I was sitting behind the wheel at a traffic light, trying to pick something up at the far end of the passenger side floor. In doing so, I guess I hyper-extended the shoulder seat belt, and now it will not retract.

Any suggestions? I know they load the seat belt recoil area with gunpowder, so I'll be careful in there.

jeff
1991 300d, W124, 189k

I had a similar issue...I managed to get it retracted by jockeying it around and then carefully took it off the car and cleaned it up. Search the forum for procedure and be sure to avoid taking the side apart that holds the recoil spring!

__________________
1985 300D 172,110mi and goin' strong

I got it fixed. It was relatively easy. Took off the side pillar cover, disconnected the power to the seatbelt tensioner, took it out (just one bolt), and toyed with it a bit, and it started working again.

I also tried to readjust the tensioner itself, after 24 years, it doesn't retract as well as it used to. Found a great how to video on YouTube. Keywords "mercedes lazy seatbelt". Pulled the belt the whole way out, hand rewound the spring like the guy showed. I haven't been able to test that out yet, but hopefully that will fix my seat belt tensioner!