Automatic seat belts

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Automatic seat belts are seat belts that automatically close over riders in a car. They were created to increase safety regardless of user negligence because even when seat belts were available, people often forgot to, or choose not to, use them.

One problem identified with the automatic seat belt is that they do not work well with child safety seats. When air bags became mandatory, most vehicles stopped offering automatic seat belts, Except for the Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer, among other models, which continued using automatic safety belts along with dual airbags in the 1995 and 1996 model years.

[edit] Types of automatic seat belt systems

• Manual lap belt with automatic shoulder belt — When the door is opened, the shoulder belt moves from a fixed point on a track mounted in the door frame of the car to a point at the end of the track.Once the door is closed, and the car is on, the belt retracts along the track to a fixed position at the other end of the track. The lap belt is then fastened manually. A drawback of this system is that many users forget to fasten the lap belt. A special seat belt modifcation is needed to use child seats in the front seats in vehicles fitted with this type of safety belt system.
• Automatic Shoulder and Lap Belts — This system is mainly used in older General Motors vehicles. When open, the belts go from a fixed point in the middle of the car by the floor to retractors on the door. You slide in, under the belts, and when the door closes the retractors travel down the door. The seat belts have release buttons that are supposed to be used only in an emergency but in practice are routinely used like any other seat belt. Any child safety seats used must be installed by the dealer.