Anyone have this rear seat belt problem with kid booster?

[sportscarfan]

In our new-to-us '97 runner, our 5y.o. daughter rides in a Recaro Vivo booster seat. On the rear passengers side, the preferred side she sits for the wife, the seat belt eventually locks during normal use/kid movement and stays locked until fully retracted. When retracting the seatbelt, the ratchet mechanism can be heard dragging (zzzzzz!) until the belt is all the way back in & reset. Of course, to get it to reset, the belt has to be de-threaded from the booster.

I suggested that we try putting her on the drivers side to see if there is the same behavior, which actually was repeatable, but not nearly as frequently. Anyone else experience this, or do I need to raise the flag at Toyota?

 

[AddictedOffroad]

That is exactly how its supposed to work. When you pull the seat belt all the way out and retract it, its designed to lock it in place for this very reason. So, a car seat like a non-booster is locked into place permanently until the belt is fully released. In order to release it you need to let the belt full retract and then it will act normally. So, one of two things is happening. Either you, your wife, or child is pulling it all the way out to engage this after the seat is in place, or its being done when you put the seat in and start engaging the straps where they go.

Pretty much every newer car built in the last 15-20 years does this. Its part of the rear child seat safety laws.

 

[sportscarfan]

Hmmm....so we're crossing a threshold with the seatbelt mechanism where it goes into auto-lock mode? I'll keep that in mind. Next time we go somewhere, I think I'm going to sit there to see what happens.
We've had the same seat for a couple years now, and never in any other car (Honda's, Audi's) has the seatbelt gone into auto lock mode.
We do have family with 2 other 3g 4runners so maybe we'll try 'er out in those units.

Thanks!