driver's seat belt stuck

Our 96 850 driver's seat belt is stuck, won't move tighter or looser.
Fortunately it is in a position that both my wife and I can use for
driving but want to fix it pronto. Does the trim behind the front door
easily snap off? How do I approach the repair? Would hate to ruin that
trim piece while removing it to get to the mechanism behind.

Marty
Woodstock, NY, USA

 

Is the the mechanism that's siezed or is the belt folded and wrapped
around the mechanism? Both will impair the safe operation of the belt.

Had the latter happen to my old car, but on the passenger side.

Working with a fine-bladed screwdriver, I finally got the loop of belt
shifted enough to work the folded-over section past the mechanism's
locking position, slowly pull the belt out and straighten it, then
rewound it properly.

 

I assume it's the mechanism that has seized but haven't removed the
trim panel yet to see for sure. How do I open up that panel to see
what's going on in there?

 

I removed the trim and found a twist in the belt. Then got it
untwisted, pulled it all the way out and let it rewind itself, started
bolting the mechanism back on but now it won't unwind at all so it's
not even usable at this point. Any way to get it to release, and figure
out if it's still usable?

 

The belt has to be at the exact angle as it's installed in the car or it
won't pull out.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)