winter4w

So since I owned my 96 LS400, the passenger seatbelt always had trouble retracting while it was plugged in. However, once you would unbuckle it, zip it back in and buckle it up again, it will hold until you lean down or move making it extend. Once extended it would become lose again requiring you to unbuckle it and re-buckle it again. I am wondering if any of you have had this issue with your LS and if there is an easy fix. I am thinking of calling the dealer and see if they can replace it for free since I have heard of Honda replacing broken seatbelts from older cars. The seatbelt does lockup still so if there was a crash I believe it would be ok as long as it is not to loose on the passenger.

Thanks

Banshee365

Many many threads on this. I think only grey seat belt pretensioners are available from Lexus. Black and beige are discontinued.

You can try soaking the seat belts to clean them. They get a little stiff from body cheese and get slow to retract. Many have had success doing this.

hotdawwg

Yeah mine do the same thing. I need to clean mine bad.

winter4w

Ok would I need to disassemble the whole thing or just clean them by pulling it out all the way? Also what would you recommend I use to clean them for the best results.

It's weird because if the car is off or it is not plugged in it would have a strong retraction, but if the vehicle is on and its plugged in once you extend it has an issue with going back. I am wondering if there is something in there that's suppose to give it more of a luxury feel.

Losiracer2

I've got the same problem on my 97. At first I had a broken seatbelt connector, part that the belt slides along, and my belt retractor was fine so I went to the JY to find a similar colored tan replacement. I got an entire D/S seatbelt assembly for about 15 bucks in tan. I got one out of a 96 and mine being a 97, I'm not sure if the side airbag equipped models had a different belt assembly needed.

Anyways, I cleaned it up outside the car, by pulling the belt all the way out and attaching a clip to hold it out, in a solution of warm water and tide detergent and then rinsed all the detergent water off the belt with a clean bowl of warm water. It made the belt a lot more pliable and softer to the touch, kinda how my new Accord belts felt after Honda replaced them in my 93 accord back in 2010. But as you described, I have the same problem now on my replacement tan belt, it only retracts with the buckle undone and then gets loose when buckled. There has to be another spring in there that's lost tension when buckled.

I'm almost to the point of reinstalling my broken latch D/S seatbelt as that problem seems less annoying, although potentially unsafe as the belt can slip out of the latch ear in the event of an accident, hence the reason for the new seatbelt assembly.

I really don't want to put black seatbelts in my tan interior and I've even tried going to a Lexus dealer to have them look at it and cover it under some type of warranty but I never heard back from them.

FYI a new seatbelt assembly is about 337 bucks from the dealer.

winter4w

Looking around I found that the LS400 belts have a tension reducer when plugged in. So once you unplug it that turns off and the belt retracts meaning the tension reducer must not be working properly. I also don't want black seatbelts in mine and I am a bit shocked why they would stop making them.

So has anyone had this issue with the tension reducer and were they able to fix it?

winter4w

So I cleaned it out, and I will say it does retract better and feel tighter on the chest when the car is off. However, if the vehicle is on and it is plugged in it, wont retract. I made a video showing the issue since it seems easier to show a visual of it.

Also, @Losiracer2 do you have the same issue as in the video?

Losiracer2

yes, my driver belt does the same thing. I'm not sure about my passenger belt since most of the time I drive the car with no one else in the car. I'm wondering if there is a way that we can use rear seat belt retractors for the front as my rears are very springy and have tons of tension.

winter4w

Ya, my driver side belt is fine it's just the passenger belt that does this. I did read online about people saying to unplug a cable, but I don't think anything that involves the safety of the car should be unplugged. I am unsure if we can use the rear belts since the two up front I believe are designed differently however don't quote me on that.

winter4w

Thought I might share this with you and to whoever else is haveing this issue. So reading here (https://forums.edmunds.com/discussio...-ls-seat-belts) it looks like if you disconnect the electric connection to the retractor that "shifts" the retractor into low tension mode should fix it. However, I am unsure if that may bring more safety issues (Someone, please respond about if it's safe to do this), however reading the comments people said they called Lexus Customer Care and were able to get the dealer to inspect it and fix it for free.

Losiracer2

I think if you disconnect the connector, in the event of an accident, it would no longer tension with the charged cylinder by pulling the belt tight against you to hold you back. My guess is the airbags deploying would trigger that cylinder to fire and in order to do so, it would need some type of electrical input.

winter4w

Damm, Do you know if Lexus will replace a Used seatbelt if I found a tan one?

Losiracer2

As in, you taking in the used one to a dealer and have them do it? I'm thinking they might not, as anything safety related they'll probably only replace with new.

I did mine in about an hours time with the driver seat in, it wasn't that difficult, just broke one plastic clip on a trim piece but it still clips to the B-pillar fine.

winter4w

Yea I contacted the dealer near me. They said they will probably only do it new since it was a safety item. Did you get yours used or new? Was it the same color as the previous one?

Losiracer2

I purchased mine used from Ecology Auto parts in Phoenix, back when they were in business about a year ago. Its the same color tan as my interior but was pretty dirty. The car had 210k on it. Now the yard is owned by a private party and they remove the parts themselves, most likely charging 3-4x what a U pull it yard charges.

I paid less than $10 for the entire seatbelt assembly on a 50% off day they had once a month. About a year ago, I bought all the necessary parts for my LS400 as it was new to me and I wanted to fix it all up. I ended up getting a 96 gauge cluster for about $18 that day as well as rear brake rotors, nearly new, for 8 bucks a piece. I bought the cluster just in case one of my LED needles burns out since those are expensive to fix. I wanted to do a tune up as well, since the plug wires were last done at 89k back in 2005 according to the VIN records from Lexus Drivers website, so luckily I found relatively fresh NGK wires, caps and rotors for about 20 bucks total. I found some nice Depo clear headlights, bumper lights and corner lights all for $110. So it definitely pays to look through cars and find recently replaced parts at a JY for a fraction of the cost of new.

I have good luck searching on Row52.com for LS400s, the Pull N Save yards in Glendale and Phoenix always display what they have on hand and I think had a couple 97s in stock between the two places. You should see the Glendale yard, it has a fully stocked convenience store as you enter and the yard is fully paved.....definitely the nicest yard in the country by far I think.