Over the years, the passenger-car seatbelt has evolved from a simple lap belt to the three-point belt common today. Barring height adjusters, material changes and inertia reels, they’ve largely stayed the same for some time now, but that doesn’t mean automakers aren’t hard at work on the seatbelt of the future.
For its part, Ford Motor Co. has worked up a four-point system that more closely resembles a racing harness, with two knapsack-like over-the-shoulder straps that connect to a lap belt. Ford is also developing an airbag system that’s an integral part of the belt system.
(Click through to the jump for more on the seatbelt of the future)
+ Detroit News: Ford tests new seat belt ideas
I think Ford is being wise to show the public what the are working toward. Secrecy only keeps the public in the dark, not the competition. If Ford can find away to design all cars as they did the GT and Shelby, they will survive and bloom again as in the 1920’s
While the design seems a wise move I find it unlikely that such a belt will ever make it into production. We can’t even get people to perform the single click opperation of today’s belts, so I have a hard time believing people will use one requiring three or more steps to opperate. Remember the “automatic passive” restraints of the early 90’s???
I also find it hard to believe that Ford is working hard when all they’ve done here is adapt a racing style harness for use in a passenger car. Not exactly what I would call “thinking out of the box”.
Diesel with Attitude: The Audi A3 TDI Clubsport Quattro
Report: Volkswagen Working on Driverless Self-Parking System for Production
More Spied Images of New Camaro Interior
Early Scoop on Volkswagen Tiguan's U.S. Launch, Diesel Delayed? Not Coming? 
Report: Mercedes-Benz to Leverage Aluminum for Next E-class
Send to a friend
HTML Formatting Tips
- To make something bold: <strong>Text to bold</strong>
- To make something italic: <em>Text to italicize</em>
- To make a hyperlink: <a href="URL">Text to link</a>
- To quote something previously said, you can use <blockquote>text</blockquote>
Markdown Formatting Tips (advanced)This site also allows use of Markdown formatting in the comment section. This accomplishes the same formatting as HTML but is typically easy to use.
my code* Second item
• Second item
1. Second item
2. Second item
<email@add.com>