SEAT BELT FAILURE

A seat belt failure occurs when any or all components of a vehicle's safety harness fail to function to protect the wearer. Seatbelt failure can happen in any moving vehicle equipped with a seat belt, including cars, vans, trucks, SUV's, buses, tractors, heavy equipment, off-road vehicles, and even airplanes, helicopters, and racecars. Seatbelts are generally comprised of straps, buckles, and in most cars, retractors. Seatbelt failure, whether at the manufacturing or design level, usually results more serious injuries in the event of a car accident.

The traditional three-point harness of today's automotive seatbelts has key points at the driver's shoulder and both sides of the hips. The seatbelt's current design is meant to secure the occupant from injury during impact. Seatbelts in cars from the 60's thru the 80's were of the lap belt design. Today those designs are considered unsafe, and all seat positions in current automotive vehicles require a three-point safety harness including both a lap and shoulder belt.

Seatbelt failure can result in car drivers or passengers slamming into each other, being ejected from their vehicles, or bashing into interior car parts such as the steering wheel, windshield, seats, doors, or windows. In a collision, we usually find that the greater the impact of the crash (speed plays a major factor), the greater the damage to the vehicle. Vehicle size, the location of impact, and the type of crash (i.e.- rollover, head-on collision, rear end crash, side impact accident) are also major factors in the severity of impact. Still, functioning seat belts are mean to protect the wearer in all sorts of accidents in a range of severity. A properly functioning seat belt can mean that the driver of a SUV that rolls over in a crash may emerge unharmed. But imagine a seat belt failure in the case of that rollover. The driver may volley against steering wheel, dashboard, headrest and door, sustaining life threatening head, neck and back injuries. In an even worse scenario, should the door of the SUV upon rollover impact, the driver could easily be thrown out onto the road. Seatbelt failure in the instance of a rollover and many other accidents can easily result in a fatality.

Here's a list of potential seat belt failure events:

• Seatbelt failure resulting from some failure of the retractor
• Seat belt failure from a buckle or latching defect
• Seatbelt failure stemming from material or webbing rips, tears, or breaks
• Seatbelt failure due to faulty positioning (on retractable door mounts or floor attachments) or design (sash-only belt) per today's standards
• Seat belt failure from poor fitting or inadequately tensioned belts

This last event brings us to a recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The study has revealed uncovered a potential seatbelt failure danger that is very worrisome. The Institute examined the role of force limiters, a mechanism that is in place in the retractors of some newer seatbelt models today. Force limiters were design and installed in order to decrease the amount of force on a car occupants body during impact by allowing some of the seat belt webbing to spool out in the event of a severe crash. But counter to saving lives, the study found that more people were in fact killed while in car with seatbelts fitted with force limiters. It appears that the force limiters are effective in protecting against minor injuries, but could quite possibly be causing fatal ones.

If you or someone close to has been injured or killed, and you suspect seat belt failure, get help from a seasoned attorney today.