Question for HyundaiTech

The drivers seat belt on my 99 Sonata was not retracting so I decided to see
if I could use some lubricate to loosen it up. I couldn't get to it very
well recessed in the door column, so I decided to take it out so as to
see/work on it better. Big Mistake. As soon as I took it out , it rolled up
more and now will not pull out at all. Its now hanging halfway up the
column. Is there any way to get this back at least the way it was? I fell
pretty dumb now to even have messed with it. I had to take the connector
off to remove it and now it can't reach down enough to reconnect. Thanks
for any assistance.

 

OK, after taking a break and cooling off, I figured out how to get it back
in place. Still doesn't retract properly but that's ok. New problem, while
I was figuring out what to do, I had to move it out of the drive way so wife
could get the other car out to go to a Dr. appointment. Now the air bag lite
is on and will not go off. It won't go off by itself now, right? Any issue
on leaving it on? What about state pollution test? Any ideas on turning it
off. What's your guessable on what dealer charges? thanks

 

Partner wrote:
<'99 Sonata seat belt not retracting>

I can't address your particular problem, but in the past when I
had "clunkers" I solved the retraction problem by:

-extending the belts all the way out
-soaking them with some warm water and dish detergent, not
immersing them, just saturating them
-squeezing out the water
-rinse, lather, repeat
-then, apply Son of a Gun or similar to the belts and guides

So far, it has always worked and not caused any problems.
Admittedly, I have not been in an accident. I did my '93 Nissan
Sentra when I got it two years ago and it's still retracting.

 

I think it'll go off after some number of self-tests with no issue,
but this may be a large number. If you explain to the dealer what
happened, they may extinguish the lamp for 0.5 hour labor, or even for
free if they're feeling really nice.

In case this wasn't what you figured out, the easy way of reinstalling
the seat belt is to unbolt the upper anchor, reinstall the retractor
(which will keep the retractor in the proper orientation), and then
extend the belt to reinstall the upper anchor.