Hey everyone, what are the laws as far as having seat belts in the older cars? I have a seat belt in the back seat for my son's car seat, but do I have to have them in the rest of the car? Just thought I'd ask, even if it is a stupid question! Please help!!! As always thanks for everyones help. Mike
I asked a local cop about the same thing. His response was that if it came from the factory then you Have to have them installed. Obviously if the car wasn't equipped with them OEM then they can't fine you for not wearing them.
Seatbelts Hey everyone thank you for your help. I will feel a whole lot safer if I have the seat belts, regardless of the laws. I will definately install them. Thanks again. Mike
u only have to have seat belts in your classic/old car if they were mandatory for that production year . seat belts were an option up thru the 60's . someone on this site can probably supply the actual year that belts were required by law .
The cars that do have seat belts 60 to almost 70 just have lap belts. Which are just gut busting back breakers. Some had the optional shoulder strap but it doesn't work any better. I know it is not original but if you drive an older car often a newer seat belt upgrade is a good idea.
I believe 1969 was the first year shoulder belts were standard equip. on GM cars for the front seat - excluding convertibles. 1969 was a significant year for GM and safety - among other features were Front seat head rests, Ignition key moved to steering column with locking column shifter. I have a document stating all the other features if anyone is interested.
Alan, I'd like to see that document if you have it...I've noticed differences between the '69 Lark I had back in the 90's and the '70 that I have now. BTW, nice looking '69 you've got there. Larry Long Live the A-body!!
IIRC, Seatbelts were required by law for 1966 model years to the present, although some states have laws that required them earlier (New York has a law that says 1965 model year must have seatbelts), but I am pretty sure the federal DOT mandate on manufacturers was for the 1966 model year. If you want to install seatbelts in your car you can't just drill into the floorboard and mount them, they have to be attached to the frame of the car, either directly, or through the floor support cross brace (where the seat frames usually bolt to also). If your car came with seatbelts it must have the belts it came with or more, but not less (if you car came with sholder harnesses you must have them in place). Some of the safety items you will usually see accompanying seat belts are padded dashes (which were in place since the 50's) and energy absorbing steering wheels. The 1967 A-bodies' steering wheel is one large coil spring encased in plastic and when you hit it it will compress and rebound. On my GTO this isn't such a good idea since there is a small blunt horn button waiting for you when you compress, but on buicks the padded horn piece prevents you from recieving a hard hit to the chest. It is very difficult to compress the wheel nomally, and I can see why this isn't such a popular safety item, and if you don't hit it dead on with your body it could hurt you very easily. Also a crash safety item was the locking seatback in 1967, which kept you from getting spinal damage in a front end accident when after crushing into your energy absorbing steering wheel the seat would flop foward and knock you in the back. You can thank Ralph Nader for thise wonderful death traps masquerading as safety items, just like you can thank him ofr screwing up our elections also.
Take a look at the Old Iron Saves Lives article. I'm at school right now and don't have it bookmarked, but do a search for it. See how wrecked his wildcat is. He was wearing a lap belt also. ahaaaaa i found it.http://www.angelfire.com/ca/mineryhomepage/67accident.html
I hope people looking at the site mentioned above understand that his accident was pretty exceptional and not to be expect the same kind of crashworthiness out of their own old buick. When Ralph Nader wrote his book, it was during a time when a lot of people were seriously injured or killed from blunt force trauma casued by what we would now consider minor traffic accidents. Without seatbelts and with a car that was built to withstand crashes rather than absorb them, it was entirely conceivable that the car would survive the crash with minor damage while the occupants died, usually from the forces of the crash transferring through the car and tossing the occupants into the rigid structures of the car. If you hit a wall at 20 mph in a 1962 cadillac, without seatbelts the force of the passenger hitting the interior surfaces of the car would be as if they themselves hit the wall at 20 mph. Nader correctly pointed that out, but was not clear which forces needed to be addressed since his book was more focused on the inherent dangers of the products and attacking the business practices of the big three and not advocating any real practical solutions. In any accident with an old car the only way to be restrained in place to aviod coming in contact with the already stopped car with your body which is likely to still be in motion. In lower speed accidents, despite the fact that the car may take more damage, newer cars will always be safer by design. In high speed accidents (70mph +) a properly outfitted old car may be safer than a new car depending on the type of accident. Since most accidents occur at lower speeds newer cars are designed to absorb the impact and crush with these accidents in mind. But there is a limit as to so much the car can absorb. A lot of times high speed new car fatal accidents occur because the structure of the car failed and the interior surfaces met the restrained occupants at close to the accident speed, so we have the reverse effect of what happened with old cars, the car is coming to meet the driver rather than the driver meeting the car. Furthermore as the structure of the vehicle fails, the safety systems that depend on that structure also fail, which means that the occupants will no longer stay restrained by the belts if the floor buckles. The point is if you have a proper safety system in an old car the structure can work to save you with minimal injures (depending on the accident), which is what happened in that site (except he didn't have a sholder harness and had to have all his teeth replaced, and skin and bone grafts as a result). In an old car, I would suggest nothing less than a 4 point racing harness for a car that did not come with seatbelts originally. This is the probably the best way to protect yourself. Don't ever use junkyard belts or systmes from other used cars, the system was designed to work with one type of car only and in conjunction with that cars structure, plus who knows how strong the belt material is? These harness type belts are cheap enough that it pays to just put them in your car and forget about it, unless you like high dental bills.
