Seat Belt Pretensioners (Anchor and Retractor)

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2015 Chevrolet Trax and 2015 Buick Encore. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

The seat belt pretensioners (driver and passenger) consist of a housing, seat belt retractor (located in the B-pillar), seat belt anchor (located on the floor), seat belt webbing, an initiator, and a canister of gas generating materials. To view the locations of the seat belt pretentioners refer to Master Electrical Component List (Encore)Master Electrical Component List (Trax) . The initiator is part of the seat belt pretensioner deployment loop. When the vehicle is involved in a collision of sufficient force, the SDM causes current to flow through the seat belt deployment loops to the initiator. Current passing through the initiator ignites the material in the canister producing a rapid generation of gas. The gas produced from this reaction deploys the seat belt pretensioners which removes all of the slack in the seat belts. Depending on the severity of the collision, the seat belt pretensioners may deploy without the frontal air bags deploying, or they will deploy immediately before the frontal air bags deploy. Each seat belt pretensioner is equipped with a shorting bar that is located in the connector of the seat belt pretensioner. The shorting bar shorts the seat belt pretensioner circuitry to prevent unwanted deployment of the seat belt pretensioner when the connector is disconnected.