Patent ID: 7869921

Claim:
A seat belt system, the system comprising: a seat belt; a retractor capable of retracting the seat belt under control of an actuator; and a controller capable of communicating with the actuator to control movement of the seat belt, wherein the controller is configured (a) to identify a possible collision event; (b) after (a), to send a first signal to the actuator to retract the seat belt to a retracted position; (c) to send a second signal to the actuator to hold the seat belt in the retracted position; (d) to determine a status of the retractor of the seat belt by determining a rotation amount of the seatbelt in reference to a predetermined threshold to determine whether the retractor is unlocked; (e) if the status of the retractor is determined to be unlocked, repeating (b)-(d); and (f) to send a third signal to the actuator to release the seat belt.