Automatic belts love 'em or leave 'em

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 8:28 am

Just curious

Yukonart · Post by **Yukonart** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 8:43 am

Had a 91 Corolla, the belts didn't 'move' when you opened/shut the door, but the lap belts were still something you had to put on manually.

Half the time, people in the passenger seat would never put it on. Either they didn't know, didn't remember, or didn't care.

Kelly · Post by **Kelly** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:01 am

Yukonart wrote:
Half the time, people in the passenger seat would never put it on. Either they didn't know, didn't remember, or didn't care.

and people who sit in them, and complain that they have to latch the lapbelt themselves, or fight with you that the lap belt isnt necissary.

Personally, I like em. Everytime it pulls that belt onto me, its like my car is giving me a hug.

LegacyPunk · Post by **LegacyPunk** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:09 am

they always used to whack me in the head, but i just use my 4 point harness nowadays

safer, and I feel like Im climbing into a fighter jet every time

eastbaysubaru · Post by **eastbaysubaru** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 10:23 am

Four points aren't safer unless you're running a rollcage. I ran a three point for a while and it felt great during cornering, but it was a real hassle to get into/out of every time and then someone told me about the danger. In a rollover where the roof collapses, your neck/spine can't be pushed out of the way.

-Brian

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 5:26 pm

I hate my auto belts. Whenever you reach in through the window while the car's on a lift, to turn it on after changing the oil or whatever, you get nearly decapitated.

Only good thing about them is that they remind you to put your lapbelt on, and no matter what, keep you out of a "click it or ticket" situation

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 5:43 pm

LaureltheQueen wrote:keep you out of a "click it or ticket" situation

This is why I like them. But I also agree about the turning the car on from outside and having them strangle you

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 5:51 pm

i hate how the buckle always points the wrong way. THey never lie flat. it's really frustrating

Post by **DLC** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 7:12 pm

If i could get the part numbers, i'd seriously consider putting together a list of all of the parts needed to do a manual conversion. My driver side mouse just died, and i really don't want to replace it with another.

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 10:37 pm

why dont you talk to one of our canadians, eh?

Pacman · Post by **Pacman** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 10:46 am

I like the auto seat belts. Around my area the police love to give seat belt tickets every now and agian, so when i have fiends ride in the car i don't have to worry. None of my friends have every complained about the belts except once when the passenger seat one jamed and tried to crush them. I also hate wearing a seat belt for normal driving conditions, call me stupid or whatever this makes me have something and i hate the feel of normal seat belts in most cars.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 3:26 pm

Every once in a while my driver side auto belt gets caught behind the steering wheel and gets stuck, threatening to break every part of the assembly while simultaneously drawing huge amounts of current from my battery.

I don't see any advantage to the automation since you still have to manually put on your lap belt. As far as passengers and tickets, I thought that in most states if you're over 16 you're responsible for your own seat belt when riding in a car. Isn't that the case? Whenever I have kids in my car I always make sure they buckle up; I usually assume people old enough to drive will do it on their own.

Post by **Legacy777** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 3:29 pm

my only real issue with them is they don't really hold your ass in place for the more spirited driving I do......however the seats aren't exactly built for super performance in mind, and I'm probably smaller framed then who they were designing things around.

Post by **DLC** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 6:07 pm

The parts sheets i've scanned in has part numbers for the "active" seat belts, which are the manual ones. The listed price isn't too bad, and i could probably get the replacement trim pieces from the dealer as well.

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 6:31 pm

I don't like them because they are annoying, but I like them because they always remind me to put the lap belt on and what have you.

Eastbay - Elaborate on the faults of a 4-point? I'm curious.

legacy92ej22t · Post by **legacy92ej22t** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 8:03 pm

I voted that they suck. I like them for the whole cop thing but I would much rather have normal belts.

I can't even count the number of times they've caught my head when leaning in to turn the key as expressed by Laurel.

Every once in awhile when I have the shoulder strap pulled real tight for spirited driving and stop to get out it will bind when making the corner on the door and sqeeze my chest really, really tight, which I don't like at all.

THAWA wrote:Just curious

Ya and I'm "just curious" where you stand on your own issue

eastbaysubaru · Post by **eastbaysubaru** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 8:20 pm

BAC5.2 - In a car with a rollcage, the roof can't collapse like it can in a passenger car. In a passenger car w/o a rollcage, the roof can collapse in a rollover. When it collapses the looseness of a normal seatbelt allows the passenger(s) to be "pushed" to the side so as to avoid head/neck/spinal injuries. If you're in a harness, your body can't move or be pushed out of the way and the roof then collapses on your head/neck/spine. Not a good situation IMHO. That's why I removed mine.

When it was hooked up, I attached the rear part of the harness to where the rear seatbelt bolts to the body above the "C" pillar.

-Brian

czo79 · Post by **czo79** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 9:01 pm

I've always wondered about the safety of the four points in non rollcage cars myself. My dad was a safety freak and paramedic of many years ambulance experience...and he had four points in his camaro...daily driver. I can't help but think he would have thought of this if it was a real problem, although the camaro probably isn't the most role prone car. Maybe if you don't have submarine strap(s) you can slide down far enough out of the way of the roof? I do remember that he had talked about putting a rollcage in someday. What about three points with an inertia reel thing like normal belts, could that let you get out of the way?
Are there options in terms of getting a custom made, non-race legal roll bar/cage kinda deal that would be able to be put in without having to totally gut the interior of the car permanently? Not a full cage, but just enough to provide some protection in a rollover, so that one could use four points? And maybe a place to attach them?
Thanks
Micum

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 9:02 pm

legacy92ej22t wrote:
THAWA wrote:Just curious
Ya and I'm "just curious" where you stand on your own issue

I absolutely love them. When I first saw automatic belts like these as a kid I knew I wanted a car with em. Just lucked out I suppose. I've only be caught in the seatbelt headlock once, but it's pretty avoidable. They are so great for lazy people like myself, even though you still need the lapbelt. I want them in the rear aswell

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 9:32 pm

czo79 wrote:Are there options in terms of getting a custom made, non-race legal roll bar/cage kinda deal that would be able to be put in without having to totally gut the interior of the car permanently? Not a full cage, but just enough to provide some protection in a rollover, so that one could use four points? And maybe a place to attach them?
Thanks
Micum

That'd be pretty cool.

A roll bar with a loop-bar integrated into it?

Hmmm... I'm sure it could easily be done.

Aren't all cars required by the DOT to be rollover-safe? Meaning they have to be able to support something like 1.5x the weight of the car on the roof?

I just heard that somewhere, so don't quote me on that...

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 11:27 pm

Hmm, Dave, it looks like you already found these somewhere, but I scanned some stuff for you:

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~v/belts/

I'd be very interested in knowing how your conversion goes if you do one.

THAWA · Post by **THAWA** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 11:42 pm

Would the rear seatbelts fit? If so you could probably save some money. I'm sure it would take a little modification, but just another idea.

Kelly · Post by **Kelly** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 2:53 am

My concern about the rour points is in side impact situations.

Ive never rolled a car, but been hit from the side a couple of times, I once ended up in the drivers lap. (was riding shotgun)
If there had been a belt on my left shoulder, Im sure it would have snapped my neck.

LegacyPunk · Post by **LegacyPunk** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 10:18 pm

But having racing seats would prevent you from being pushed sideways too much right??

shagnsubywagn · Post by **shagnsubywagn** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 3:10 pm

Hey guys, I'm a newbie here...nice to find such a great list.

I have the 94 Legacy L touring wagon (non-turbo), and when I bought this in 2001 it had about 125,000K and the driver side seat beat was "stuck in the track" about halfway back. I bought this car because my old one was totaled; so at the time safety in an accident was a very big priority for me, and I wanted to fix this seat belt..

After some research, taking things apart and talking to the dealer parts department, I found that the cable moving the belt had been worn out, and was slipping out of the track, causing the belt to stop. To replace the cable required buying the whole mechanism that included track, cable, and maybe even the motor? can't remember exactly. But I remember this--the price: $1,000 (or pretty close). I wasn't even sure that the dealer would mess with repairing this due to their liability (if the belt failed)...

So this is what we (the boyfriend and I) did: You can manually move the "mouse" on the cable by cranking in a spot behind the driver's seat. We were able to get it into the "on" position, and then somehow disabled the motor on the belt. now we just attach the shoulder belt manually on the driver side.

At the time I remember seriously considering trying to refit this with a manual belt, but for some reason abandoned this...it's been a while...sorry. Maybe we couldn't figure out how. I actually wouldn't really be opposed to still doing this...but now I have bigger fish to fry...having recently found some H2O in the oil...

Thanks--hope this might be valuable to someone.
Emily
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Automatic belts love 'em or leave 'em

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Automatic belts love 'em or leave 'em

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Re: Automatic belts love 'em or leave 'em

disappointed in the auto seat belts