If you’ve ever been in an automobile accident, you realize that there is a lot of trauma involved. Even a slight bump or a rear-end accident can cause you to feel the strain of the seatbelt against your chest and midsection.
That is why there are safety features built into the seatbelt to help ensure your comfort. That being said, those safety features are not the same on both sides of the vehicle.
One of the items that you may notice about the seatbelt is a small fabric loop that is near the buckle. If you look closely enough, you may also notice that the same fabric loop is not on the driver’s seatbelt. Does the driver not need the full benefit that they offer?
More than likely, you have never given the fabric loop much thought. It’s actually a feature that offers you a degree of comfort and safety if you are in an automobile accident. The fabric loop gives a few extra inches of travel distance when an accident occurs and your body is forced against the seatbelt.
The breakaway feature of the fabric loop helps you to be safe and it helps to reduce the possibility of injury. For the driver of the automobile, however, such a fabric loop could be fatal. Why is that?
When you are on the passenger side of the vehicle, you have some extra travel distance between you and the dashboard. The driver, however, has a very limited amount of distance before they are at the steering wheel. The impact that the steering wheel can injure the driver or worse. The seatbelt on the driver’s side of the vehicle stops them as quickly as possible.
Another benefit that the loop has to offer is it provides a cushion around the buckle. If you’ve ever been in a car without a fabric loop and the seat belt buckle is constantly hitting the side of the vehicle or window as you are driving, it can be annoying.
That loop helps the buckle to not constantly bang against the side of the vehicle if the seatbelt is not in use. Since the driver seat belt should always be in use when the car is in motion, there is no need to keep it from hitting the side of the vehicle. It should be safely in place, clicked in, and keeping you safe and secure.