Editing Seat belt (section)

==Types==
===Two-point===
A two-point belt attaches at its two endpoints. A simple strap was first used March 12, 1910, by pilot [[Benjamin Foulois]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foulois |first1=Benjamin Delahauf |title=From the Wright brothers to the astronauts |date=1980 |publisher=Arno Press |isbn=9780405122118 |page=74}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Pool |first=William C. |year=1955 |title=The Origin of Military Aviation in Texas, 1910–1913 |journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly |volume = LVIII |issue=January |pages=342–371 |url= http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101158/m1/409/ |access-date=28 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Giles |first=Barney M. |date=October 1950 |title=Early Military Aviation in Texas |journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly |volume=LIV |issue=October |pages = 145–146 |url = https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101133/m1/199/ |access-date =28 March 2019}}</ref> a pioneering aviator with the [[Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps]], so he might remain at the controls during turbulence.

The [[IRVIN-GQ|Irvin Air Chute Company]] made the seat belt for use by professional race car driver [[Barney Oldfield]] when his team decided the daredevil should have a "safety harness" for the 1923 [[Indianapolis 500]].<ref>{{cite web |author=United States Congress House Committee on Public Works Subcommittee on Roads|title=1972 Highway Legislation: Hearings, Ninety-second Congress, Second Session |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=180 |date=1972 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3XoqAAAAMAAJ&dq=First+lap+belt&pg=PA180 |access-date=10 September 2020}}</ref><ref name="Hedgbeth">{{cite web |last=Hedgbeth |first=Llewellyn |title=Development of Automotive Seatbelts |url=http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/seat-belt-history.cfm |work=Second Chance Garage |access-date=10 September 2020 |archive-date=2020-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112012158/http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/seat-belt-history.cfm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Fischer">{{cite web |last=Fischer |first=Kurt |title=A Supplier's Perspective on Automotive Safety – Past, Present & Future |publisher=University of Michigan - UMTRI Automotive Safety Conference |url=http://umtri.umich.edu/content/Kurt.Fisher.Safety.2011.pdf |date=16 February 2011 |access-date=10 September 2020 |archive-date=30 October 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151030101851/http://www.umtri.umich.edu/content/Kurt.Fisher.Safety.2011.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Lap====
[[File:Airplane seat belt 1.jpg|thumb|A lap ("2-point") belt in an airplane]]

A lap belt is a strap that goes over the waist. This was the most common type of belt prior to legislation requiring three-point belts and is found in older cars. [[coach (bus)|Coaches]] are equipped with lap belts (although many newer coaches have three-point belts), as are passenger aircraft seats.

University of Minnesota professor James J. (Crash) Ryan was the inventor of, and held the patent for, the automatic retractable lap safety belt. [[Ralph Nader]] cited Ryan's work in ''[[Unsafe at Any Speed]]'' and, following hearings led by Senator [[Abraham Ribicoff]], President [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon Johnson]] signed two bills in 1966 requiring safety belts in all passenger vehicles starting in 1968.<ref>{{cite journal |title="Crash" Was His Name; Car Safety Was His Game |journal=Minnesota Medicine |url=http://www.minnesotamedicine.com/Past-Issues/Past-Issues-2006/May-2006/Pulse-Crash-May-2006 |first=J. |last=Mettner |date=May 2006 |volume=89 |issue=5 |pages=16–7 |pmid=16764412 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=2014-08-20  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820185645/http://www.minnesotamedicine.com/Past-Issues/Past-Issues-2006/May-2006/Pulse-Crash-May-2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Steven |authorlink=Steven Johnson (author) |title=Extra Life |publisher=[[Riverhead Books]] |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-525-53885-1 |edition=1st |pages=187–188 |language=en}}</ref>

Until the 1980s, three-point belts were commonly available only in the front outboard seats of cars; the back seats were often only fitted with lap belts. Evidence of the potential of lap belts to cause separation of the [[lumbar vertebrae]] and the sometimes-associated [[paralysis]], or "[[seat belt syndrome]]" led to the progressive revision of passenger safety regulations in nearly all developed countries to require three-point belts, first in all outboard seating positions, and eventually in all seating positions in passenger vehicles. Since September 1, 2007, all new cars sold in the U.S. require a lap and shoulder belt in the center rear seat.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/rulings/Anton_FRNov16.html |title=Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection. Final Rule |website=nhtsa.dot.gov |access-date=2011-02-02 |archive-date=2010-03-25 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100325092859/http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/rulings/Anton_FRNov16.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In addition to regulatory changes, "seat belt syndrome" has led to a [[legal liability|liability]] for vehicle manufacturers. One Los Angeles case resulted in a $45 million jury verdict against Ford; the resulting $30 million judgment (after deductions for another defendant who settled prior to trial) was affirmed on appeal in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|title=Karlsson v. Ford Motor Co. (2006) 140 CA4th 1202 |url= http://online.ceb.com/calcases/CA4/140CA4t1202.htm |work=Continuing Education of the Bar - California "CEB" |date=27 June 2006 |access-date=5 September 2020}}</ref>

While lap belts are exceedingly rare to spot in modern cars, they are the standard in commercial airliners. The lift-lever style of [[Airliner|commercial aircraft]] buckles allows for the seatbelt to be easily clasped and unclasped, accessible quickly in case of an emergency where a passenger must evacuate, and fulfills the minimum safety requirements provided by the [[Federal Aviation Administration|FAA]] while remaining low-cost to produce.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nosowitz |first=Dan |date=2018-01-29 |title=Decoding the Design of In-Flight Seat Belts |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-are-airplane-seatbelts-so-weird |access-date=2024-04-26 |website=Atlas Obscura |language=en}}</ref> Furthermore, in case of any collision, a passenger in [[economy class]] has only around 9 inches for their head to travel forward, meaning restraining the torso and head is relatively unnecessary as the head has little room to accelerate before collision.

====Sash====
[[File:Seat belt BX.jpg|thumb|upright|A seat belt and tongue]]

A "sash" or shoulder harness is a strap that goes diagonally over the vehicle occupant's outboard shoulder and is buckled inboard of their lap. The shoulder harness may attach to the lap belt tongue, or it may have a tongue and buckle completely separate from those of the lap belt. Shoulder harnesses of this separate or semi-separate type were installed in conjunction with lap belts in the outboard front seating positions of many vehicles in the North American market starting at the inception of the shoulder belt requirement of the U.S. [[National Highway Traffic Safety Administration]]'s (NHTSA) Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 on January 1, 1968. However, if the shoulder strap is used without the lap belt, the vehicle occupant is likely to "submarine", or slide forward in the seat and out from under the belt, in a frontal collision. In the mid-1970s, three-point belt systems such as [[Chrysler Corporation|Chrysler's]] "Uni-Belt" began to supplant the separate lap and shoulder belts in American-made cars, though such three-point belts had already been supplied in European vehicles such as Volvo, [[Mercedes-Benz]], and Saab for some years.

===Three-point===
[[File:Seatbelt.jpg|thumb|upright|A three-point seat belt]]

A three-point belt is a Y-shaped arrangement, similar to the separate lap and sash belts, but unified. Like the separate lap-and-sash belt, in a collision, the three-point belt spreads out the energy of the moving body over the chest, pelvis, and shoulders. Volvo introduced the first production three-point belt in 1959.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/press/releases/2007/20_years_air_bags.shtml |title=Volvo Cars airbag celebrates 20 years |website=Volvoclub.org.uk |date=2007-05-26 |access-date=2009-08-29}}</ref> The first car with a three-point belt was a [[Volvo PV444/544|Volvo PV 544]] that was delivered to a dealer in [[Kristianstad]] on August 13, 1959. The first car model to have the three-point seat belt as a standard item was the 1959 [[Volvo 122]], first outfitted with a two-point belt at initial delivery in 1958, replaced with the three-point seat belt the following year.<ref name=VolvoLindh>{{cite book |last = Lindh |first = Björn Erik |year = 1986 |title = Volvo The Cars from the 20s to the 80s |chapter = The Amazon/120 - Beauty with Brown |publisher = Förlagshuset Norden, Malmö |page = 134 |quote = The 1959 model (which appeared in August 1958) had a major innovation in the form of front seat safety belts as standard equipment on all the cars, including the export models. Volvo was the world's first automaker to take this step, even though Ford fitted a "lap" belt on one or other of its cars in the middle of the 50s. |isbn = 91-86442-14-7 }}</ref> The three-point belt was developed by [[Nils Bohlin]], who had earlier also worked on [[ejection seat]]s at [[Saab Group|Saab]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alltommotor.se/artiklar/nyheter/trepunktsbaltet-50-ar-1.14639 |title=Allt om Motor: Trepunktsbältet 50 år |website=Alltommotor.se |access-date=2011-02-02 |archive-date=2009-08-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817143721/http://www.alltommotor.se/artiklar/nyheter/trepunktsbaltet-50-ar-1.14639 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Volvo then made the new seat belt design patent open in the interest of safety and made it available to other car manufacturers for free.<ref>{{cite web |title=Three-point seatbelt inventor Nils Bohlin born |url= https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/three-point-seatbelt-inventor-nils-bohlin-born |website=History.com |date=July 15, 2020 |access-date=January 11, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |title=Volvo's Three-Point Safety Belt Celebrates 50 Years of Saving Lives |url= http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2009/08/11/473711.html |website=theautochannel.com |date=August 11, 2009 |access-date=January 11, 2021}}</ref>

====Belt-in-Seat====
The Belt-in-Seat (BIS) is a three-point harness with the shoulder belt attached to the seat itself, rather than to the vehicle structure. The first car using this system was the [[Range Rover Classic]], which offered BIS as standard on the front seats from 1970.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lankard |first=Tom |url= http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=434695 |title=The first seat offered in the US that incorporated a three-point belt—on the 1990 Mercedes-Benz SL |website=Editorial.autos.msn.com |access-date=2011-02-02 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140727011325/http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=434695 |archive-date=2014-07-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Some cars, like the [[Renault Vel Satis]], use this system for the front seats. A [[General Motors]] assessment concluded seat-mounted three-point belts offer better protection, especially to smaller vehicle occupants,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.khou.com/news/upclose/stories/khou030630_ds_UpCloseConsumerSafetybelts.44b60c63.html |title=Up Close: Seatbelt safety in question |work=KHOU News |date=20 June 2003 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080612131300/http://www.khou.com/news/upclose/stories/khou030630_ds_UpCloseConsumerSafetybelts.44b60c63.html |archive-date = 12 June 2008}}</ref> though GM did not find a safety performance improvement in vehicles with seat-mounted belts versus belts mounted to the vehicle body.<ref name=MSN>{{cite web |url= http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=434695 |title=In Search of the Perfect Seat Belt |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140727011325/http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=434695 |archive-date=2014-07-27}}</ref>

Belt-in-Seat type belts have been used by automakers in convertibles and pillarless hardtops, where there is no "B" pillar to affix the upper mount of the belt. Chrysler and Cadillac are well known for using this design. Antique auto enthusiasts sometimes replace original seats in their cars with BIS-equipped front seats, providing a measure of safety not available when these cars were new. However, modern BIS systems typically use electronics that must be installed and connected with the seats and the vehicle's electrical system in order to function properly.{{citation needed |date=August 2013}}

===4-, 5-, and 6-point===
[[File:Bucket seat with Schroth six-point harness in a 2010 Porsche 997 GT3 RS 3.8.jpg|thumb|[[Bucket seat]] combined with a Schroth six-point harness]]

[[Five-Point Harness|Five-point harnesses]] are typically found in [[child safety seat]]s and in [[automobile racing|racing cars.]] The lap portion is connected to a belt between the [[human leg|leg]]s and there are two shoulder belts, making a total of five points of attachment to the seat. A 4-point harness is similar, but without the strap between the legs, while a 6-point harness has two belts between the legs. In [[NASCAR]], the 6-point harness became popular after the [[death of Dale Earnhardt]], who was wearing a five-point harness when he suffered his fatal crash. As it was first thought that his belt had broken, and broke his neck at impact, some teams ordered a six-point harness in response.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=hinton_ed&id=6116145 |title=Earnhardt's death a watershed moment |website=[[ESPN]] |date=2011-02-07 |access-date=2013-09-30}}</ref>

===Seven-point===
[[Aerobatic]] [[aircraft]] frequently use a combination harness consisting of a five-point harness with a redundant lap belt attached to a different part of the aircraft. While providing redundancy for negative-g maneuvers (which lift the pilot out of the seat), they also require the pilot to unlatch two harnesses if it is necessary to parachute from a failed aircraft.