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2018 seat belt loop thingy

nrc

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That loop is a "safety feature". The stitching in that loop is designed to rip out during a collision and somehow help with the severity of the impact. Common sense tells me they won't help and the lawyers and several other auto manufacturers agree. Here's a good read.

https://dysart-law.com/seat-belt-energy-management-loops-or-rip-stitching-failures/
I'm going to just go ahead and say that I trust engineers over personal injury lawyers when it comes to safety.

The article you quote is BS. They deliberately confuse the purpose of energy seat belt load limiters with just having slack in the belt.

The Mustang has both seat belt pretensioners and the load limiting loops. The NHTSA has said that this combination is very effective in reducing injuries for belted passengers.

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/811835

The problem is that pretensioners are necessary to restrain movement in a crash as much as possible. That creates a new problem in that if you eliminate movement to only that allowed by the stretch of the belt you can end up with internal injuries when forces build beyond a certain point. Load limiters are designed to keep those forces within reasonable limits.
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Shocker

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It’s there to reduce the forward impact force. Just like on a fall protection harness, it does help reduce the impact.
 

sed6

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I'm going to just go ahead and say that I trust engineers over personal injury lawyers when it comes to safety.

The article you quote is BS. They deliberately confuse the purpose of energy seat belt load limiters with just having slack in the belt.

The Mustang has both seat belt pretensioners and the load limiting loops. The NHTSA has said that this combination is very effective in reducing injuries for belted passengers.

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/811835

The problem is that pretensioners are necessary to restrain movement in a crash as much as possible. That creates a new problem in that if you eliminate movement to only that allowed by the stretch of the belt you can end up with internal injuries when forces build beyond a certain point. Load limiters are designed to keep those forces within reasonable limits.
Not BS. You need to read more carefully. We're not discussing the pretensioners and load limiters cited in your link. We're discussing the EM loops, energy management loops sewn into the seat belts. Common sense tells me they work against the effectiveness of pretensioners and there have been millions of vehicles recalled over the years because of their ineffectiveness and inherent danger. The basic reason Ford and others use them is to get a better score on safety tests. Test scores are one thing but real world data suggests they pose a greater danger than good.
 

jasonstang

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I don't think the loops on the seatbelts in the Mustang are EM loops. If you look at the loops, they are not part of the seatbelt. The loops are folded seatbelt material sewed onto the seatbelt not the actual seatbelt folded and sewed. I think they are just there to hold the buckles from falling down.
 

DickR

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I don't think the loops on the seatbelts in the Mustang are EM loops. If you look at the loops, they are not part of the seatbelt. The loops are folded seatbelt material sewed onto the seatbelt not the actual seatbelt folded and sewed. I think they are just there to hold the buckles from falling down.
Agreed based on what my 18's look like.
 

sed6

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I don't think the loops on the seatbelts in the Mustang are EM loops. If you look at the loops, they are not part of the seatbelt. The loops are folded seatbelt material sewed onto the seatbelt not the actual seatbelt folded and sewed. I think they are just there to hold the buckles from falling down.
Hmmm, well maybe. My 18 is at the dealer for warranty work (it came from the factory with a dead bug sealed in the LCD Speedo display). I'll check more closely when I get it back today. I do hope you're right.
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