JDM vs US Spec. Seat Belts

[—atank—]

JDM Top - US Spec. on Bottom

No "load limiter" on the JDM

US Spec.



JDM

[— freedomgli —]

What you call a rip stop is more accurately referred to as a safety belt load limiter. The threads yield at a certain force, which allows the folded section to unravel and extend the webbing a few inches. The result is a longer impulse with a lower peak G and slightly more occupant excursion.

[—Martin—]

It's the "occupant excursion" that is bad for those of us without an airbag in the steering wheel

[— freedomgli —]

I hear you. But after more than a decade of watching people debate this issue all I get are speculation, opinions, monkey see (Mazda Japan, Canada, ROW), monkey do, etc. Because each crash scenario is unique it's hard to make sense of anecdotal crash data to determine if it made a significant difference or not in the real world. I even spoke to a seat belt engineer and he said that you'd probably be best off leaving the load limiters in place despite removing the SRS air bag. But that's just one more opinion to add to the pile....