Patent ID: 7374206

Claim:
A seatbelt retractor comprising: a hollow cylindrically shaped spool, wherein the spool is configured to have a seatbelt wound or unwound from an outer periphery of the spool; a motor configured to rotate the spool in a belt winding direction or a belt unwinding direction, wherein the motor includes a shaft; a speed-reduction mechanism configured to reduce the rotational speed of the motor via a plurality of gears between a driving shaft of the motor and the spool, wherein the plurality of gears is a planetary gear set that includes a sun gear, a plurality of planetary gears, and an outside gear, wherein the sun gear is directly connected to the motor shaft so that a shaft of the speed-reduction mechanism and the motor shaft are the same; and a controller for controlling the operation of the motor, wherein the controller receives inputs from a rotor position sensor to thereby determine the winding and unwinding amount of the seatbelt.