Inertia seatbelts locked

Just had baby number 2, so to keep the cabriolet I've installed rear seatbelt brackets from Crazy Quiffs. These were installed painlessly thanks to the instructions he included.

Before buying these brackets though, I got some front seat belts from some guy on ebay and they've been sat in my shed for 6 months - have only taken them out the the bag today once the brackets were bolted in. For the life of me I cannot get the belts to release and extend - they're both fully rewound and stuck in the locked position .

I've tried to gently pull on the belts to release but no luck. I've also tried to sit them in an upright position for a few hours hoping that whatever triggers the locking mechanism will automatically right itself - no luck. In an act of desperation I even popped the cap off one of the ends only to find about 10 metres of metal coil throw itself at me! Managed to get it back in though (what a rotten job that it) but still no luck - both belts locked tight and not giving me an inch.

Is there much of a history of these things just breaking? They were sold to me as working, so I have no reason to doubt him. Is there a smart way of releasing the belt that I don't know about? - there doesn't seem to be anywhere else on the unit that I can fiddle with….

Any advice would be very helpful

Ive had this before with renault and peugeot seatbelts so this may be of some help if they have a cap on each side??

As you say one side has a coil, you dont want to open that side for reasons that you are now aware of

The other side has a little mechanism in with a ball bearing.

Hold the seatbelt in the position that it would be mounted in and tap the side while trying to pull the seatbelt out.

If that doesnt work you can take the cap off and pull the locking pawl back to release the seatbelt and it should work ok after its been pulled out once.

Worked for me in the past although taking seatbelts apart probably isnt the best thing to do!

Thanks of the info Bucky - the other side of the seatbelt assembly is fixed - there's nothing you can pop off that side.

I did manage to get it sorted though. I bolted them into the seatbelt bracket, and once they were in exactly the right position, they righted themselves. Unfortunately, I wound the metal coil the wrong way, so had to redo that!

yep its a bit late now but the answer is they're supposed to lock if they arnt in the right orientation, think if you're upside down in a crashed car they wont release and let you fall onto your head. so bolt them into the car and they should release just fine