Toyota Repair: automatic seat belt for toyota camry, 1990 toyota camry, retractor system

Question
dear ted,

i have a 1990 toyota camry dx which has automatic seat belts.  after shutting the engine off and opening the door, the belt will not return to its normal position.  this makes it annoying when getting in as i have to manually place the belt over me.  is there a solution to this problem?  i really appreciate your time and help in this matter.  sincerely,  jameson mccann

Answer
Hello Jameson, welcome to my expert page.
Does the belt ever go to the forward position or is it stuck in the rear position, this is kind of a complicated retractor system and involves several switches including a switch in the door lock and a small computer, the most common problem I have encountered is either a bad electrical connection in the door pillar or the motor itself failed, does the other side work ok?
You can remove the door pillar cover and check for any bad connections and you can disconnect the motor connector and apply 12volts directly to it to see if it will move, reverse the polarity to make it move in the other direction.