Seat belts and regs..
Discussion
Is there anything that says you can or cannot mount a seat belt from the centre line of the car? For instance I'm designing a car with no doors but do not want to be constrained by having the seat belt coming down from the B post and I do not want any 4 point harnesses, can I instead have a structural mounting point from the middle of the car, ie in a right hand drive car the belt would come over the left shoulder and not the right? I want to retain a normal 3 point belt. I cannot find any data saying I cannot do this.. What does anyone think? Many thanks...
Yes, no problem whasoever in getting your belts operating this way and plenty of Cobra replicas have their diagonal belts fitted like this.
Just make sure that the mounting height of the belt is high enough in relation to the seat base, the SVA/ IVA test is very, very strict on this.
Cheers,
Tony
Just make sure that the mounting height of the belt is high enough in relation to the seat base, the SVA/ IVA test is very, very strict on this.
Cheers,
Tony
They are very strict on both the position and the strength of the mounting point. Position is easy as the dimensions are quite clear in the IVA manual.
Strength is a subjective thing. IVA is in effect a replacement for full type approval where companies have spent millions on both designing then destructive testing of the seat belt mounts.
You now have to convince a guy in a white coat that your bird s
t welded piece of angle iron is good enough.
As it is likely to be covered in other bits of trim etc make it really beefy so there is no dispute. If the mount is into a tube you cannot just weld on a nut nor just drill a hole and pass a long bolt through. The mount in the tube must be a welded in piece of bar drilled and tapped for the seatbelt fixing or a tube of decent wall thickness welded through you chassis/rollbar tube.
You would also do well to use the standard seatbelt bolt thread size and standard bolts ( can't remember the thread just at the mo) as they are easily recognised by the tester as being strong enough. If you use other bolts then they must be high tensile.
Check the IVA manual as I believe it may be allowed for both belts to go on the same bolt.
Steve
Strength is a subjective thing. IVA is in effect a replacement for full type approval where companies have spent millions on both designing then destructive testing of the seat belt mounts.
You now have to convince a guy in a white coat that your bird s
t welded piece of angle iron is good enough.As it is likely to be covered in other bits of trim etc make it really beefy so there is no dispute. If the mount is into a tube you cannot just weld on a nut nor just drill a hole and pass a long bolt through. The mount in the tube must be a welded in piece of bar drilled and tapped for the seatbelt fixing or a tube of decent wall thickness welded through you chassis/rollbar tube.
You would also do well to use the standard seatbelt bolt thread size and standard bolts ( can't remember the thread just at the mo) as they are easily recognised by the tester as being strong enough. If you use other bolts then they must be high tensile.
Check the IVA manual as I believe it may be allowed for both belts to go on the same bolt.
Steve
I'm sure I've seen a "production" car with the belts the 'wrong' way round. Two things to bear in mind are that in the event of a side collision the buckle is highly likely to be in the damaged area and may not be easily released, and with no doors your upper body would not be as well restrained against being part ejected outwards, IYSWIM.
Happened to catch a repeat of "A Car is Born" on Discovery last night; the episode where he has his Pilgrim Cobra SVA'd. His belts were the "wrong" way round and that aspect was passed without comment.
When it came to tyres, he'd fitted HR rated ones (good for 125mph, according to the examiner). When asked for the top speed (of a Cobra with a 5.7 litre V-8) he'd said 110mph, so they were passed as suitable
.
When it came to tyres, he'd fitted HR rated ones (good for 125mph, according to the examiner). When asked for the top speed (of a Cobra with a 5.7 litre V-8) he'd said 110mph, so they were passed as suitable
.CanAm said:
Happened to catch a repeat of "A Car is Born" on Discovery last night; the episode where he has his Pilgrim Cobra SVA'd. His belts were the "wrong" way round and that aspect was passed without comment.
When it came to tyres, he'd fitted HR rated ones (good for 125mph, according to the examiner). When asked for the top speed (of a Cobra with a 5.7 litre V-8) he'd said 110mph, so they were passed as suitable.
The top speed is whatever the designer says it is, although I would want 150+MPH tyres on a cobra.When it came to tyres, he'd fitted HR rated ones (good for 125mph, according to the examiner). When asked for the top speed (of a Cobra with a 5.7 litre V-8) he'd said 110mph, so they were passed as suitable
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