grat

Wanted to let people know that the problem with the belt was an anomaly, not something to be expected on most cars. The dealer ordered a replacement belt assembly and it came in (in a week!), scheduled to replace it yesterday and when they took everything apart found a small clip inside the reel assembly that was causing it to jamb. The clip was one of the small spring clips that is used inside the seat back, it appeared to be "extra" and probably came that way from the factory, e.g. it got in there at some point during assembly and wasn't discovered in the inspection process. In truth the belt worked normally except when it "locked" by releasing the belt with slack (by removing the bolt in the floor) it returned to normal operation. So I don't see how an inspector would have found it unless they could see it.

fj..