Safety first means placing safety ahead of other issues or matters. It also means consistently modeling safety for kids and others.
Training on seat belt use can be supplemented with personal counseling, pep talks, posters, and simple reminders by terminal dispatchers. Periodically survey employee attitudes and practices on using lap and shoulder belts.
Check the Buckle
Many things can cause a seat belt buckle not to latch or get stuck. This can be as simple as a small foreign particle like a coin or food debris to as complex as a disintegrated spring. Inspecting and opening the seat belt buckle to check for impediments can be as quick and easy as fixing a seatbelt that won’t retract.
First, examine the male part of the buckle for any foreign objects. It’s common for coins, toys, or food particles to fall into the clip. In most cases, simply inserting a butter knife or other pointy object in the female portion of the buckle will remove the foreign impediment. If not, proceed to the next step.
If the male section of the seat belt buckle looks clear, the next thing to check is for any webbing cuts or tears preventing it from latching. The belt must be replaced or repaired to ensure safety if it is cut or damaged. It’s always best to replace the belt rather than risk an accident by driving with a defective belt. This is why regularly inspecting the straps, clips, and buckles is essential. That way, you can find any early signs of damage and repair them before they become a severe issue. This is especially important for the buckle, as it is a vital component of seat belt safety.
Check the Webbing
When a car accident occurs, the webbing of your seat belt can resist tremendous forces and prevent you from being thrown out of your vehicle. That’s why checking your seat belt webbing regularly for cuts, tears, and fraying areas is essential. If you notice any of these signs, having your webbing replaced as soon as possible is a good idea.
Seat belt webbing is made of a robust and durable polyester known for its excellent strength, tenacity, significant elongation, resistance to abrasion, and ability to withstand extreme temperatures. However, if your seat belt webbing is cut, ripped, or damaged in any way, it will not be able to do its job, and you could potentially suffer severe injuries and even death.
Whether your seat belt webbing is damaged or not, you should always have it repaired by professionals. Your mechanic is the best person to assess the condition of your safety equipment and seat belts and will be able to advise you on whether your current webbing meets the required standards. However, if your seat belts are deemed unfit, you should be prepared to pay the extra money for replacement, as this is far more cost-effective than getting injured in an accident because you weren’t wearing a seat belt.
Check the Tensioner
Seat belts have become quite advanced in recent decades, and they are designed to work in tandem with airbags to prevent injuries and manage forces on the body. Embedded devices known as crash tensioners tighten the belts quickly in specific impacts. This helps reduce the likelihood of chest injuries by allowing some webbing to spool out before forces on the body become too high.
Tensioners are built into the safety belt buckle, seat belt retractor, or the outboard lower safety belt anchor assembly, and they use a pyrotechnic charge similar to that used by airbags to energize a piston and backwind the retractor spool. This allows the slack in the seat belt to be rapidly removed so that passengers can be fastened firmly into their seats milliseconds before the full force of the crash.
A faulty tensioner can cause a malfunctioning or even jammed seat belt, so it’s essential to have this component checked. Fortunately, you can repair this part using the same procedure for fixing seat belts that require replacement.
Ensure the car is switched off and cool to begin the inspection process. First, check that the belts are correctly aligned on the pulleys. If the belt slips off of the pulleys, this can cause critical components to lose power. Next, remove the belt and look for signs of deterioration or wear. If the belt has more than three cracks in a one-inch strip, it’s time to replace it.
Check the Latch
To ensure that the seat belt buckle can latch adequately, inspect it to make sure the tongue of the latch plate inserts into the slit and locks. The latch plate should snap into place, audibly clicking when inserted correctly. If the seat belt buckle fails to latch during an accident, occupants may be unrestrained, increasing their risk of injury or ejection.
If the seat belt buckle is stuck, spray a small amount of commercially available lubricant onto the male part of the buckle’s latch plate. Try to release the clip and inspect it for debris that might prevent it from latching.
Another way to keep seat belt buckles in good working condition is to encourage their use by promoting them in company newsletters and posters. This can help enlist employees’ motivation and support for safety initiatives, mainly if they feature real-life stories of drivers saved by seat belts.
It is also essential to check lap and shoulder belts for proper positioning before driving. Observe seat belt usage from high vantage points, such as a building or overpass, during pickup-and-delivery routes and over-the-road trips. Observations should include lap and shoulder belts and be made at different times of the day and week to see how the belts perform throughout the workday.
