[Healeys] Seat belts

[Oudesluys]

The shoulder strap of seatbelts in most roadsters leaves something to be 
desired as the top mounting is usually fairly low. Either on the rear 
wheel well or on the rear quarter inner panel, some on the parcel shelf 
or rear deck. Preferably you would like that slightly higher than the 
shoulder and just behind it.
When fitting seatbelts in these old cars you always have to compromise.
Best safety is offered with fixed seatbelts, adjusted as tight as 
possible. A 3-point harness is acceptable but 4 or 5/6 point belts are 
preferred. Have the lap strap as low as posible, it should be positioned 
in the crease between hip and thigh, most certainly not over the 
abdomen. In a three point harness have the buckle opening at the same 
level or max 2" above the seat cushion. A single lap belt or a single 
shoulder strap are totally unacceptable, they can be the cause of very 
severe head and neck trauma
The goal is to create the same deceleration for the occupant as the car 
in an unfortunate crash to keep the forces exerted on the body as low as 
possible. If there is any play between occupant and harness that will 
increase the deceleration considerably as you will be slammed into the 
harness. The more play the higher the forces. In an automatic seatbelt 
there is always some play, that is why these days pyrotechnics are used 
to spin the reel to tighten the strap as tight as possible in a crash.
A very important safety item, often ignored, is the head restraint. When 
wearing a seatbelt this offers some protection against whiplash and 
severe neck injuries
Do not think you will be left uninjured when wearing a seatbelt in a 
crash. Very common injuries from wearing a seatbelt are a broken 
clavicle, broken ribs, broken breast bone (do not know the English term 
for that). This happens less with a 4 or 5/6 point belt.

Kees Oudesluijs
NL


Op 22-5-2013 13:01, Bob Haskell schreef:
> John,
>
> I've the retractable belts from BCS in our BT7.  I did make a bracket 
> to mount the retractor box to the two studs on the wheel well.  The 
> hardware supplied with the belts just picked up one of the studs.
>
> I was thinking that there was some discussion in the past about the 
> shortcomings of the three-point belt design on the healey. Low seat 
> back, wraps around the shoulder?  Kees?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bob Haskell
> AHCA 3000 Mk I registrar
> http://www.ciahc.org/registry_3000mk1.php
>
> On 05/21/2013 11:26 PM, john spaur wrote:
>> What are peoples experience with retractable versus non-retractable seat
>> belts?
>>
>> John Spaur
>> San Jose
>> '62 BT7
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