legacycentral bbs

started to tear out the inside for the turbo style.

what's the computer looking thing below the center console?

Just a guess, perhaps airbag control module?
Micum

Yep, that's what it is... Airbag-equipped BC/BFs don't get that little storage pocket down there because it's filled with SRS computer.

Hmmm... so. Get 4 point harness. Remove "barely there" automatic seatbelts. Unplug airbag. Remove SRS computer. Have spot to put in a completely sick custom recessed gauge stack?

Makes me want to get a 4 point that much faster.

a 4 points's not gonna keep your head from being ripped off your shoulders is it?

Mike

last time i checked it was airbags that were ripping heads off of little kids...

plus in motorsports they don't have airbags AND have a helmet on. more weight on your head more momentum to rip it off... and they seem to do just fine.

Since 1990, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recorded 175 fatalities as a result of an air bag deployment. To date, 104 of these deaths have been children, while the remaining 71 have been adults. Air bags are designed for frontal impact crashes, the kind of crashes which account for more than half of all passenger vehicle occupant deaths. Air bags are designed to limit head and chest injuries. But they only supplement safety belts, they do not replace them.

so it looks like good seatbelts it is!

I could probably defend airbags by disussing the new generation of them with different force deployment or dig up an article I read, I believe, in Racecar Engineering about how they'd like to develop them for motorsports use, but I hate the infernal things myself. Then again, I'm the type of guy who'd buy a new TVR, if possible - no ABS, traction control, EBC, ABC, CBS, XYZ, etc. Wait, my Sube doesn't have that crap either! And it still manages to outcorner most newer junk and hold its own with the rest and I've somehow managed not to die in it. Yet.

Steve

So yeah, my life was actually saved by an airbag. I was being retarded and didn't have my seatbelt on in my mom's minivan. We were on our way to Tahoe and she lost control in the sloppy snow/slush. 360 into a tree and the airbag saved my ass from flying through the windshield and down a huge embankment. I personally like 'em.

Regarding 4 point belts. The reason they're not very safe in road going cars is that if the car ever ends up on it's lid, your body/head can't be pushed to the side. If the roof crushes in and you're stuck in the four point, you can't be pushed to the side and your head/neck will be in a world of hurt. I had a three point belt in my car for about 2 years. While it does hold you in VERY well, it's not very safe. Rally cars have roll cages to prevent the roof from collapsing.

-Brian

yeah, what he said.

There's other issues with using a 4-point on the road. A buddy was telling me about it when he got his harness in for his WRX.

It said not to use on public roads.

Well, the DOT regulations say only a standard three-point seatbelt, with retractable belts and that catch-when-it's-pulled mechanism (I forget the right term for it) are legal. No other kind of harness.

I think it was some model of the Dodge Viper that came from the factory with 5-point harnesses. The way they made it street legal was that they also gave it standard 3-point seatbelts, and in the owner's manual (and probably on a warning sticker on the sunvisor or something) said that when on public highways you should only use the 3-point seatbelt.

In oregon 5 point harnesses are legal, but in washington they're not. I think it just varies state to state. Best bet is to check your local laws.

I dont understand, why would the 5 point not be considered safer as long as it was easy to remove after a wreck?