iLLA said:
Mine don't lock either when the car's not in motion and when you yank on them. But they do lock up when I make abrupt turns or break REALLY hard and I've had them replaced only a couple months ago under the seat belt warranty. Maybe this is only so with the door mounted seat belt system? That's my guess since they are suppose to be 'passive restraint' and not lyke a typical seat belt system.
The door mounted belts are *technically* a passive restraint system, since they are designed to be left latched at all times, even when the door is open and you are getting out of the car. That's why the latch is labeled as an "emergency release", since that's the only time you are supposed to release the belt. While this makes them a passive restraint, just like automatic door-mounted belts that slide back when you start the car, it doesn't mean that they operate any differently from a typical "actve restraint" manual seatbelt. People treat them like a typical seatbelt anyway, and unlatch them to get out of the car -- It's pretty obvious that Honda managed to meet the passive restraint guidelines (a certain percentage of an automaker's cars had to be equipped with them) without giving customers a seatbelt that they find annoying (as people do with automatic belts) by way of calling the standard latch an "emergency release", kind of a loophole.
The "passive" part, by the way, only refers to the fact that instead of having to think about putting on a seatbelt, it is latched all the time or automatically moves into place -- it has nothing to do with how the seatbelt operates in a crash or under heavy braking.
There are two types of retractors: one is the type where once you pull the belt out and let it rewind slightly (as if latching it), you can't pull it out a second time until you let it retract completely. We've all tried to put on this time of seatbelt, where you have to be sure to pull it far enough out on the first pull to avoid it locking and forcing you to let it retract all the way and starting over. The second type of retractor can be pulled out and retracted freely, and only locks up upon hard deceleration. Sometimes it can be very hard to replicate this level of deceleration just by tugging on the belt...but I'm guessing (especially since the hardware is brand new) that if you were to brake very hard or get into an accident, the belt would lock up just fine. If you're really concerned, though, take it back to the dealer just for some peace of mind.
This type of system, by the way, has been pretty much phased out entirely. The first problem was that in systems with an automatic shoulder belt and manual lap belt, a majority of people were lulled into a false sense of security by the automatic portion of the belt and failed to latch the lap belt, and that means in a wreck they would just slide under the shoulder belt, often ending with the belt sliding up to the person's chin and causing severe neck and spinal cord injuries (and decapitation, actually). The problem with systems like the CRX's was that in certain types of wrecks where the door could come unlatched, you would no longer have an effective seatbelt and could easily be thrown from the car. Nowadays, most automakers meet the safety requirements by having a regular old-school 3-point manual (active restraint) seatbelt along with a passive system in the form of one or more airbags.
And that's way more than you wanted to know about later second-gen style passive restraint systems. They should have been outlawed just because the seatbelt can get slammed in the door.
