It sounds to me that they have tugged at the belts so much that the ratchet doesn`t have enough slack belt to release itself. Try pulling the belt out slowly until you feel it tighten up, then pull as hard as you can. This should wind the belt tighter thus giving more slack to allow the ratchet to release. You won`t damage the ratchet, as it is designed to restrain many times your own body weight. Please don`t try to take the seatbelt mechanism apart, at best it will not go back together properly, at worst you`ll dislodge the large clock spring inside and and it will end up wrapped around something you didn`t want it to be!!