Not wearing a seatbelt because the car did not have one

[Chippy Minton]

Originally Posted by AL in NY

The height of the pillar will be 29 inches above the seat cushion, same as my S10 Blazer. I figure no sense in going half way.

I presume that you will be fitting the Blazer's air bags as well. As you say, if a job's worth doin...

[AL in NY]

Well "Chippy" - you keep tweeting that seat belts won't help you in an accident. I'll install them anyway to try and help me avoid serious injury in an accident, while your driving with your fingers crossed.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Cars need giant airbags on the front and rear bumpers that deploy when computers detect speed and distance to an approaching object are about to cause an accident. That will help save the car and occupant.

[Chippy Minton]

Originally Posted by AL in NY

Well "Chippy" - you keep tweeting that seat belts won't help you in an accident. I'll install them anyway to try and help me avoid serious injury in an accident, while your driving with your fingers crossed.

You are missing the point. I have no problem with you fitting and wearing seat belts in your Model A. That is your choice and probably a good choice at that. The problem is presuming that by fitting seat belts to your car you will really be helping to avoid serious injury. Fit your seat belts, wear them but please, please, please drive in the manner that you would if they where not there. Fitting seat belts in a car without crumple zones, collapsable steering columns, absorbent dash panels and airbags is a gesture, if fitting them gives you the same sense of invincibility that wearing seat belts in a modern car gives you then it is a dangerous gesture.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Chippy Minton

You are missing the point. I have no problem with you fitting and wearing seat belts in your Model A. That is your choice and probably a good choice at that. The problem is presuming that by fitting seat belts to your car you will really be helping to avoid serious injury. Fit your seat belts, wear them but please, please, please drive in the manner that you would if they where not there. Fitting seat belts in a car without crumple zones, collapsable steering columns, absorbent dash panels and airbags is a gesture, if fitting them gives you the same sense of invincibility that wearing seat belts in a modern car gives you then it is a dangerous gesture.

I fully agree with what you are saying.
Today's cars have been made so idiot proof, that people are now driving like idiots.

[CarlG]

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Whether seat belts in a Model A actually prevent injuries in an accident or not, they pacify my wife, and that in itself is priceless.

[Chippy Minton]

Originally Posted by CarlG

Whether seat belts in a Model A actually prevent injuries in an accident or not, they pacify my wife, and that in itself is priceless.

Now that is a really sound reason for fitting them!

[Chippy Minton]

Originally Posted by AL in NY

Well "Chippy" - you keep tweeting that seat belts won't help you in an accident. I'll install them anyway to try and help me avoid serious injury in an accident, while your driving with your fingers crossed.

By the way you haven't been reading my posts very well. I certainly won't be driving anywhere with my fingers crossed, they will be usefully engaged steering, changing gear and doing anything else that allows me to drive safely and maintain control of my car.

[5window]

Originally Posted by Chippy Minton

And when that happens, as pointed out above, your seat belt is not going to offer you anything like the level of protection that many of the posters imagine it will. Is there any crash test data to show exactly what will happen to the driver and passenger in a frontal crash at any speed?

Of course not. Again, if you don't want to wear a seat belt, don't. But, what level of added protection would you be happy with? 10%, 50%? Would you deny that a 10 per cent less chance of dying might be worthwhile? You seem pretty opposed to safety equipment.

[DJ S]

I'm going to side with Chippy, no seat belt is going to help much, if at all. Just a false sense of security.

[Licensed to kill]

Why not install air bags?. They would provide MUCH more safety than seat belts in the inherently unsafe design of the model A which isn't much more than a glorified golf cart. Seriously, if it's safety that is desired, air bags are the way to go. BTW, while being thrown out of a model A in the event of a crash is highly likely, just by design, being impaled by the steering column in a header is also very likely not to mention that you would have ZERO chance of surviving ANY crash in a model A that resulted in a fire, having the gas tank sitting on your lap and all. If you want safety, leave the model A's at home.

[Synchro909]

I haven't seen such a polarising thread for quite a while. Remember guys, keep it nice!

[Chippy Minton]

Originally Posted by 5window

Of course not. Again, if you don't want to wear a seat belt, don't. But, what level of added protection would you be happy with? 10%, 50%? Would you deny that a 10 per cent less chance of dying might be worthwhile? You seem pretty opposed to safety equipment.

Please read my message. I am not against safety equipment and all my other
vehicles have state of the art safety features. My big concern is the feeling amongst many people that if they retro fit seat belts to their Model A, a car that was not designed around this fitting, that they are providing themselves with a huge life saving feature. They are not. Seat belts only help up to a point and in a car like a Model A that point is not much. From reading the posts I then get the impression that once seat belts are fitted the posters are confident that there A is now as safe as a modern car in modern traffic density at modern speeds. It is not and never will be.
I repeat my point: Fit seatbelts if you want, I have no issue with that. However, if you do fit seatbelts please continue to drive your Model A as though they aren't there, don't think that your modification has somehow made you invincible.

[Cornishman]

You are knocking your head against a brick wall trying to get your message across Chippy. Many of the other members are people who think that the best option for road safety is to get the biggest truck possible, strap yourself in then, when the accident happens their size and weight should mean that they receive less damage than they hand out. As I have said my primary safety feature when driving my Model A is to only drive on suitable roads with minimal traffic. Anywhere with a high likelihood of my becoming in an accident is not the place for a vintage car and if I was surrounded by fast cars and heavy lorries wearing a seat belt would give me no extra sense of security. I really can't believe that wearing a seatbelt would make an ounce of difference when the accident happens.

[pooch]

Originally Posted by BILL WILLIAMSON

NOT RECOMMENDING THIS, but I saw a Model A with ONE continuous lap belt, from one door to the other. His idea was that it "might'" keep them from falling out of the car????
Bill W.

Bill, I call that an ELVIS belt.

He has/had one of those full single right across ones on his bed (probably a king size ) in his plane in the museum across from Gracelands.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cybermelli/4038209055

[H. L. Chauvin]

If one were to discuss having or not having Model A seat belts with one hundred Model A drivers, one may find that lots of opinions depends on the the particular individual Model A driver's "mindset" while driving.

For example:

1. Without Seat Belts: Some intelligent Model A drivers would report being a hundred times "more" cautious while driving a Model A that does "not" have seat belts because of great fear of injury or death to family members as a results of a crash; and,

2. With Seat Belts: Some intelligent Model A drivers would report being a hundred times "less" cautious while driving a Model A that "does" have seat belts because of far less fear of injury or death to family members as a results of a crash.

3. If this were the results of this case, with the opinions of this one hundred drivers, appears drivers "without" seat belts may drive far more defensively at "slower" speeds and drivers "with" seat belts may drive less defensively at "higher" speeds.

4. Based on statistics plus an individual Model A Driver's Luck, while driving on paved, higher speed highways in 2017, among texting drivers, and druggies, the Moral of this story appears to be explained in one (1) question:

As far as Model A Driver's Luck, when was the last time you won the Lottery?

[JDupuis]

September 13 1979.. Won the lottery. Met my wife that night. Living Happily Ever After.
Jeff and "Sharon"

[René W]

I drive my model a with caution to other drivers,but i'll drive it everywhere,country roads,highways,rush hour in Amsterdam i don't care.
If faster cars will pass me they must do so,if they honk as i drive too slow(i am respecting the speed limits)i give them the finger.
I don't have or wear seatbelts in my A as i think i would be saver without them as wearing them.
I live in the Netherlands,almost every road has a canal beside the road,as a former fire fighter i had the "pleasure"diving corpses out of cars who were still in there belts and died in the water because they could not get out the belt.
Once i was in a crash and landed in a canal,i did'nt wear a seatbelt and was out of the car before i get wet,at the end i stood on the roof when the car sunk and still got wet.....
Driving without seatbelts is a calculated risk,also is crossing the street,riding a bike or a motorcycle or walking the dog,if you don't pay attention you can be hit by a bus or a whatsappend soccer mom.

[H. L. Chauvin]

No matter the Model A subject, Model A owners always have the right to enjoy letting other Model A owners know:

"I did it my way!"

[DougVieyra]

The rowdy noise of these 'word fests' help keep us older guys awake and young !

And they also give us, for time to time, an opportunity for a whimsical smile.
It is the next best thing to having a small boat with a Ford man, a Chevy man, and a GM man - all trying to figure out who is going to be Captain, based on the quality and relative merits of their own favorite marque.

Of course, the boat does not go anywhere, but it IS a hellava exciting entertainment.