When putting the back seat upright from a fold position, the seatbelt would not release tension, and kept getting tighter. Now the back seat will not return to the proper position, and the seat belt will not loosen.

When a seatbelt locks up it is usually due to dirt or corrosion in the automatic locking mechanism. The mechanism can't release because it is under tension. If you get into the cover that houses the release mechanism for the seatbelt, you may be able to hit it with a little wd-40. You do have to release that tension so that the lock will spring back to the open position and allow the seatbelt to retract. Try the lube. Sometimes the galvanized coating on the internal parts causes a seize.

You have to unbolt it on the bottom; it is one bolt holding it on the bottom underneath the seat. Once you get it released, it should be fine. You will have to remember to pull some slack out and tie a knot in the belt whenever you fold the seats down.

Hey everyone--after searching in vain for an entire 10 days, and absolutely REFUSING to pay Ford's $100 diagnosis fee, and their $300 replacement suggestion ($400??), I decided to figure this out myself. And I did. Do the following to let loose the tension that has kept your seat stuck in the down position (though my truck is a 2008 Ford Escape, I have a strong feeling this is the case with any vehicle):

1. Remove the seat bottoms (which are folded forward and upward against the back of the front seats). To do this, find the bars that are bracketed into the floor. There may or may not be a little yellow lever on one of the two brackets. If so, flip it and slide the bar out. If it stops, pull the other side out. Doing this should allow you to completely remove the seat from the car. Repeat with other side.

Now you should have plenty of room to work. Move front seats forward, and you've got even more.

2. Remove your back seats entirely. (Sorry- it's a must.) For many, you will require either one or both of these:
One Torx T-50 socket to remove T-50 bolt (which bolts seat belt latches to the floor)
One Torx T-55 (which bolts the folding seat into the bracket that bolts seats to the floor).
One socket extension (tip: the extension gives you much more torque, and its easier to remove bolts) and
One a 5/8" socket. (See continuation after following tip.)

TIP: if you have a 40/60 split, you have to remove the 40 first! This will allow you room to move around the 60 seat and its stuck belt.

Continued:
Remove bolts that bolt bracket to car floor (this is the 40 seat). I believe there's two: 1 directly below the seat, and 1 that also bolts the 60 seat (you'll be using the 5/8" here)-- Don't hold me to it, though, as I've seen some different stuff. Pull seat out of the way to avoid potential damage. NOTE: THOSE BRACKETS ARE SHARP. WATCH THE LEATHER/SEAT MATERIAL-- AND YOUR HANDS.)

2. Remove bolts on the 60. Though the top part of your seat is down, you should be able to the bolt that keeps the bracket to the floor beneath where the seat cushion would be (and where the upper part of the seat is laying flat). A ratchet would probably be best for this since you can keep the socket in place and wind the thing completely out. I should say here that my seat couldn't have been tighter to the floor. If I got mine out, I'm sure you can, too.

Now here come the tricky, but verrrrry easy parts. They are vital.

1. Now that the brackets are off of the floor, the 60 seat should now be free-floating in your hands, but tethered by the T50 bolt that is keeping the seatbelt buckle to the floor. Remove it. Now you should be able to remove the seat altogether. I had to bring mine inside where it wasn't 15 degrees in my garage, but I believe you'll do these parts in the next five minutes. Do this next:

2. TIP the 60 SEAT UPRIGHT (just like it would if things were back to the normal operational mode). This is VITAL. If you cannot fix it with two or three tugs from here (don't waste more time than this-- the final part is coming), then do this next:

3. Find the latch on the back of the seat that locks onto the latch of the car. Using two gloved fingers (or tools), press the latch inward until it's in the LOCKED position (fooling it into thinking you've put it up and latched into into the truck bracket).
This should have also reset the button or lever that you used to unlock the seat in the first place. Now give your belt a tug. It should come loose like normal.

IMPORTANT NOTE: seatbelt tensioners rely on gravity (thing momentum during a crash) that locks the belt. If the seat is not sitting UPRIGHT (like in normal use mode), that mechanism is going to obey gravity if it is tilted backward or forward (which is why the seat got in the downward position to begin with) and lock.

That's it. Bolt the seats back in, and go buy yourself $400 worth of rewards.

Hey everyone--after searching in vain for an entire 10 days, and absolutely REFUSING to pay Ford's $100 diagnosis fee, and their $300 replacement suggestion ($400??), I decided to figure this out myself. And I did. Do the following to let loose the tension that has kept your seat stuck in the down position (though my truck is a 2008 Ford Escape, I have a strong feeling this is the case with any vehicle):

1. Remove the seat bottoms (which are folded forward and upward against the back of the front seats). To do this, find the bars that are bracketed into the floor. There may or may not be a little yellow lever on one of the two brackets. If so, flip it and slide the bar out. If it stops, pull the other side out. Doing this should allow you to completely remove the seat from the car. Repeat with other side.

Now you should have plenty of room to work. Move front seats forward, and you've got even more.

2. Remove your back seats entirely. (Sorry- it's a must.) For many, you will require either one or both of these:
One Torx T-50 socket to remove T-50 bolt (which bolts seat belt latches to the floor)
One Torx T-55 (which bolts the folding seat into the bracket that bolts seats to the floor).
One socket extension (tip: the extension gives you much more torque, and its easier to remove bolts) and
One a 5/8" socket. (See continuation after following tip.)

TIP: if you have a 40/60 split, you have to remove the 40 first! This will allow you room to move around the 60 seat and its stuck belt.

Continued:
Remove bolts that bolt bracket to car floor (this is the 40 seat). I believe there's two: 1 directly below the seat, and 1 that also bolts the 60 seat (you'll be using the 5/8" here)-- Don't hold me to it, though, as I've seen some different stuff. Pull seat out of the way to avoid potential damage. NOTE: THOSE BRACKETS ARE SHARP. WATCH THE LEATHER/SEAT MATERIAL-- AND YOUR HANDS.)

2. Remove bolts on the 60. Though the top part of your seat is down, you should be able to the bolt that keeps the bracket to the floor beneath where the seat cushion would be (and where the upper part of the seat is laying flat). A ratchet would probably be best for this since you can keep the socket in place and wind the thing completely out. I should say here that my seat couldn't have been tighter to the floor. If I got mine out, I'm sure you can, too.

Now here come the tricky, but verrrrry easy parts. They are vital.

1. Now that the brackets are off of the floor, the 60 seat should now be free-floating in your hands, but tethered by the T50 bolt that is keeping the seatbelt buckle to the floor. Remove it. Now you should be able to remove the seat altogether. I had to bring mine inside where it wasn't 15 degrees in my garage, but I believe you'll do these parts in the next five minutes. Do this next:

2. TIP the 60 SEAT UPRIGHT (just like it would if things were back to the normal operational mode). This is VITAL. If you cannot fix it with two or three tugs from here (don't waste more time than this-- the final part is coming), then do this next:

3. Find the latch on the back of the seat that locks onto the latch of the car. Using two gloved fingers (or tools), press the latch inward until it's in the LOCKED position (fooling it into thinking you've put it up and latched into into the truck bracket).
This should have also reset the button or lever that you used to unlock the seat in the first place. Now give your belt a tug. It should come loose like normal.

IMPORTANT NOTE: seatbelt tensioners rely on gravity (thing momentum during a crash) that locks the belt. If the seat is not sitting UPRIGHT (like in normal use mode), that mechanism is going to obey gravity if it is tilted backward or forward (which is why the seat got in the downward position to begin with) and lock.

That's it. Bolt the seats back in, and go buy yourself $400 worth of rewards.

That just happened to our 05 equinox. We have car seats so one of the seats was reclined just a bit. This will cause the seatbelt to lock. We took out the car seat, folded down the other seat and folded it back. It cause the locked seat to release and unfold.

I just solved the problem for a stuck rear center seat belt in my 2002 Jetta.

Flip the base seat cushion forward against the front seat backs. Trace down along the belt to its tether point on the floor. The belt is sewn around a steel loop. The loop is anchored to a black steel hook. A thin silvery retainer plate is spring tensioned on top of the loop to prevent it from sliding off of the hook when the seat back is folded.

Therefore, you need to press the silvery retainer plate away from the hook (push up) to allow the loop to be slid from the hook. The belt was tight with the seat back in the upright position, so it was necessary to fold the seat back forward to create slack in the belt. Now push the belt loop towards the trunk and slide it off of the end of the hook (only possible with the retainer plate pushed up out of the way).

Now with total release of tension on the system via the bottom end of the seat belt being untethered and with the seat back returned to the upright position, normal extension and retraction of the belt will be reestablished. Next, simply extend the seat belt and slide the loop back into place over the floor hook. It snaps past the silvery retainer plate without all the effort required to hold the plate up during removal of the loop during disassembly.

Check again, the seat belt should be extending and retracting properly. Now just put the seat cushion back into regular position and you will be able to safely buckle up three people across the back seat.

It took about as long to do this repair as it has taken to post this answer to the problem. Note, the seat belt safety mechanism only allows normal extension and retraction of the belt when the seat back is upright.

Hi, We are having the same problem with our son's car. Were you able to come up with a solution?

They have a problem with the seatbelt retractor getting jammed up causing the belt to jam & not let the rear seat fold back up.The easiest way to get the seat back up is to cut the seatbelt & fold up the seat.Then the rear seat needs to be disassembled to gain access to the seatbelt retractor assy which has the seat belt made on.Hopefully it's still under warranty or Ext. warranty.hope this helps

To fix that scenario, I have to get to the bolts anchoring the seat belt which can be found under the rear seat. Which a socket wrench, remove the bolt freeing the seatbelt to allow you room to release the lock to pull the belt out from the top of the back seat. You may now push the back seat into its upright position and then refasten the seatbelts with the bolt to it's former position under the back seat.

When I in later times need to lower the back seat, I will either loop the seatbelt around the head rest or tie two belts together allowing for slack in case the belt tightens again when trying to move the seat back to its original position.

.....Very frustrating!!!