seat belts

9livess · 07-09-2009 5:56pm #1

why are seat belts stuck in lock position and wont move after crash. the airbags deployed but i cant remember if i was wearing a seat belt. does this mean i was or was not wearing one. how can i tell. its a toyota corolla 1.4 hatchback and where is the black box located.

Gordon · 07-09-2009 6:13pm

Moved from the Forums forum.

Anan1 · 07-09-2009 6:29pm

My guess is that the seatbelt pre-tensioners fired with the airbags.

9livess · 07-09-2009 7:34pm

does that mean i was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash as car is a total writeoff. shouldnt the belts have slackned after but they are stuck in the locked position

crosstownk · 07-09-2009 7:44pm

The pretensioners will usually fire irrespective of whether the seat belt is being worn or not. And once the pretensioners fire then the belt needs to be replaced.

9livess · 07-09-2009 7:50pm

but cant the black box tell if i had belt on or not and where is that located.

peasant · 07-09-2009 8:10pm

The seatbelt is stuck in the lock and runs tight to the seat?

Then you most likely didn't wear it but were sitting on it (in the locked postion)
Otherwise you should remember freeing yourself of the belt or getting cut out of it.

Drummerboy08 · 07-09-2009 8:19pm

Unless it was a Boeing you were driving, I dont think there is a "black box" in a car. Maybe on some more modern cars, if a diagnostics computer is plugged in, the car will tell the engineer if the seat belts were being used, but I dont think there is a piece of equipment specifically designed to report what was and wasnt in action in the seconds before a crash.

9livess · 07-09-2009 9:04pm

i think someone didnt understand, the seat belt is in the hanging position as if i took it off or did not have it on in the first place and its locked it cant be pulled. i cant remember freeing myself so i cant tell if i had it on. airbags both deployed and both seat belts are locked driver and passenger. no one was in the passenger seat in the crash.

stevenmu · 07-09-2009 9:04pm

The best way to find out if you were wearing a belt or not is from the position of the seat belt, it should be more or less the same now as the moment of impact. If the seat belt is fully retracted then you were not wearing it, if there is enough of the belt out for you to have been wearing it then you probably were. Of course this may be more difficult if the main body of the car is badly damaged.

edit: actually thinking about it, the belts might still retract after the tensioners have fired, I'm not sure, they might just prevent the belt being pulled out but still allow it to retract.

Plug · 07-09-2009 9:12pm

9livess wrote: »

why are seat belts stuck in lock position and wont move after crash. the airbags deployed but i cant remember if i was wearing a seat belt. does this mean i was or was not wearing one. how can i tell. its a toyota corolla 1.4 hatchback and where is the black box located.

You were in a crash. Airbags deployed which means it was severe. If you were not wearing your belt you would be dead.

zoey · 07-09-2009 9:21pm

Plug wrote: »

You were in a crash. Airbags deployed which means it was severe. If you were not wearing your belt you would be dead.

Not necessarily.
I know people who had relatively minor crashes, air bags deployed, they weren't wearing their seatbelts, luckily they had very minor injuries.

Now I am a major advocate of wearing seatbelts and would never travel or allow any of my passengers to travel without wearing a seatbelt as they obviously save lives but what you stated is untrue

9livess · 07-09-2009 9:22pm

both seat belts are fully retracted and no was wearing one in the passenger as i was only in the car the car hit a wall now im really confused arnt the airbags connected 2 the seat belts electronicly by sensors. sholuld i just cut the seat belt and say it was on and i freed myself. the car is destroyed i have half of it

peasant · 07-09-2009 9:25pm

Does your shoulder / collar bone / chest hurt?

Then you were probably wearing a belt

cabrwab · 07-09-2009 9:25pm

this is a bizarre thread!

Who are you telling you had the seat belt on too? Should you have be driving?!!!

Anyway no black box airbags deployed so car has BAD damage. say what you want you walked away lucky!

Pretensioners fired too so new seat belts new air bags!

9livess · 07-09-2009 9:35pm

my neck really hurts and back and shoulder was in the ambulance strapped up to a board like hannibal lector. i really have to know bout seat belt. i have brusing over my right eye and bump on my forehead

9livess · 07-09-2009 9:56pm

im none the wiser but thanks 4 the help i prob had it on

Anan1 · 07-09-2009 10:25pm

Why would you want to lie about it? You were driving, so you won't be able to claim for personal injuries in any case.

colm_mcm · 07-09-2009 10:41pm

If the belt is retracted fully, then it wasn't on.

Mr Benevolent · 07-09-2009 10:46pm

You probably took it off and don't remember it, a normal occurrence. Which shoulder is sore? If it's the right one then you had the belt on, unless it wasn't a head on crash.

Anyway, count yourself lucky and be glad you're alive. Oh, and be sure to thank the patron saint of crumple zones.

If the belt is retracted fully, then it wasn't on.

Hang on, if the pretensioners fired and there was no-one in the seat, the belt would go to the retracted position, right? So it's sensible to assume that when the OP undid his seatbelt, his belt would've gone to the retracted position as well. So both belts being in the retracted position doesn't necessarily suggest the the OP wasn't wearing his seatbelt.

I may well be wrong though.

Mr.Diagnostic · 08-09-2009 7:35am

When the seat belt fires it retracts slightly to increase tension and then locks in that position.

If you had been wearing it then it would be slack but locked. because you say it is retracted fully and locked then you were not wearing it.

It sounds a bit like you want to know how to prove you were wearing it when you in fact were not.

Mr.David · 08-09-2009 7:42am

Do you usually wear a seat belt? You either do or dont. I always do and so if I couldnt remember I would still assume I was wearing one.

As previously mentioned, if you were wearing one you would probably have bruising across your upper chest from the seatbelt.

Plug · 08-09-2009 12:47pm

Hey everyone, I just reckon this little jackass is looking for attention tbh. "oh I was in a crash do YOU know if I was wearing a seatbelt?"
I'd say he's 17 or 18.

9livess · 09-09-2009 11:48pm

If you had been wearing it then it would be slack but locked. because you say it is retracted fully and locked then you were not wearing it.

This makes some sence no op was in the car and both belts are locked.
How could i slacken it and by how much or could belts have malfunctioned on both sides car went off the road and hit a wall head on.

9livess · 10-09-2009 1:57am

how can i slacken a fully retracted seat belt enough to look like i was wearing one. thanks 4 help so far help needed not attention. what a cruel thing to say.

-Chris- · 10-09-2009 7:23am

9livess wrote: »

how can i slacken a fully retracted seat belt enough to look like i was wearing one.

If you weren't wearing a seatbelt at the time of the incident and you're now looking for advice on how to make it look like you were (with possible implications for insurance cover for any injuries you sustained), that would be pretty much against the charter and I'd request that noone answers the OP on this point.

9livess · 10-09-2009 4:24pm

im not askin 4 that reason as i cant sue myself an no one was involved.

-Chris- · 10-09-2009 4:50pm

Fair 'nuff then

seat belts

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