Car Seat Belt Extender Article

[Guest guest]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/consumer/autos/mauto687.htm

Here's another article I found about seat belts not

fitting us " big girls & guys " ...

Large drivers demand safety belts fit for all

Car restraints built on health data 40 years out of

date

By Kiley, USA TODAY

July 12, 2000

VIDEO REPORT

Most car companies can't get enough customers. But

Honda says it " practically begged " Fisher to

buy one of its competitors' cars instead of the

Odyssey minivan she wanted.

Fisher shopped dozens of new cars and minivans last

year looking for one that she would feel comfortable

driving. The Baton Rouge computer programmer is a

large woman, so fitting comfortably behind the wheel

is an important issue.

She opted for the hot-selling Odyssey for its ample

room. But when it came to fastening the seat belt,

Fisher could barely get it closed. And when she tried

out the rear seats where a few of her zaftig friends

would be frequent passengers, the belts wouldn't close

at all.

Most carmakers offer seat belt extenders similar to

those on airplanes. But not Honda. American Honda

Motor spokesman Art Garner says company

representatives told Fisher that they can't vouch for

the performance of a seat belt extender in a crash and

encouraged her to go elsewhere. Volkswagen, Subaru,

Isuzu, Porsche, Kia and Hyundai do not offer extenders

for the same reason.

Auto safety awareness has never been higher.

Forty-nine states have mandatory seat belt laws, and

police are increasingly ticketing unbelted drivers.

And Americans are heavier and larger than ever, so

more people are finding belts that meet today's

federal standard difficult, if not impossible, to

wear.

Fisher bought her Odyssey despite Honda's reluctance.

But frustrated by what she views as Honda's and the

government's insensitivity to large people, she is

crusading to make sure anyone who can comfortably fit

behind the wheel of a car has the ability to fasten a

factory-installed or otherwise government-tested

safety belt.

She gathered signatures and filed a petition with the

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in

April, asking it to review standards for seat belts.

" The whole country is pushing seat belt usage, but

there are a lot of larger people who are not being

looked after, " says Fisher. " That's unacceptable. "

NHTSA says belts must fit around the standard crash

dummy in the most forward sitting position, plus 4

inches. The dummy, based on 1960 statistics,

represents what NHTSA says is the 95th percentile

male. In other words, at about 6 feet and 215 pounds,

the dummy is supposed to be big enough to represent

95% of American males and 99% of American females.

Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention from 1988 to 1994 and reported in the

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey show

the 95th percentile man is now 244 pounds, while the

female is 226 pounds.

NHTSA acknowledges that it hasn't tested extenders.

But it sees no obstacle to offering an extender, and

says there is nothing preventing automakers from

offering longer belts, as many, but not all, do.

NHTSA spokesman Tim Hurd says more recent health

statistics have not prompted the agency to change the

standard.

Some groups appear to be especially hurt by the old

standard. The 95th percentile for non-Hispanic black

females, 40-49, is 276 pounds; it is about 250 pounds

for black women in their 30s and 50s. The 95th

percentile for white males 40-49 is 256 pounds.

Hurd says NHTSA, which has received Fisher's petition,

is reviewing the issue and should have comment by the

end of August.

Ticketed for not wearing belt

Brounstein, an actress and plus-size model in Los

Angeles, is eager to see the results. She got a ticket

last year from a police officer who scolded her for

not wearing the belt in her 1992 Honda Civic.

Brounstein, who cannot fasten her belt, fought the

ticket, but got no slack from traffic court either.

She does not want to be forced to sell her paid-for,

otherwise reliable car.

The actual number of people who are large enough to be

affected is elusive, as is the number of people in the

USA who are above a given weight. But J. Baker, the

leading retailer of men's big and tall apparel through

the Casual Male and Repp chains, says the market for

its clothing last year was $5.6 billion. Of that, 10%

of sales were in size 4X and larger, sizes that easily

put men into a tight squeeze in a minimum standard

seatbelt.

" We can assume that there are tens of thousands of

people, if not hundreds of thousands, who fall outside

the NHTSA standard and aren't wearing belts because

they are too tight or don't fit at all, " says Sandie

Sabo, spokeswoman for the National Association for the

Advancement of Fat Acceptance.

Advocates say the issue isn't the number of people

affected, but rather that manufacturers should be

required to provide a belt for whoever is capable of

riding in their cars.

Extenders don't please everyone

Sabo, who uses a belt extender in her 1990 Lincoln

Town Car, says extenders for all cars will suffice for

now but aren't a permanent fix.

" Some large people would simply feel too embarrassed

to request an extender from a car dealer — and

frankly, they shouldn't have to, " she says.

General Motors, Ford Motor and DaimlerChrysler provide

seat belt extenders. And while admitting that the

length of seat belts varies from model to model, all

three said their engineers are positive that people

are better off belted with an extender than going

without.

Ford safety spokesperson Sara Tatchio says Ford,

Mercury and Lincoln brands exceed the NHTSA standard

for seat belt length by 12 inches in some models and

more than that in rear seats where belts are

configured differently.

Volvo, now part of Ford and historically the industry

leader in safety, supplies customers with an extender

upon request. But Volvo spokesman Dan ston says

the company asks its customers to sign a waiver that

says they understand that the extender is meant only

for the recipient and that it may not perform as well

as the factory-installed belt in a crash.

" It is because there has not been any testing done

that we know of for belt extenders to see how they

affect the belt's performance in a crash, " he says.

" But we feel confident that people are better off

being buckled with an extender than going without. "

Mercedes-Benz says it uses a dummy that is larger than

the NHTSA standard and offers a modified belt that is

about 12 inches longer than the standard belt for

those who request it. " We prefer this approach as

there has not been adequate testing done on extenders

to suit us, " says Mercedes spokesman Fred Heiler.

BMW says it won't supply extenders, but, at the

customer's expense, it refits the car with a longer

belt. Jaguar has a similar policy, but absorbs the

cost. Korea's Daewoo has just completed a series of

tests on extenders and is offering them with 2001

models.

Isuzu, like Honda, says that it will not modify a

safety system with a device that is not adequately

tested.

" That's unacceptable to us, " says Isuzu spokesman

Fults. " By putting an extender on a seat belt,

you modify both the belt system and the air bag system

because of how far the person will be away from the

air bag when the belt tightens in a crash. "

" I can't see any discernible reason why any

manufacturer would not offer an extender, " says Phil

Haseltine, president of the Automotive Coalition for

Traffic Safety, a group funded by the automakers.

" Given the potential numbers of people involved, NHTSA

is right to be looking at this. "

A grass-roots movement

Starrett is helping spread the word about

Fisher's petition to a group of several hundred large

people she organized in Seattle. In an accident 13

years ago, Starrett's head hit the windshield of her

1970s model Dodge Challenger. She was 230 pounds then

and 35 weeks pregnant. She and her unborn baby

survived despite the fact that her car's outdated lap

belt wouldn't fit.

" I know that I was riding in an old car and that cars

are better today, but the experience changed me, " says

Starrett. " We have these size-acceptance groups

because we face a lot of adversity and

discrimination. "

Safety advocates and the government have acknowledged

the need to make sure car safety devices protect

children, the elderly, short people and pregnant

women. Why haven't large people been part of the

conversation? Chuck Hurley of the National Safety

Council, who admits his organization has " certainly

not had this on our screen yet, " says, " Maybe they

need a better lobby. "

Responds Fisher, " The last person I talked to at Honda

said there was literally 'nothing I could do to make

Honda change its policy.' ... I took that as a

challenge. "

Seat belt extender policies aren't uniform

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