Seatbelt appendage. What is this for?

[First Stang]

I wonder if this has any purpose. It looks like it can take a ring to attach an additional harness.

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[markayash]

I wondered that also

 

[WItoTX]

It's so the buckle doesn't go all the way to the floor mount.

 

[Dai Uy Ted]

It prevents the latch from travelling all the way down, ending up between the seat and the floor. Makes the latch more accessible when buckling up.

( I hope you're buckling up!)

 

[Glockman]

I always thought they were there to act as a bungee in an accident. The stitching would pop and lessen the force on your body.

 

[WD Pro]

It's so the buckle doesn't go all the way to the floor mount.

As well as being a buckle stop, it's also an anti rattle device.

When the seat isn't occupied, it keeps the buckle from tapping on the plastic B pillar trim.

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[WildHorse]

When the seat isn't occupied, it keeps the buckle from tapping on the plastic B pillar trim.

Haha not mine. Rattles like a bugger haha.

 

[WD Pro]

Haha not mine. Rattles like a bugger haha.

You are right, they don’t work well in the stang, but this is how they should work, and how they work in most ‘normal’ cars :

That’s the wife’s car, my daily is the same

WD

 

[WItoTX]

I always thought they were there to act as a bungee in an accident. The stitching would pop and lessen the force on your body.

That is how fall arresters work, but I not so much on cars, and not on the Mustang. That piece of fabric is completely seperate from the belt that goes around your body. That separate piece is sewn into the belt itself.

However, if Ford is anything like other auto MFG's, the belt, where it mounts to the floor, is designed to tear in an accident, acting similar to the fall arrester. It's not a big tear, but it's enough to keep the body from experiencing as much shock from an accident as if that point did not move at all.

 

[ORRadtech]

That is how fall arresters work, but I not so much on cars, and not on the Mustang. That piece of fabric is completely seperate from the belt that goes around your body. That separate piece is sewn into the belt itself.

However, if Ford is anything like other auto MFG's, the belt, where it mounts to the floor, is designed to tear in an accident, acting similar to the fall arrester. It's not a big tear, but it's enough to keep the body from experiencing as much shock from an accident as if that point did not move at all.

Why would they design the belt to tear? I thought an explosive charge locked the belt. Having it simultaneously tear seems counter intuitive.
Genuinely curious.

 

[WItoTX]

Why would they design the belt to tear? I thought an explosive charge locked the belt. Having it simultaneously tear seems counter intuitive.
Genuinely curious.

First, I chose my words poorly. I should have said, the anchors are designed to deform.

I won't pretend to be an expert, because I am not. BUT, my understanding is, the explosion part is for the A pillar, and locks that mechanism so that it can't unwind (That is where all the excess seatbelt is contained). If it did unwind, you are looking at 2-3' of travel. The deformation at the base, fixed end, allows for 2-3" of movement. Which, people that are way smarter than me, told me is much better in a crash scenario than fully fixed.

I think it is because it allows the body to slow down over a longer distance. It's the immediate stopping that typically gets a person, so having that stop happen over a few inches is probably a massive improvement.

 

[ORRadtech]

I see, along the same lines as crumple zones then. I'm sure there's a lot more science in it than first appears.

 

[Rod Schneider]

The seatbelt explosive charge is designed to tighten the seatbelt to keep the occupant securely in place on the seat. That's why it's called a "pretensioner". The last thing you want in a crash is for a seatbelt to have any slack in it.

 

[Jaymar]

You're both right, some but not all have the pretensioner down in the pillar that fires off and tightens the seatbelt pulling the occupant into the seat and again some but not all have a doubled over section stitched together that rips through to let go in a controlled manner with force applied to it same as the fall arrest systems. Those are just the ones I saw from the 2000's and could identify from the outside, there may be many other systems built in I couldn't see and of course I have done little more than my own vehicle work for 15 years now.

 

[Glockman]

Thanks for the discussion gents. I learn something new every day. Follow up question, how big of a crowd does it take to get these features to activate? Will a couple people do or does it take plowing into a substantial crowd

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