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Originally Posted by BonzoHansen
Define the conversation. Race car or street car? Replacing factory belts? Etc. This conversation did start with a 4th gen f-body, not a 54 Ford.
John, yea, a properly installed harness is better than no belts or lap belts. But for f-bodies I can now get quality, modern 3 points in every generation. Including good retrofit rear 3 points. Morris Classics and others. Anyone driving a 68 Camaro coupe with lap belts is a moron.
Kind of off topic, but despite what people do all the time a cage has no place in a street car. Watch that M3 wreck video for movement in an accident. Ok, let's use a harness, problem solved. Helmet? No helmet probably did not help the guy that wrecked that 74 in PA a few weeks ago.
Energy dissipation seems to be key in these things. If I’m wearing a harness the only thing still doing 65 is my head. OE seatbelts are designed to stretch. Harnesses by nature stretch a lot less, for good reason.
In the end, the assumption is 3 points is good so 5 is better is often false security. There is more to it than just belts.
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I get that more does not always equal better, and the fact that Hagerty will insure a 1000hp street car but a 350hp car with a bar gets DQ'd underscores the fact that the bar is not the pinnacle of safety on the street. My question is that of legality on the street given a DOT approval. You can't say "well, they are user installed so they will DQ" since Morris CC stuff is user installed non-factory as well. And how many guys are still running their 40+ year old belts?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider
What about all of the people who wreck while racing in any given motorsports activity that does not require a hans like device? In a stock car, yeah stock restraint systems work. In a car with a roll bar or cage, the stock restraint systems are not designed to work with them. That is why we use helmets and harnesses. It is a large risk driving a car with a bar/cage on the street without a helmet no matter what you have for belts.
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Beat me to it. If you require a bar/harness system but no HANS, then by that argument it's time for some intense whiplash?