Patent ID: 7237640

Claim:
A vehicle seat belt apparatus comprising: a reel to wind and store a seat belt; a motor to control a belt tension of the seat belt by rotating the reel; a lock section to allow rotation of the reel in a normal state, and to prevent rotation of the reel in a belt extracting direction in an actuated state; and a control section to restrict a lock operation of the lock section by rotating the motor in a belt retracting direction when the belt tension is controlled by the motor, wherein the control section is configured to control the motor in a belt retracting mode to retract the seat belt to restrain an occupant by driving the motor in the belt retracting direction to increase the belt tension to an increased level, and a belt tension holding mode to hold the belt tension at a decreased level lower than the increased level and thereby to restrict the lock section, by continuing to rotate the motor in the belt retracting direction after the belt retracting mode.