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Article Excerpt
Every year millions of consumers, buoyed by a false sense of security, buckle themselves or their children into rear-center-seat lap belts. These passengers can suffer disabling, even fatal, injuries if the vehicles in which they are riding are involved in collisions.
A lap belt, also known as a two-point restraint, consists of a strap that crosses from one hip, across the front of the pelvis, to the other hip. The belt does not cross the chest or shoulder. It is intended to secure the lower torso during a collision and prevent ejection. Although lap belts (assuming they are designed properly) secure the hips and lower torso, they allow the upper torso, neck, and head to swing freely during a collision.
As a vehicle decelerates in a frontal collision, the upper torso jerks forward violently. The body jackknifes over the belt and accelerates toward the direction of impact, straining muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, and the spinal cord. If the force of the collision is too great for the body to sustain, the spine will be pulled apart. The passenger may suffer serious brain damage or neck injury if the head and neck strike the front seats, center console, or other passengers. The injuries are often debilitating or fatal. The evil of a lap belt is that the most severe injuries can occur even when it is designed "properly." An improperly designed lap belt tends to slide off the pelvis during a collision, allowing the hips to rotate forward under it. That motion is called "submarining," and the serious abdominal injury it can cause to internal organs is referred to as "seat-belt syndrome."
Why is this archaic restraint system installed in so many vehicles? Money. By not installing lap/shoulder belts in rear-center seats, automakers save about $24 a vehicle. (1) Money saved is money "earned" to automotive manufacturers.
Children are at greatest risk...
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