WTB seat belts for a 73 Midget

Looking for a decent pair of seat belts for my 73 Midget. My original belts are toast. I am considering putting in just lap belts. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

I have some fairly new lap belts out of a 73 B. $20 plus shipping..

Lap belts alone are not legal. Nor safe. And I don't know about your medical coverage in the event of an collision.

Sorry, didn't want to rain on your parade.

Not legal where?

Weren't shoulder belts brought in due to Federal regulations? Or were only lap belt required?

I know NY has seat belt laws and I assume that means shoulder belts if that's what were installed from the factory. I don't know what the seat belt laws are in Alabama.

Federal laws mandated they be installed on new cars. The feds can control that because its commerce. However seatbelt and traffic laws are state issues. Alabama requires seatbelts used for both front seats, but has no law in place to restrict lap belts only.

OK. If you say so. I'm no lawyer. That's 1 out of 3 covered.

Seatbelts are sufficient in Tennessee. When I just had lap belts in my car, I went through a road block set up just to check for belt usage. Not having a shoulder harness get the attention of the police, but they gave the the thumbs up as soon as they saw the lap belt.

I just have lap belts in my car. Never had a problem with it. In NC, you don't have to install seatbelts on the car if it never came with them. Of course if the car has them and you aren't wearing them, then you are in trouble. I think the cutoff year here is around 1965 or 1966. If it is newer than that, it should have seatbelts. So technically, I could take the seatbelts out of my 64 and just drive without them at all legally. Not that I ever would though.

Derek,
You didn't rain on my parade, you snowed on it! You make good sense. I'm sure they aren't legal in New York either.
Thanks!

Fred

Gary,

Thanks anyway, but I think I'll look for some shoulder belts.

Fred

My mistake......wrong post

Here's something else to consider. Not my favorite source (Wikipedia), but could well be accurate. Is there a Doctor in the house?

"Evidence of the potential for lap belts to cause separation of the lumbar vertebrae and the sometimes associated paralysis, or "seat belt syndrome", has led to a revision of passenger safety regulations in nearly all of the developed world requiring that all seats in a vehicle be equipped with three-point belts."

I've acquired a couple of sets of old 4 point harnesses to use in my MGA project. I'm hoping for the "vintage racer" look.

On the other hand:-

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/03/iraq-no-seatbel.html

Regarding the 4-point harness...

I was driving to high school one day and saw a Triumph that had rolled while traveling forward, and the windscreen was flattened. So what I saw was an upside-down Triumph where the road had shaved off the tops of the headrests.

I found out later that the guy was still alive, only a few bruises. He had fallen asleep at the wheel, woke up just as the car had hit the curb and started to roll, and he grabbed the ebrake handle and leaned over into the passenger seat cushion.

That was with a 3-point belt. You can't do that with a 4-point. Of course, you might have a roll bar.

Also, submarining under the lap belt is a problem with 4-points unless they have done something special to avoid that in your set. A 3-point allows the one shoulder to rotate away, greatly lessening the chance of submarining. Or so I've been told.