| This was taken from a car or car competition forum a few years back. [quote]Race harnesses in street cars. I was corrected of a popular myth today in regards to racing harnesses in street cars. I was always led to believe that it's not a good idea to use race harnesses on street cars without rollover protection because race seats fix the occupant's head in position, placing it in jeopardy during a rollover accident in a car without rollover protection. However, a friend sent the following article to me recently contradicting this theory. I was always aware of the rollbar without helmet theory but the harness without rollover theory is new to me. Anybody have any thoughts on this? #2-Myth - Aftermarket 4-5-6-point harness belts should not be used in cars without roll bars. A world-renowned panel of SAE vehicle safety experts from GM, Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, University of Michigan, and a leading harness belt manufacturer, were posed this question at the PRI show in December 2002. They unanimously suggested that a properly installed 4-5-6-point harness belt system would significantly reduce the likelihood of injury in a rollover accident when compared to a stock factory 3-point system in vehicles without roll bars. In addition they suggested that use of roll bars in primarily street driven cars could greatly increase risk to driver and passengers in daily driving. Their explanation for this is clear: Most serious driver injury or fatality in rollover accidents (where 3-point factory systems are worn properly) occurs from head contact with the door frame resulting when a car flips over and crashes on the left edge of the roof. (Passenger injury occurs when to the right edge of the roof). Such rollovers result in loads of 10g to 35g deceleration to the body eliminating the possibility of controlled "escape" by an occupant to "duck" from the collapsing roof. Such deceleration will typically eject the occupant partially from a 3-point factory belt. The endless loop of webbing from the factory 3 point system will allow a combination of released webbing from the endless loop of the webbing at the shoulder that passes through the lap, and webbing elongation that [when] combined will allow the body to move 50 to 100 mm upwards in the seat. This can allow significant contact with the doorframe. Deceleration forces to the head in contact with the door frame can easily exceed 300g. Properly installed "static" 4-5-6-point systems installed to factory provided D and E, or C points will significantly reduce degree of contact with the door frame or even eliminate contact, as there is minimal upper torso rotation. This configuration however allows sufficient lateral movement to be moved as allowed by external applied forces. Factory seatbacks will flex a significant amount under load giving more occupant headspace as the seatback is pushed rearward. 4-5-6-point harness belts generally use 6% elongation webbing in the lap belt as opposed to 10-12% webbing in factory belts. This holds the occupant much tighter to the seat. EMTs will confirm that very few serious injuries result from properly restrained individuals in rollover accidents. Greater injury occurs when occupants are not restrained properly and have fully or partially come out of their harness. Schroth has had reports of several rollover incidents where customers have contacted us and stated that the EMTs credit the harness belts to [for] the lack of serious injury. All vehicle safety systems are designed for 99 percentile accidents. Properly certified and installed 4-5-6-point harness belts significantly increase vehicle safety in 99% of likely accidents including rollovers. Any safety system including factory 3-point belts, airbags, traction control, etc. could result in greater injury in a 1% incident. The 99% rule is the best guideline for all safety equipment. [/quote]
Luke Pavlick
'90 Z32 Twin Turbo
 Items in the mirror appear ... TO BE LOSING I want to die peacefully in my sleep ... just like Gramps
not screaming and terrified like the
people in his car at the time |
