Seat belt

A seat belt is a strap that holds a person into his or her seat in a car, truck, plane, or other vehicle, so that in a crash he or she would not be injured or killed by flying forward and hitting parts of the vehicle or being thrown out of it. They are helpful in saving lives in car accidents.

In 1946, a doctor in Pasadena, California proposed better seat belts than what were used then. In 1955, several improved seat belts were patented. Automobile manufacturers sold many more cars with such seat belts, starting then. Eventually, laws required cars to have them.

Seat Belt Media

• Female driver buckling seatbelt.jpg

  Buckling a three-point seat belt

• Lives Saved by Safety Belts and Air Bags, NHTSA, DOT.svg

  Lives saved by seat belts and airbags in the United States, 1991–2001

• Airplane seat belt 1.jpg

  A lap ("2-point") belt in an airplane

• Seat belt BX.jpg

  SeatbeltBX

• Seatbelt.jpg

  A three point seat belt in a Lincoln Town Car.

• Bucket seat with Schroth six-point harness in a 2010 Porsche 997 GT3 RS 3.8.jpg

  Bucket seat combined with a Schroth six-point harness

• Intertial-reel.jpg

  Seat belt with uncovered inertial reel

• Gurtstraffer.gif

  Pyrotechnic pretensioner diagram

• 1990 Honda Civic DX interior.JPG

  Automatic seat belt in a Honda Civic

• Seatbelt testing apparatus.jpg

  A test apparatus with a crash test dummy