner but I am sure I remember seeing the yellow wiring that denotes SRS equipment. This thing should not go off until it receives a signal from the SRS ECU.

I have checked the retraction on all four of my seatbelts and they all are quick retracting if I try it from ahead of the anchor, if I pull the belt after the anchor they hang up and do not retract right. It seems that if a way could be found to either smooth the area or increase the diameter of the turning area it would work better. Our Subaru has plastic anchors also, but they are bigger in diameter and retract better.

Someday I intend to get around to trying this fix, mainly I wanted to run it by everyone to see what you think.