Do seatbelts increase safety?

[Guest]

I have a 1964 MGB without seatbelts. There is no head support on the chairs either. I could attach a belt which goes around your stomach but would that actually increase safety? The dashboard ain't that soft /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Attaching a four point belt (kind of like in airplanes) would prevent me from smashing on the dash but I think me neck will then be quite severly injured?

 

[Guest]

seatbelts save lives. That said, I don't want more than a lap belt in my roadster without a REAL rollbar. Should I get it upside down, I want to scrrunch down lower than the dash. I didn't think about this much, but a buddies kid rolled his truck this week

 

[adam90009]

I'm not to woried aobut rolling over, but I am worried about other drivers hitting me. I have 5 pt belts right now so that should help keep me safe if I get hit. I have a roll bar but I don't like the look and I really dont think it would tdo too much to save you from a roll over just bolted to the floor. Maybe me and Tony ca find an old MG he doesn't want anymore that he was aobut to get rid of anyways and put a roll bar in and roll it over? That would be a great article.

 

[GavinR]

It's pretty easy to fit later 3 point belts to the earlier B's and well worth it in safety terms. Just imaging hitting an old oak tree at 70 mph!

GavinR /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/canpatriot.GIF

 

[Bruce Bowker]

[ QUOTE ]
I have a 1964 MGB without seatbelts. There is no head support on the chairs either. I could attach a belt which goes around your stomach but would that actually increase safety? The dashboard ain't that soft /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Attaching a four point belt (kind of like in airplanes) would prevent me from smashing on the dash but I think me neck will then be quite severly injured?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you research ANY statistics, seat belts are better than nothing. I assume Holland has no seat belt laws or does not enforce them if so.

GET SEAT BELTS and if possible 4 point belts. I have 4 point racing in my Seven and they really keep you in tight. But as said a roll bar would also be a great help especially with 4 or 5 point belts. Otherwise at LEAST a lap belt. Or don't drive.

 

[Guest]

Actually a seat belt is obligated in The Netherlands except for cars older than 35 years.

I don't really see how I can fit a three point belt though. My seats are quite low and without any head support so it would mean the belt would not go from the top down but first up and then down. Same for a four point belt. I'd have to connect it then behind my chair at the bottom or something?

 

[adam90009]

Thats right.

 

[Sherlock]

I also agree that seat belts make sense. I do however know a number of vintage car owners who prefer to stick to all-original and go without. A friend in Ontario has no seat belts in his 1950 Riley drophead.

And of interest to this thread... REAL LIFE: Was flipping around some Spokane (Washington) TV channels on cable over the weekend and saw a story about a vintage car that had rolled/had some sort of car accident, it looked like some sort of 1920's-era Ford Model T speedster and seemed to be part of some sort of road rally/driving tour, the news story said that the driver and passenger had been thrown clear of the car (no seat belts...), one person - driver? - was injured badly, can't recall if anyone was killed or not in the accident - just did a web search for any sort of newspaper article about this particular accident but came up with nothing so I'm going on what I remember hearing two or three days ago.

Gives you something to think about... How original (with your car) do you want to go? To the point of jeapordizing your personal safety?

 

[adam90009]

Well would you rather like to be thrown from the car and have a chance of living or be strapped in and be crushed?

 

[Guest]

And that's exactly why I am doubting if it DOES increase safety /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[adam90009]

But when was the last time you have seen a flipped MGB?

 

[timbomath]

[ QUOTE ]
...when was the last time you have seen a flipped MGB?

[/ QUOTE ]
It wasn't the last time but the first time was when my brother and a freind flipped his 67B on a straight road with no other traffic present. He was 18 at the time- in his late 40's (much older and wiser) he now sticks to a Spitfire with its lower center of gravity. In the era before seat-belt laws, he was thrown out {dislocated shoulder) and his freind was trapped under (broken arm). There was something about a dog in the road... or a dog in the car... and loose gravel. I never heard the explaination. Point being is that it can happen very easily.

 

[mjamgb]

HECK YES

Perhaps not for people outside your car (lol) but for you and any passengers, absolutely.
It is very difficult to flip an MGB (at least an early one) unless it is in terrible condition or it has a major malfunction (including the driver). I'm not proud of it but I have flat spun my B on three separate occasions (once due to having to avoid a left turning truck whilst passing) and never even got close to flipping. Put a roll bar in the rig after the last one. Oddly I haven't spun it in trafic since... Autocrossing is another matter!
Right, ahem, seatbelts.
The odds of being crushed inside a nasty heap of metal are far far lower than the same nasty lump of metal rolling over you or landing on you if you are "thrown clear." Honestly, if you are in the sort of accident that smashes the B so badly that there isn't room left in the cockpit for your sad body then you would absolutely NOT have survived by bouncing around in the mix!
Vintage be damned, get a three point belt at least!

Mike!

 

[adam90009]

Re: HECK YES

I agree, it is very hard to flip an MGB, even if you are trying to. Roll bars that you can buy now jsut bolt to sheet metal and do little to nothing to help you. Not oly will seat belts help you in a crash, 4 and 5 pt. will help hold you in place while driving, and it is now or about to be the law nation wide.

 

[lawguy]

You are much more likely to die if you are thrown. Would you rather have some steel between you and the obstacle or meet it head on yourself?

https://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/seatbelt.asp

 

[racing girl]

I agree, seatbelts save lives and should be used, but no-one is picking up on the other point here... and that is the fact that the seats have no head restraints, although most cars of this era don't either. If you were to hit that preverbial oak tree at 70mph... chances are you'd still be dead as the whiplash will snap your neck!

RG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif

 

[lawguy]

Only if you backed into the proverbial oak tree.

Head restraints are there mainly for rear end accidents. Even though after hitting the belts, dash or wheel you may rebound back whenin a front accident, by that time, most of the energy has been dissipated.

Head restraints were's required in the U.S. until 1968, though some cars had them earlier.

 

[Bret]

[ QUOTE ]
<<SNIP>> If you were to hit that preverbial oak tree at 70mph... chances are you'd still be dead <<SNIP>>
RG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I think we all can agree that noting good is going to come out of hitting an oak tree at 70 miles an hour. Chances are you’d probably die anyway -- seat belts are not. All a seat belt is going to do in that case, is make clean up that much easier for the Coroner.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Anyway, I still remember riding with my mother in her 67 Impala. Don’t exactly remember how old I was only that one day my mom rear ended this old gal in her land badge at about 10 or 15 MPH. Mom said she pulled out right in front of her, but I couldn’t tell as I could barely see over the dash at the time. The only thing I remember is having a nasty dent on my forehead from the dashboard, all because I wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Its funny, but listening to the seat belt debate so many years latter – is kind of reminiscent of the helmet law debate. I’m still kind of shocked whenever I’m traveling in Arizona and see a rider without a helmet.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

 

[FWK-MGTF]

Seatbelt anchors required since 1962

The seatbelts do not attach to the seats, but to the floor of the car. If your MG was bound for the US, it should have seatblt anchors since the installation of anchors has been required for all vehicles sold in the US since 1962.

 

[Geo Hahn]

[ QUOTE ]
...Chances are you’d probably die anyway...

[/ QUOTE ]

It's been said that in an LBC wreck seatbelts determine whether you have an open casket or closed casket.

Personally, I prefer the lapbelt and the option of getting my chest out of the way of that spearpoint steering column.