Patent ID: 6921041

Claim:
A seat-belt retractor for vehicles, comprising a frame, a belt spool rotatably mounted in said frame about an axis of rotation, a belt webbing wound onto said belt spool, a drive wheel rotatably mounted in said frame co-axially with said belt spool, and a coupling pawl pivotally mounted on a side face of said belt spool about a pivotal axis, said drive wheel having an annular internal toothing extending around said coupling pawl, said coupling pawl having a free end shaped with at least one coupling tooth and being movable, in a substantially tension-reduced condition of the belt webbing, from an engagement position where the coupling tooth is engaged in a tooth gap of said internal toothing to a release position disengaged from said internal toothing, and an electric motor having an output shaft connected to said drive wheel through a self-locking gear transmission that inhibits rotation of said drive wheel other than through rotation of said output shaft.