The seat belt first started hanging up a couple of years ago . The belt holds firm in the retracted position and will NOT extend to allow proper use! I have had numerous contacts with typical GM "dealership service departments". Bringing in an intermittent is most often a waste of time. The problem has repeated on several occasions but would correct itself and work a few hours later or the next day.

Last Sunday however (2-14-2016) it locked up totally and remained so the next day. As a result, we traveled over 100 miles with the front seat passenger unable to employ the seat belt restraint . The next day it was still locked and we had to drive to work with my front seat passenger un-belted. In desperation I had to resort to trusting the car again to the "dealer". I was hit with a $200 part cost and $270 labor ! I contacted the Chevrolet customer relations for assistance only to discover that they passed the ball off to the dealer and told me (more or less) that if I had been getting my oil changes at the dealership that they may have been more willing to help. So now I know the Chevrolet Customer Assistance is simply a PR wing for the dealers .

It was interesting to learn that the dealer had the replacement retractor on the shelf and ready to sell ! This tends to indicate that the failure of this critical safety component is actually quite common and OBVIOUSLY a profit Cash-Cow for dealer and Chevrolet alike. Nothing like making money from your shortcomings .

Makes me also ponder how many of the injuries from the ignition switch issue were compounded by a possible seat belt malfunction that caused the injured party to drive without the belt in place. GM is quick to point out that the injured parties often were not wearing belts ....I wonder if a defective belt was a contributing factor.