How Seatbelts Work

New York State was the first to adopt mandatory safety belt laws. Shortly after, another 37 states passed their own seat belt laws. These laws were enacted after rigorous scientific testing proved that seat belts are successful at saving lives, reducing the potential for death and serious injury to front seat passengers by half.

Typically, seatbelts are made of sturdy cloth and in the front compartment of most modern vehicles the cloth belt harnesses across the waist and torso of the passenger. Seatbelts have a retractor gear with a spring that allows you to pull the belt out across yourself to harness it and pulls the belt back into place when you take it off. Because of the retracting gear, in normal operation the belted passenger is still able to move forward and back without restraint from the seatbelt. However, it also has a locking mechanism that will prevent the belt from spooling out any further. This locking mechanism engages if there is a collision or if the inertia of the passenger's body causes the belt fabric to spool out to quickly. For example, the lock mechanism may engage without a collision if you are forced to slam on the brakes. This prevents the belt from continuing to spool out.

Newton's First Law of Physics, also known as the Law of Inertia states that objects in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. When you are in a vehicle that is in motion, you are in motion too! If the vehicle suddenly stops, inertia will continue to drive you forward. Seatbelts are a safe outside force that will prevent you from continuing to move forward into the dash board or windshield. Seatbelts may leave some injury if a collision is bad enough, but they are minimal when compared to injuries sustained from slamming into the dashboard, windshield or being ejected from a vehicle altogether. While it is never safe to be in an accident, these simple cloth belts and their locking retraction gears can save you from serious injury and death as they have proven to do for thousands of people already.