dennis@home wrote:


"hugh" ] wrote in message
...

Nope they were abandoned, seat belts were mad compulsary and much much
later air bags were reintroduced as they were very effective when used
in conjunction with a seat belt
I know cos I was there
End Of.

You don't need seat belts for airbags to work.
Look at side impact bags, the seat belt does sod all but the air bag
still helps you to survive.
What seat belts do is keep you out of the danger area when the bag goes
off.

Of course cost was a big reason why they weren't popular in the '60s.
They were expensive and they didn't have microcontrollers to make them
reliable.

Indeed. airbags are a lessgood alternative to properly designed cars and
proper seat belts, which is why no racing teams use them at all - its
been shwon that proper side impacts test front impact tests, crumple
zones and a full racing harness and a roll cage is how you get the BEST
chance of survival.

Nevertheless they are better than nothing if someone smacks into
something with a sloppily tightened lap and diagonal, or no belts at all.

It took me just one crash right in front of my eyes at a club motor race
to decide that on balance, I would never ever drive without a seat belt
again.

Mini 70mph head on into a concrete wall with just two rows of tyres in
between.

I thought the driver was dead, but after a couple of seconds he smashed
the door open, got out and hit the car in frustration - and walked
away..just as the marshals arrived.

OTOH I saw someone killed in front of me when he was thrown out of a
vintage racing car with no belts at all - and run over by the driver
following.


--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.