Herausforderungen » . Seat belt durability is key.

Auto Accidents and Defective Seat Belts Autos Articles | May 31 Taijuan Walker Youth Jersey , 2008
While it is estimated that nearly 15,000 lives are saved each year because of seat belts during automobile accidents, it is also estimated that nearly 10,000 deaths are the result of defective seat belts in car wrecks. The national campaign to get individuals to use their seat belts becomes more difficult when defective seat belts become the cause of an automobile driver's death.


Seat belts have the ability to better protect vehicle occupants from fatal accidents than anything else. According to federal statistics Robbie Ray Youth Jersey , in 2003, the use of seat belts saved nearly 15,000 lives nationwide. However, even more than 6 Archie Bradley Youth Jersey ,000 deaths per year are related to the improper use -- or the failure to use -- the proper seat belt restraints during a car crash.


In addition to the importance of saving lives, seat belts also save the economy billions of dollars. Every year, seat belts save society approximately $50 billion in medical care, lost productivity and other injury-related costs nationwide. But seat belt failure has tremendous costs.


Seat Belt Defects - More Common Than You Think


Though the national average for seat belt use is at a high of 71 percent Yasmany Tomas Youth Jersey , due mainly to a $3.7 million "Click It or Ticket" campaign which used paid advertising to encourage seat belt use, nearly 10,000 out of roughly 30,000 automobile crash deaths in 1999 were related to the failure to use seat belts.


These numbers are not reflective of individuals harmed or killed because of faulty seat belts. In fact Jake Lamb Youth Jersey , each year a number of car companies recall automobiles due to defects in seat belt design.


The purpose of wearing a seat belt is so that it can prevent or minimize what is called the second collision. The first collision is when the vehicle makes an impact with another vehicle or object. The driver or passenger of the vehicle is either ejected from the vehicle or is injured because of impact with a car's interior, which occurs in the second collision. Seat belt use helps protect a car's occupants from fatal second collisions with a vehicle's windshield, steering wheel, or roof.


Defective seat belts may not properly restrain occupants of a vehicle due to poor manufacturing or design. These malfunctions include:


. "Inertial unlatching" Alex Avila Youth Jersey , which takes place when a seat belt becomes unlatched during a collision. Buckles without a "lock-for-the-latch" design are more susceptible to inertial unlatching, in which the latch plate pulls out of the seat belt's buckle. In 1982, a patent by General Motors said that a properly designed latch should be physically blocked in the latched position to prevent unlatching by inertia forces acting on the vehicle body. Despite these warnings, anti-inertial unlatching features are still not used in all seat belt buckles in new cars and the United States government has largely ignored inertial unlatching in its safety guidelines.


. "False latching" Jarrod Dyson Youth Jersey , which occurs when a seat belt buckle appears to be closed, but is not. If an individual is not properly restrained and instead are falsely latched, they may be at risk for ejection from a vehicle. A seat belt is considered to be falsely latched if it pulls free at less than five pounds of pull. False latching can cause passenger ejection from a moving vehicle or serious injury when the passenger collides with the interior of the car.


. Seat belt durability is key. This includes the material and weaving of the belt itself in addition to seat belts that have too much slack and thus load too quickly, disabling the belt's protective webbing. Faulty seat belt retractors are also implicated in seat belt durability accidents.