seat belts stuck

[Benedict]

I have a 2008 ram 3500 quad cab when latched the front passenger and both rear passenger seat belts lock, meaning you cannot lean foreward, if you move back in the seat it locks back more, any help, is this normal ?

 

[EricBu12]

had the same thing. . there is a pretty easy fix to remedy it. .

Take off plastic cover that hides the seatbelt mechanism at the bottom.
unbolt the Ratchet mechanism, there is a clear/opaque cover on one end.

take that cover off and you will see a very small black plastic hammer ratchet. this is what is locking you in. . take that little black hammer off and throw away. put cover back on. bolt ratchet back in and cover back on. . now seatbelt works as normal. .

The reason for that extra little ratchet is for baby seats to lock in tight. . Take the back ones off the same way.

 

[Blakers]

I had the same problem on my 03, but never took it too seriously until I had to ride in the passenger seat and had to hold the seat belt out away from me to prevent being strangled. I thought the ratchet had corroded or something until I saw Eric's post.

Unfortunately I messed up! Since I accessed my seat tensioner from the front and saw a plastic cover I assume was the one to remove the child seat feature. It was the plastic section that contained the clock spring. When I removed it, it gave a nice whirl as it unwound. After several attempts, I was able to get the spring wound back up and back on.

After this, I went to the back side and found the child seat strangling feature and was able to pry it off and disablle it as Eric says. After everything was re-assembled it seemed to work fine.

Blake