Seat belt defects that can cause injury

Seat belt defects found in the design or construction may cause a malfunction leading to more serious injuries in an accident. Most, if not all, vehicles are equipped with lap/shoulder belts. This design is important because outdated lap-belt-only restraints often caused the body to jack knife which resulted in severe abdominal injuries, fractures of the lumbar spine, and serious closed head injuries, and facial injuries. These injuries are prevented by the addition of an upper torso restraint. However, even the current seat belt systems have problems, such as:

• Passive Restraint Systems. These systems include automatic shoulder with a manual lap belt. Because the shoulder harness is automatic, occupants sometimes forget or fail to see the necessity of wearing the lap belt. When an occupant is involved in an accident, the automatic shoulder or passive belt often fails to completely restrain the body. Occupants can suffer severe injuries, including decapitation, strangulation, paraplegia, and liver lacerations.
• Tension Relieving Device. This devise creates slack on the shoulder belt to keep the belt from restricting the occupant's movement. Some of these devices fail to retract the belt after the occupant has leaned forward. This failure to retract causes in permanent slack. During an accident, this slack can result in the occupant suffering severe abdominal injuries, fractures to the spine, and serious closed head injuries, and facial injuries.
• Defective Buckles. In some cases, the buckle of the lap belt portion of a lap/shoulder belt will fail. When this happens, the automatic shoulder or passive belt often fails to completely restrain the body in a crash. Occupants can suffer severe injuries, including decapitation, strangulation, paraplegia, and liver lacerations

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