THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SHOULDER BELT FIT AND OCCUPANT PROTECTION

Previous studies have shown that comfort and convenience problems are a major factor associated with non-use of safety belts. One of the most frequent criticisms cited is the poor fit of the shoulder belt. A solution to this fit problem was developed such that if shoulder belts were designed to fall within a specified "comfort zone", then the fit of this belt should be acceptable to 80 percent of the adult population. Because there was some concern that this comfort zone might compromise the crash protective capability of the belt system, a number of sled crash tests were conducted using various belt geometries and different sized dummies. The results indicated that designing shoulder belts to fall within the comfort zone would not compromise crash protective performance in frontal crashes.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the American Association for Automotive Medicine, October 4-6, 1982, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
• Corporate Authors:

  American Association for Automotive Medicine

  P.O. Box 222
  Morton Grove, IL  United States  60053
• Authors:
  • Ziegler, P N
• Conference:
  • 26th Annual Conference of the American Association for Automotive Medicine
  • Location: Ottawa Ontario, Canada
  • Date: 1982-10-4 to 1982-10-6
• Publication Date: 1982

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 267-278
• Monograph Title: PROCEEDINGS 26TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE, OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, OCTOBER 4-6, 1982
• Serial:
  • Issue Number: 26

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Comfort; Design; Dummies; Fittings; Measures of effectiveness; Performance; Shoulder harnesses; Sled tests
• Uncontrolled Terms: Effectiveness
• Old TRIS Terms: Shoulder harness
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00373650
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jun 30 1983 12:00AM