Lap belts

[Onne]

Does anyone do lap belts for the front seat?

I absolutely hate the intertia 3 way belts as it keep slipping of my shoulder, or when it tries to be a pain in the neck.

I do however see the point of seatbelts (yay)

So I am opting for front lap belts. Inertia style preferably.

Who does them?

[paulhumphries]

I'd do a little more research before deciding to go for lap belts.
I've read that they can actually do quite a bit of damage to your internal organs in an accident.
You'd still "head butt" the steering wheel so the safety factor of lap belts is only slighty better than not wearing any at all.
If you still want to go down that route try Amercian car part suppliers.
I've fitted inertia belts to my 2 door and the comfort is far better then with the old statics.
No problem what so ever with them falling off my shoulders (I'm around 5' 10").

Paul Humphries.

[JimK]

Lap belts are universally discouraged. Even the middle back seat will have 3-point belts on modern cars.

As Paul says, they have been shown to cause terrible internal injuries and your face will still meet the wheel (and your chest the steering column) with force.

It will stop you being thrown clear of the vehicle, but with your upper torso free flail about anyway that might not be a good thing.

I would strongly discourage you from doing this. If you hate the tension of inertia reel belts, try using static 3-point belts. I actually prefer them to inertia belts as I'm held down much more firmly and hence less likely to headbutt the steering wheel.

If you're determined, first establish whether they are legal. As for intertia types: I bet you won't find inertia lap belts.

[chrisd87]

Securon do them, but you'd have to find a retail outlet who actually stock the particular type as I think they only sell in bulk.

http://www.securon.co.uk/seatbelts_layouts.htm#2220

To be honest though they probably won't do very much in terms of preventing injuries, so you might as well carry on as you are now.

[paulk]

I've got some old Inertia lap belts i took out the back of a 80's Polo.

But I would not use them any where but in the back and only then with solid Kids seats that have built in 5 point harnesses.

Maybe you need to raise the mounting point on the shoulder strap? A brace between the below window rail and the inner roof beam would do it. Then bolt the top mount wherever yuo like up the brace.

[Roni]

When I had 3 point inertia belts fitted to the front of my 2 door I asked about the idea of the brace rail between the top and bottom of the window. The seat belt fitter didn't like the idea and referred me to a vehicle certifier as this would have to be an engineer certified modification His view was it should not be done and it would not, in NZ, be legal to do so. He went on to explain why, not all of which I got, about applied load angles, stresses, impact loads and other things. His view was the only way to put the top mount where it needs to be, about the middle of the back side window, would be to attach it to a braced roll cage. This was not a realistic option for me so I ended up using the next best option, the original mounts under the back window.
The tension of the strap does keep the belt on my shoulder much better than the static belts used to.

[Onne]

Ok, that idea is of the record then

I am 6'3" and the series II seats are a tad lower to start with...

I'll stick with my current setup

[Onne]

sorry make that OFF the record

[Roni]

I remembered something else the engineer told me. Fitting inertia seat belts to replace static ones change the forces acting on the mounts. In an accident the top mount will have foward and downward forces, the bottom mount foward and upward and the buckle end un changed. The top mount also has a "pulley effect" acting in it as the belt moves through it, increasing the stress. It was an education that day, a lot more to it than I thought, and I came away pleased that I let a professional do that job. I have to admit that if I had to hit something I would rather be in my Subaru.

[chrisd87]

The only other thing I can think of if you're desperate for front belts is to use a belt of the type where the top attachment is of the long 'drop down' type - the rear belts from a Honda Jazz look like a good candidate. That way you could bolt the top anchor to the roof rail, but the belt would be dropped down a bit which would make it more comforable.

The only pic I can find is this one, but you should be able to see what I mean from it.
http://www.parkers.co.uk/imagecache/fil ... C04788.JPG

[Onne]

That is quite a nice idea actually. Is the top rail strong enough though?

[jonathon]

Nope

[Onne]

Well, I will really stick to my current setup then Cheers Jonathon