Rocketbrian

I have been cleaning and restoring the deluxe seat belts on my 71 442, bench seat car. During my cleaning and testing the front outside retractable belts, I notice both of them will not release unless I take the covers off and the belt can rewind further back, below their normal installed position. In other words, they work fine, but won't release to operate from their normal position with the plastic cover on. Seems odd. Are their adjustments to these, or do I have to trash them and look for other. I notice one side of the ratchet cover says " caution do not remove". Any ideas? Thanks.