Seatbelt retractor

A seat belt apparatus comprising:

• a tongue plate that is slidably attached to the seat belt;
• a buckle to which the tongue plate is inserted and latched;
• and
• a seat belt retractor comprising:
• a seat belt winding device for winding up a seat belt by actuation of a motor;
• and
• a control unit that under a predetermined condition repeats a process of stopping the actuation of the motor when an overload of the motor is detected and restarting the actuation of the motor after a lapse of a predetermined time period, the control unit comprises:
• a timer for clocking the time period from the start to the stop of the actuation of the motor;
• a counter for counting up the number of times of starting the actuation of the motor;
• and
• a determination module that based on the result of the timer and the counter determines whether or not actuation of the motor, which is stopped by the detection of an overload, is to be restarted.

A seat belt winding method for repeating, under a predetermined condition, a process of stopping the actuation of a motor, which provides power for winding up a seat belt, when an overload of the motor is detected and restarting the actuation of the motor after a lapse of a predetermined time period, comprising the steps of:

• clocking a time period from the start to the stop of the actuation of the motor;
• counting up the number of times of starting the actuation of the motor;
• and
• determining whether or not actuation of the motor, which was stopped by the detection of the overload, is to be restarted based on the result obtained in the clocking step and the result obtained in the counting step.