What Are Some Common Seatbelt Defects?

Companies must design cars to reduce injury from impact during a car crash. The front of the car has crumple zones designed to absorb an accident’s impact. The windows have safety glass to reduce the risk of impalement and serious cuts from shards of glass. Even the doors can help cushion and absorb impacts. One of the most important features of modern vehicle safety is the seatbelt. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that wearing a seatbelt reduces your risk of death in an accident by 45% in a passenger car and 60% in a light truck. However, when a seatbelt is defective, the device that should protect you in an accident may be responsible for causing severe injury or death.

In designing a car to be crash-worthy, car makers take measures to protect you from injury in what is known as the second collision. The first collision takes place when your car strikes another car or object, or another vehicle strikes it. The force of the collision sends the occupants flying inside the vehicle. The second collision takes place when the occupant hits another object inside the vehicle, usually the dash, steering wheel, the seat back in front of them, or the side of the vehicle. It is this second collision where injuries occur. Seatbelts should restrain occupants, so they do not violently collide with other objects in the vehicle in the second collision.

A defective seatbelt may be the result of a poor design that renders the safety feature ineffective in an accident, or poor manufacture in which the seatbelt was not constructed correctly, leading to failure of critical components at the time of impact.

Inertial unlatching occurs when a seatbelt becomes unlatched during a crash. While some tests show this can happen with certain seatbelts, manufacturers dispute this claim.

Improperly latched seatbelts cause injury by appearing to be latched securely while still being unlatched. In a crash, the seatbelt will not protect the driver, who may suffer serious injury as a result. In recent years, the Department of Transportation recalled millions of vehicles with Takata-manufactured seatbelts that had this false latching defect.

The internal workings of a seatbelt must allow you to extend the belt to put it on, but lock into place and hold the occupant in the event of an accident. The seatbelt’s retractor may fail to lock into place during a crash, resulting in too much slack in the seatbelt during a crash, and occupants impacting objects in the car rather than being restrained.

Defective seatbelt mounting is another common factor in faulty seatbelts. If an anchor point of the seatbelt gives way during a crash, it will not properly restrain the occupant, who may suffer severe injuries.

If your seatbelt appears to have difficulties latching or staying latched, you should get it checked by a qualified mechanic. A technician can test problems with the retractor by giving the seatbelt a sharp, quick, pull to check if it locks in place. If there is a recall of your vehicle for issues with the seatbelt, have it repaired right away. You can also check with the NHTSA online to see if your vehicle is the subject of a seatbelt recall.

Auto manufacturers and seatbelt manufacturers have obligations to ensure their products are safe for use. Car manufacturers must pass crashworthiness tests and drivers and passengers have a right to expect the seatbelts in the vehicle they are in will protect them in case of an accident. If a defective seatbelt results in injury to the occupant of a vehicle, the injured party can seek compensation for the damages suffered because of the injury.

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