Seat belt latch issue

Need to know if the seat belt (female) latch assy can be pried open without destroying things? I'm talking about the plastic housing for the right side latch of the driver. I have an object stuck deep down inside and it prevents the seat belt from being used, as of today. It looks like the long plastic housing will come apart if pried sufficiently, but has anyone done this or know if it is practical? It is impossible to remove the object any other way. I have a tiny pry tool that I can get in there, but it's useless to grab hold of anything. Needle nose pliers are even more impossible.

1998 Riv wrote:

Need to know if the seat belt (female) latch assy can be pried open without destroying things?  I'm talking about the plastic housing for the right side latch of the driver.  I have an object stuck deep down inside and it prevents the seat belt from being used, as of today.  It looks like the long plastic housing will come apart if pried sufficiently, but has anyone done this or know if it is practical?  It is impossible to remove the object any other way.  I have a tiny pry tool that I can get in there, but it's useless to grab hold of anything.  Needle nose pliers are even more impossible.  

Technically you can remove the plastic cover, but you do run a risk of breaking the cover.  I had the cover come off one of the rear seat belt latches when something was dropped on it and if I remember correctly there are two little plastic latches on each side that join the covers together.  Similar to taking apart a tv remote control.  It was similar to this http://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/1YwCAGJqvCNOQRSb .  They do make little tools that are meant to pry cell phones and remotes apart.  I bet that might work.

Ok, thanks for the info. Guess I'll try to separate the 2 halves, carefully. I can get a little separation pretty easily on one side w/o much pressure, hope it won't take a lot to snap it apart. I really have no choice. Sure felt naked driving to work this morning.

Solved this problem yesterday, finally. The fatter upper section of the plastic latch housing is actually a separate piece. It does in fact clip together on both insides, with rather long molded-in clips that make it a bit difficult to pull apart the 2 halves. And the plastic is too rigid to squeeze in to release the clips. So I carefully pried it open with a smaller flat screwdriver. The front side was difficult, and actually resulted in a small crack in the housing and didn't come apart completely. The rear side came apart much better, and I was able to carefully open it like a clamshell and remove it completely so I could get at the inner workings and remove the foreign object. Some very minor damage to edges of the plastic, but not really noticeable, and the housing clipped back on just fine.

So I'm very happy to not have to hold the belt over me while driving in town. W/O a front license plate, I didn't want to give the local PD any reason to pull me over and ticket me for the belt. The belt alone not hooked up can't be used as THE reason for stopping you here. BTW, the foreign object was a little hard plastic pull thing on the side pocket zipper on my winter coat. When I sat down it apparently flopped right onto the top of the latch, and I jammed it in good when I tried to latch the seat belt, not looking at it of course.