posted
I was using the randomizer on snopes.com to read Risk-O-Inferno. In it is a reference to
quote:electronically-locked seat belt units.
Is there any such animal? I've owned a car that had automatic, electronic shoulder harnesses, but all the cars I have heard of have manually locked seat belts.
The automatic harness could be manually unbuckled, by the way.
-------------------- Never make fun of a man's fish, especially if it is 40 feet tall and aluminum. Posts: 949 | From: Central California | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
They're not talking about the seat belt latch that you buckle/unbuckle. I probably won't be able to explain very well, but I'll try. Under normal conditions you can pull the seatbelt out of it's little slot next to the door, so you can lean forward, adjust the length of the belt, etc. But when you stop suddenly that spool the seat belt is on locks, holding you in place. That's what I think they're talking about.
BTW I remember when I was a kid my dad drove a '79 Corolla, and the seatbelts in that must have used a simpler device. If you simply pulled on the belt too fast the thing would lock, at least the ones in the back seat would.
-------------------- "Unseasonable is an odd word to begin with. It sounds like it's describing something that it's impossible to sprinkle pepper on." -- Nonny Posts: 5483 | From: Just south of Folsom Prison, CA | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I drive a '94 Cougar, and my seatbelt "locks" all the time - the part that goes across my shoulder, the part that WildaBeast described. Sometimes it happens when I stop suddenly, sometimes for no reason. My seatbelt will "lock" and tighten to the point where I cannot move, which really pisses me off and makes it impossible for me to drive. I sometimes have to pull my car over and try to free myself by yanking on it at a certain angle, from where you pull it out over the door.
Out of all the problems with my car, that's one on the very bottom of my list (along with the fact that my gearshift always oozes some kind of sticky grease, and the fact that my Check Engine light has been on constantly for four years) but I really, really, hate safety features that work *too* well.
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
Yes, but these are mechanical lock ups in all the cars I've seen. The UL talks about electronically locked ones.
-------------------- Never make fun of a man's fish, especially if it is 40 feet tall and aluminum. Posts: 949 | From: Central California | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Ah ha! Howstuffworks.com has the answers to all your questions. I bet this it what they're talking about.
quote:There are a number of different pretensioner systems on the market. Some pretensioners pull the entire retractor mechanism backward and some rotate the spool itself. Generally, pretensioners are wired to the same central control processor that activates the car's air bags. The processor monitors mechanical or electronic motion sensors that respond to the sudden deceleration of an impact. When an impact is detected, the processor activates the pretensioner and then the air bag.
And from the previous page in that article:
quote:The retractor has a locking mechanism that stops the spool from rotating when the car is involved in a collision. There are two sorts of locking systems in common use today:
-systems triggered by the car's movement -systems triggered by the belt's movement
Type #2 must be what dad's Corolla had. If you tried to put on the your seatbelt too fast, the thing would lock. That got sort of annoying, especially for an impatient kid.
-------------------- "Unseasonable is an odd word to begin with. It sounds like it's describing something that it's impossible to sprinkle pepper on." -- Nonny Posts: 5483 | From: Just south of Folsom Prison, CA | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Cervus: I drive a '94 Cougar, and my seatbelt "locks" all the time ...the fact that my Check Engine light has been on constantly for four years) but I really, really, hate safety features that work *too* well.
I feel your pain. I had a 1995 Thunderbird, essentially the same car except for aesthetics- mine was just an immature guy's hotrod (V8) yours is a pimped out hotrod (you prob have the V6 though, V8's were about 10% of 94-95 T-birds). My car was an indirect casualty of 9/11, engine and transmission was already in iffy shape and I just drove it into the ground that day, first trying to get into the city then when I was turned back, getting back upstate. All that I might add at an avg speed of 90 MPH on an engine that was already shifting sluggishly. The car could- and did- do upwards of 120 MPH (on I-95 in Maryland, on a dare). Great car but too much started to go wrong with it in the following week. It sat for a year and I finally sold it for a pittance.
Posts: 370 | From: New York. | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Mine's got a V8...but at least yours was able to go over 80 mph. Theoretically, mine can go up to 120, but if I go over 80, it bounces, shimmies, shakes, rattles, and just generally is a pain in the butt.
[sorry for the hijack]
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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