While the seatbelt is arguably the single most important piece of
safety equipment, enhanced features help seatbelts do their job more
effectively.
Seatbelt pretensioners instantly retract the
belts to take up slack during a frontal impact. This also helps position
occupants properly to take full advantage of a deploying air bag. Force
limiters, a companion feature to pretensioners, manage the force that
the shoulder belt builds up on the occupant's chest. After the
pretensioners tighten it, force limiters let the belt play back out a
little to reduce the force.
Some models offer inflatable safety
belts in the rear seat that further reduce the force of the belts
themselves on rear passengers in an accident and spread those forces
over a wider area—a particular concern with more fragile occupants, such
as kids or the elderly.
Adjustable upper anchors for the shoulder
belts can make a meaningful safety difference. Adjustable anchors help
position the belt across the chest instead of the neck to prevent neck
injuries. They also can help keep the belt from pulling down on a tall
person's shoulder, making it more comfortable and thereby encouraging
its use.
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