[N.T.]

I was wanting the harness or some other seat belt idea due to the Maruti Stockmans setup. Not sure if it's the same as the other older utes, but the shoulder strap bolts into nearly nothing, due to this there is a slack steel cable that runs from the shoulder bolt out the rear fibreglass of the cab and bolted to the tray outside the vehicle. This is so in the event of an accident when the shoulder bolt rips out (and it will) you get flung forward about 6 inches until the steel cable bolted into the rear of the tray takes the slack. By this time in an accident at say 70kph I would think my neck would snap (or I could have watched to many movies) at the very least by the time the slack is taken up there would be so much play in the seat belt you would just fall out of it. If there was a way of strengthening the OE I would be happy with that, it just that looking at it gives me the heebie jeebies

[Marko_SJ]

Not defending the way they did it, but I don't remember the seat belt cables (or whatever you'd call them) being slack on my mates maruti, but I can see why you'd be wanting to change that.

[N.T.]

Here are some pics of the seat belt and the wire cable. And the second shot is where it bolts onto the tray from out the cab. If it pulls out of the pillar in an accident you really don't have a seat belt anymore as its not attached to a solid object and would just get flung around the cab. I reckon it looks dodgy as. What are the harnesses like for on road driving?? as I wouldn't wear it off road except on the extreme stuff then unclip it again.

[tanshi]

Thats not standard.

[N.T.]

Are you sure, I would love to get to the bottom of this as it looks unsafe. But the seatbelt mounting point does come across as piss weak and I'm not sure of a way around this.

[Zook_Fan]

N.T. wrote:

Here are some pics of the seat belt and the wire cable. And the second shot is where it bolts onto the tray from out the cab. If it pulls out of the pillar in an accident you really don't have a seat belt anymore as its not attached to a solid object and would just get flung around the cab. I reckon it looks dodgy as. What are the harnesses like for on road driving?? as I wouldn't wear it off road except on the extreme stuff then unclip it again.

It's like driving blind while being strapped hard to the seat if you do them up enough to be effective. Harnesses are great in a comp when you are at a higher risk of an incident but you also have another pair of eyes calling out hazards as they come up. I wouldn't want harnesses unless I always had someone around or my car had very good visibility, ie open soft top with half doors and all mirrors.

[tanshi]

N.T. wrote:

Are you sure, I would love to get to the bottom of this as it looks unsafe. But the seatbelt mounting point does come across as piss weak and I'm not sure of a way around this.

yep, im sure. they usually have a tube that runs down to the same points. not the cable

[tanshi]

ahh its a tray back, sorry i missed that. im not 100 percent sure what they have.

[N.T.]

In any case should I be concerned about the safety of such a set up

[kenn]

When you build the cage, how about making a bracket to tie into the seatbelt mount, it would mean cutting the fibre glass a little.

[N.T.]

kenn wrote:

When you build the cage, how about making a bracket to tie into the seatbelt mount, it would mean cutting the fibre glass a little.

Perfect I'll just run a bracket from the taxi bar through the fibreglass and onto the seat belt mounts, can't go anywhere then and it saves a fortune on harnesses and seats to suit. Thnx, I'll post pics on my build thread when It's done.

[Zook_Fan]

Depending how you do it you are now bordering way past "No officer, it's just a roof rack". How many other roof racks tie into a seatbelt mount? That alone would require engineering to say you haven't adversely effected the function of the seat belt bolt.

[kenn]

And harnesses wouldn't do that?

[kenn]

" no officer it's just a roof rack, the harnesses are just there to hold the load on".

[Zook_Fan]

The difference is you are not modifying a primary safety device by adding harnesses. You could remove them when you're not going offroad and 99% of the time no one would see them. Putting a plate in the standard seat belt bolt to me is like using the activation wire from your airbag to power your horn.

[kenn]

So the bit of wire that's there now is better then ?

[Zook_Fan]

Of course not but if it is standard than that's what the department of transport and the police want to see. The whole point of this thread is about roll cages, are they better than the standard roof in a roll over situation? Are they legal...

[kenn]

Fair enough.

[got_bar_work]

Maybe the tray has been lifted causing the slack un the cable i wouldn't tie a plate to the cab
it might rip the bolt out if the cab and chassis flex to much
Get the cable shortened and maybe ad another one going up on a angle to the roll cage
that way it can flex but if it does rip out its on a angle that will still hold the belt up close to the same position

[atari4x4]

looks like you'd almost be able to just cut the bracket on the tray & redrill it in the right spot to take out any slack.

[N.T.]

Thnx again for the suggestions, Should I be starting another thread?? The exo cage was always going to hold a harness bracket so kinda related??
My main concern is even with no slack once its ripped out nothing is holding me in it will just flop around on the end of the tight cable. Not sure how it passed any kind of Australian standard. I can get any work done to it engineered easy enough, Im not too concerned what the officer has to say if it means I survive my next accident.

[atari4x4]

it will be fine... there are 1000's of soft top sierra's with the solid bars back to the tub & that just mounts to wafer thin sheet metal.

to pull those plates through the tray in an accident it would have to be pretty serious & in an accident with that much force, you'll have other things to worry about, eg the lack of crumple zones & airbags etc etc.

[N.T.]

True, probably worried over nothing. Hopefully the exo cage helps a little with the crumple zones.

[atari4x4]

what? by removing them even more.

[N.T.]

Surely a tin can Sierra surrounded in metal tubes has got to be safer than a tin can with out them in an accident??

[Zook_Fan]

Safer for who? Inside you are going to see the same amount of force through the car with a lot less dampening. When panels crush force is dissipated but when it can't crush it is transferred. You will be on the recieving end of all the transferred force.

[frysie]

looks dodge. but if you were to make a new bracket, on the other side of the tray, so it needs to pull through the tray to shear off; that would be helpful.

[atari4x4]

How's that going to work? Where does the cable go?

FFS, just trim the bracket down, drill a new hole & forget about it... You drive a Sierra, get a Volvo if you want to he wrapped in cotton wool.

[N.T.]

Zook_Fan wrote:

Safer for who? Inside you are going to see the same amount of force through the car with a lot less dampening. When panels crush force is dissipated but when it can't crush it is transferred. You will be on the recieving end of all the transferred force.

Jesus way to ruin my cool theory, sounded good at the time

[N.T.]

atari4x4 wrote:

How's that going to work? Where does the cable go?

FFS, just trim the bracket down, drill a new hole & forget about it... You drive a Sierra, get a Volvo if you want to he wrapped in cotton wool.

Hmmmm you might be onto something there, a Volvo body on a sierra chassis Has this been done before, if not should I start a new thread