Safety Belt Anchor Pretensioners, Safety Belt Buckle Pretensioners, Safety Belt Retractor Pretensioners and Load Limiting Safety Belt Retractors - In-Vehicle Deployment

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2014 Ford F-150. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

WARNING: Never disassemble or tamper with seat belt deployable components, including pretensioners, load limiters and inflators. Never back probe deployable device electrical connectors. Tampering or back probing may cause an accidental deployment and result in personal injury or death.

WARNING: Deploy all supplemental restraint system (SRS) devices (airbags, pretensioners, load limiters, etc.) outdoors with all personnel at least 9 meters (30 feet) away to make sure of personal safety. Due to the loud report which occurs when an SRS device is deployed, hearing protection is required. Failure to follow these instructions may result in serious personal injury.

NOTE: A typical safety belt buckle and retractor disposal is shown that is similar for all vehicles.

Depower the SRS . Refer to SUPPLEMENTAL RESTRAINT SYSTEM (SRS) DEPOWERING AND REPOWERING in the General Procedures portion of this article.
Access the safety belt anchor, buckle or retractor electrical connectors. For additional information, refer to SAFETY BELT SYSTEM .
Cut each of the safety belt anchor, buckle or retractor wires, leaving at least 101.6 mm (4 in) to work with.
Remove any sheathing (if present) and strip the insulation from the ends of the cut wires.
Make a jumper harness to deploy the safety belt anchor, buckle or retractor.
- Obtain 2 wires (20 gauge minimum) at least 9.14 m (30 ft) long and strip both ends of each wire.
- At one end of the jumper harness, connect the wires together.
NOTE: Typical safety belt retractor pretensioner shown, other safety belt anchor pretensioners, buckle pretensioners and load-limiting retractors are similar.

Using the end of the jumper harness that the wires are not connected together, attach each wire of the jumper harness to each wire of the safety belt anchor, buckle or retractor. Use tape or other insulating material to make sure that the leads do not make contact with each other.

Fig 1: Attaching Wire Of Jumper Harness To Wire Of Safety Belt Buckle
Courtesy of FORD MOTOR CO.
Remain at least 9.14 m (30 ft) away from the safety belt anchor, buckle or retractor.
From the end of the jumper harness that is not connected to the safety belt anchor, buckle or retractor, disconnect the 2 wires of the jumper harness from each other.
Deploy the safety belt anchor pretensioner, buckle pretensioner or retractor pretensioner by touching the ends of the 2 wires of the jumper harness to the terminals of a 12-volt battery.
To allow for cooling, wait at least 10 minutes before approaching the deployed safety belt anchor pretensioner, buckle pretensioner or retractor pretensioner.
Dispose of the deployed safety belt anchor, buckle or retractor in the same manner as any other part to be scrapped.