The Ford Barn - View Single Post - Seat belts

Kevin in NJ · 01-12-2019, 09:33 AM

So as far needing belts. There are past accidents posted here. Coupes VS SUV head on. The one with seatbelts both were injured but survived, the one without they died. In both cases the damage did not go into the occupant area. Keep in mind my background is physics and I used to be an EMT. It is all about getting the car to take the energy. In the dead car the steering was munched and you can see the passenger put her head into the dash, trust me the head leaves a nice round impression in metal as I have seen it first hand.
So now to seatbelts in the A. Lots of bad articles and advice. First off the bolts must be in a shear action. The area has to be able to handle thousands of pound of force. The belts must come straight through the seat crack. This means the mount points have to be further back. In the case of the coupe it will be on the floor of the rumble area.
I had a tougher problem dealing with the wood sills of the cabriolet. I rigged a bar of 1/2 steel between the steel cross sill and so the force would be pushing forward and up on the forward wood cross sill. The mount point was such that the seat belt had the straightest run through the cushions. The sides were mounted into the wood back some to keep them in shear.
Rumble seat belts are really tough to get any good angles plus I think you have to consider the lid wanting to close. I used 1" square tube for the center mount and to the triangle braces on the sides.
Now the legal stuff. People in a car will expect any seatbelts to perform like a new car. If they use the belts you put in and get hurt they will sue you. I would be quick to remind people that they should not use the seat belts and only go as the factory built car. This may seem like a joke, but I am more serious then you might think. I also would not sell a car with the seat belts installed or advertise that it has seat belts. If you installed them then you will be sued if someone gets injured in an accident later on with the new owners. Sorry but that is how things are here the USA. Not saying that is good or bad, just basically what you have to consider these days.

The cars need seat belts. You will be safer with them installed. There are numerous accidents where the owners have stated it was only because of the seat belts the survived. There are numerous accidents were significant injuries and death have occurred with no seat belts. Those are just the facts.

01-12-2019, 09:33 AM	#32
Kevin in NJ Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: South East NJ Posts: 3,398	Re: Seat belts - to be or not to be? So as far needing belts. There are past accidents posted here. Coupes VS SUV head on. The one with seatbelts both were injured but survived, the one without they died. In both cases the damage did not go into the occupant area. Keep in mind my background is physics and I used to be an EMT. It is all about getting the car to take the energy. In the dead car the steering was munched and you can see the passenger put her head into the dash, trust me the head leaves a nice round impression in metal as I have seen it first hand. So now to seatbelts in the A. Lots of bad articles and advice. First off the bolts must be in a shear action. The area has to be able to handle thousands of pound of force. The belts must come straight through the seat crack. This means the mount points have to be further back. In the case of the coupe it will be on the floor of the rumble area. I had a tougher problem dealing with the wood sills of the cabriolet. I rigged a bar of 1/2 steel between the steel cross sill and so the force would be pushing forward and up on the forward wood cross sill. The mount point was such that the seat belt had the straightest run through the cushions. The sides were mounted into the wood back some to keep them in shear. Rumble seat belts are really tough to get any good angles plus I think you have to consider the lid wanting to close. I used 1" square tube for the center mount and to the triangle braces on the sides. Now the legal stuff. People in a car will expect any seatbelts to perform like a new car. If they use the belts you put in and get hurt they will sue you. I would be quick to remind people that they should not use the seat belts and only go as the factory built car. This may seem like a joke, but I am more serious then you might think. I also would not sell a car with the seat belts installed or advertise that it has seat belts. If you installed them then you will be sued if someone gets injured in an accident later on with the new owners. Sorry but that is how things are here the USA. Not saying that is good or bad, just basically what you have to consider these days. The cars need seat belts. You will be safer with them installed. There are numerous accidents where the owners have stated it was only because of the seat belts the survived. There are numerous accidents were significant injuries and death have occurred with no seat belts. Those are just the facts.