Do advanced restraint technologies do away with the need to buckle safety belts?
Certainly not. Safety belts remain the primary occupant restraint. Advanced Airbags supplement safety belts and enhance the benefits possible in the event of a crash. Airbags, current and advanced, work best when everyone is buckled and children are properly restrained in the back seat. Inflatable restraints are designed to protect occupants in significant collisions only. Not all accidents are significant enough to require deployment of an inflatable restraint. In an accident, the safety belt will hold the occupant in the proper position to receive greatest potential benefit from the air bag system. Safety belts provide protection when Airbags are not designed to deploy – for example, in low-speed collisions. In these types of crashes, safety belts keep occupants from being thrown from the vehicle and reduce the severity of impact with the vehicle’s interior.
