Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with seatbelt

Did the seat belt fail?

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:57:18 -0800

Automobile accident: Did the seat belt fail? What should we do? My wife was recently involved in an automobile accident. She was driving our 07 Kia Spectra and rear-ended a large SUV on an exit ramp connecting two major highways(no intersection or traffic lights involved), traveling at about 45mph. The ramp has 2 lanes, and the collision occurred when she was switching from the left-hand lane to the right. She was ticketed by a state trooper for "unsafe lane change."

Her injuries are, thankfully, limited to some severe bruising across her abdomen and shoulder, and pain that she describes as muscle soreness. The other driver did not leave the scene in an ambulance, injuries were probably less severe than my wife's.

My actual question concerns the seat belt. After the collision, the seat belt was fully extended and hanging loosely, and the buckle had come undone. The seat belt did not retract after the accident, and appears to have not locked during. That doesn't seem normal. We have photos of the seat belt fully extended and hanging loosely, not retracting, but when we went to check out the car a couple of days ago, the buckle seemed to be functioning normally, so it would be difficult or impossible to prove it came undone. Of course, I can't put nearly the same force on it by yanking that a high-speed collision would cause.

Should we contact Kia? A lawyer? Or is that totally normal and we should let it go? We're really thankful that the injuries aren't any worse than they are, but we also think something should be done about that seat belt, if it indeed malfunctioned.

If it matters, location is north-east edge of DFW metroplex.

Thanks.

Why isn't it illegal to stand on the bus?

Mwongozi — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:34:57 -0800

Why (in the UK, or anywhere else where this applies) is it illegal to drive without wearing a seatbelt, but legal for bus passengers to sit, or even stand without one? At least in the UK, if a passenger in a car isn't wearing a seatbelt, the driver is breaking the law.

Why are airplane seatbelts different from car seatbelts?

gleuschk — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:20:39 -0800

Why are airplane seatbelts different from car seatbelts? It seems odd that we would have these two totally different designs for seatbelts. If the airplane one is better (safer, easier to unlatch in a hurry, whatever), why don't we use them in cars? If not, why do we use a design that has to be explained to people? Is there something about the two designs that makes one better in a plane and the other better in a car?

seatbelt saves lives, not sanity

Jason and Laszlo — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:58:33 -0800

How to disable annoying seatbelt reminder in car? Can I simply cut the wire? more inside... Really annoying and loud seatbelt reminder comes on every time I start my car. There's a wire connected to the seatbelt, but it's pretty snug in there. It doesn't unplug. Can I simply cut it without worry?

The car is a 1998 Mercedes Benz E-300.

It looks like either a king-sized beverage spill or small pools of dried blood, and neither are upholstery colors.

fujiko — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:24:34 -0800

The rear seat belts on a 1997 Honda Accord bleed onto the upholstery. Is there any way to stop this? I have a 1997 Honda Accord that I use to transport animals sometimes. The upholstery has to be cleaned every couple of months, but I just now figured out that the rear seat belts bleed a chestnut brown dye anytime they get moist (dog drool) or wet (upholstery cleaner). Unfortunately, the upholstery itself is a pale beige color and so it often looks like someone has spilled a king sized, dark-colored beverage in my car. Right now, I have the seat belts covered by plastic umbrella bags so that the upholstery can dry.

Is there any way to seal the dye into the seatbelt? Scotch Guard? Other fabric protectors? Any ideas?

Safety restraints - no zip

Acari — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:44:17 -0800

Sluggish seatbelt retracting thingers: How to fix them? It's annoying, and too many older cars suffer from this for somebody to not know how to fix it.

The seatbelt doesn't go back into the mysterious seatbelt-dispensing portion of the car like it used to. And then you slam the buckle in the door, and look like a dweeb while you jiggle it up and down to try and feed it back in there.

I removed the mechanism, jiggled it around, poked at the pokable parts, and came to the conclusion that in this particular car [an 88 K-car], the issue is not friction/lubrication in the unit itself, but a spring weakened by age and overuse. Everything zips/spins/clicks like it should when it's just the belt and the retractor, but when it gets re-mounted and encased in plastic panelling, there's no poop/zip/vim.

I can't get at the spring so far as I can see; the retractor doesn't appear to be serviceable. But maybe it is and I just don't get it. Anybody have any clues?
Is this one of those times when I should just go to a junkyard and tug on all of the seatbelts I find?

[you know. like all those other times where that's the answer]

Out of State Seatbelt Ticket

crashlanding — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:58:06 -0800

I just received an out of state seat belt ticket, how will this affect my insurance? I go to graduate school in Evanston, Illinois and I was pulled over three blocks from my apartment for not wearing a seatbelt and was given a ticket. I have no big problem with this, I was guilty but I'm trying to determine the best course of action.

In Illinois, not wearing a seatbelt is considered a moving violation, something which I was not aware of since it isn't in NJ. Now my license is from NJ since I still list my parents' address as my permanent address, but my car is registered in Illinois and has Illinois plates. To be honest, I've been meaning to get an Illinois license but I've been putting it off.

I have three options, plead guilty and pay a fine, plead guilty and take traffic school online, or go to court. Now this is where things become cloudy. The first and, most likely, third options will result in a conviction on my record which will be reported to NJ. However, NJ does not assign points for this type of ticket so will it affect my record or my insurance (which is also Illinois insurance)?

Part of me thinks that NJ will look at it like IL sent them notice that I got a non-moving violation and throw it out, but that also sounds like wishful thinking to me.

Also, if I do go to court, what do I say? I was alone in the car and not wearing a seatbelt so it seems like it would be open and shut and I don't think the prosecutor would be willing to make a deal like he would for a speeding ticket or other moving violation.

I know you're not my lawyer and any advice is just general advice and not specific legal advice.

are buses really safe without seatbelts?

lgyre — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:15:02 -0800

Is it significantly safer to ride in buses without seat belts than in cars without seat belts? Conventional wisdom says yes (for example, many buses don't even have seat belts, presumably because it's safe enough without them) but is this perception accurate? Sources or statistics are appreciated but not strictly necessary.

Pop goes the soda... pop.

MsMolly — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:01:06 -0800

How can I remove the residue of a soda explosion from the interior of my car's seat belt? So I was trying to balance a pizza and a six pack of root beer and put them in my car when the six pack slid off the top of the pizza box and hit the seat belt on the driver's side of my car. (The bit that you snap the buckle into. Can't think if it has a name or not.) Can of soda went boom, sticky soda everywhere, including down inside the buckle mechanism. Now when I go to buckle or unbuckle my seat belt the button sticks.

What do I do? I'd rather not find out if it would work to wait until ants discover the soda residue and carry it away. This is a 2001 Toyota Prius in case that's useful. I couldn't see any easy way to disassemble the buckle.

The pretension is killing me...

Terminal Verbosity — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 08:56:56 -0800

When, why and to what extent have seat belts moved from a mechanical trigger to an electronic one? My wife was in an accident last week, during which neither the seat belt nor the airbag in our 2005 Honda Civic restrained her. She hit the steering wheel and now has a broken rib and possibly a fractured scaphoid.

We were told that the sensors for the airbags are low in the bumper and weren't hit during the collision because the car she hit has a high back end. This pisses me off, but I chalk it up to shitty design on Honda's part.

The seat belt, however, infuriates me. Honda says it did not lock because its sensors also were not set off during the crash. Sensors? I was under the impression that seat belts had a mechanical trigger instead of an electric one, but this page indicates that our Civic has "pretensioners." Forgive my ignorance of autos here; are pretensioners an additional safety feature of mechanical seat belts or replacements of them?

I'm not looking to sue, as the other driver was at fault (she cut off my wife then slammed on her brakes). I'm asking mostly to find out why a simple mechanism as important as a seat belt would be electronically updated.

Buckle Up?

dseaton — Mon, 08 May 2006 08:57:28 -0800

Do you wear your seatbelt? Every year around this time, when the weather turns nice and everybody starts driving with their tops down or windows open, I notice many more people than I would have expected are not wearing their seatbelts. When I was a kid, I survived a really awful head-on crash almost certainly because I was wearing a seatbelt, and since then it's never crossed my mind to drive somewhere without one. I'm at a loss to think of any reason why someone wouldn't wear their seatbelt, but there must be one, right?

So I'm interested to know if you wear your seatbelt or not and the reasons for your decision one way or the other.