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Original poster

Are lap belts in cars safe?

27 replies

ghostspirit · 13/09/2015 16:54

my babys dad wants to get a 7/8 seater car it might end up being an older type car. and im a bit worried about the middle seats only having lap belts..any thoughts on this?

OP posts:
Original poster
ghostspirit · 13/09/2015 16:59

forgot to add would i be out of line to say my kids are not going in lap belt seats

OP posts:
Bolograph · 13/09/2015 17:12

im a bit worried about the middle seats only having lap belts..any thoughts on this?

I regard an awful lot of stuff about car safety as faffing around in the statistical noise floor (once you're in a seatbelt, that's 90% of the benefit) but I would be very nervous about lap belts, partly because they're inherently not great and partly because a car fitted with them is probably old enough to have other safety concerns. Saab started fitting three lap and diagonal belts in the back in 1992, so it's hardly a new development: the problem was finding a strongpoint for the top fitting of the centre belt, but that's a long solved problem.

Of themselves, lap belts are OK for fitting some car seats. But I would not myself travel in a seat fitted with only a lap belt, and would certainly not have my children in that position. I'd also be more generally worried about large "people carrier" type cars with only lap belts, because vehicles of that type and age are a pretty scary place to be in an accident for other reasons.

sadwidow28 · 13/09/2015 17:12

Three-point seat belts are safer, but wearing a lap belt is far better than wearing no seat belt at all

www.rospa.com/road-safety/advice/vehicles/in-car-safety-and-crashworthiness/seat-belts/

I bought my current car 10 years ago - new from the showroom. I wouldn't even consider a car with a lap-belt in the middle of the back seat so it took some time to find a car with 5 three-point seat belts within my budget.

Pelvic and head injuries from being catapulted forward onto the driver's seat was enough for me to reject any car with a lap-belt.

Snossidge · 13/09/2015 17:15

Could you use a car seat with an impact cushion in a lap belt seat? Only up to 18kg though I think.

LadySheherazade · 13/09/2015 17:29

I've just bought a 2000 Zafira with a middle lap belt.

TBH it's not an issue as we won't be using it. If we did need to I would replace it.

sproketmx · 14/09/2015 01:13

Lap belts are fine. Tyrst me as an ex banger races who's probably had more high speed crashes than the cast of spinal tap it will be fine

Topseyt · 14/09/2015 02:18

They may be preferable to nothin, but they are not great.

There is nothing to stop the top half of your body from being flung violently forwards, so I am never happy with them and would no longer buy a car which had them in the back.

That is my take on them anyway.

Topseyt · 14/09/2015 02:19

*nothing!!

LadySheherazade · 14/09/2015 04:39

More to the point though, I'd your child's dad really so stupid and uncaring to put them at risk in a lap belt? I mean, it's hardly a new thing that they're not safe.

swimmerforlife · 14/09/2015 07:10

I wouldn't want lap belts being used on regularly when the dc are in the car.

Once in a blue moon is fine when your've got a car load but I wouldn't want to rely on it all the time for transport.

Original poster
ghostspirit · 14/09/2015 07:47

i would not even use it once in a blue moon. thanks littleducks i will look

OP posts:
WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 14/09/2015 07:49

It depends what is going on the seat with the lap belt.

I had several old cars with centre lap belts.

Ds had a britax freeway, which was perfect there. The belt went through the middle (height ) of the back of the britax. Over 10 years ago...

This was an age 1-4 seat. No other seat (style) would work there.

You may be able to use the BMW seat? Think there is another similar brand? Where the child has a cushion thing over their legs. Not sure.

Defiantly not for a rear facing baby seat or a booster.

runawaysimba · 14/09/2015 07:59

sproketmx you were lucky. I have a friend who was in just the one high speed crash wearing a lap belt. He's a paraplegic now.

UnfortunateUsername · 14/09/2015 09:52

My seven seater has the full seat belt on all seven seats. Is it worth just looking about at different cars until you find one that fits all your requirements? To me it doesn't seem worth buying a car if you would not feel comfortable using the seats.

EeyoresTail · 14/09/2015 09:58

How old is your child?
I'm guessing old enough not too need a car seat or booster cushion?
I wouldn't put my child at risk like that no.
In fact I withdrew my DD from going on a school trip because the coach only had lap belts.

LadySheherazade · 14/09/2015 12:06

Erm, do we not think maybe we're being a bit over the top here?!

He wants to buy a 7/8 seater, there is no indication that the potentially 1 seat that will have a lapbelt will even be used.

And no, I wouldn't use the one in our car but I would be really pissed off if DH didn't trust me enough with the safety of our kids to let me buy a car with a lapbelt!

Lelania · 14/09/2015 13:13

How many children do you have? Unless you have 5 or 6 then the middle lap belts won't need to be used.

sproketmx · 15/09/2015 00:14

Ha runawaysimba I came off a motocross bike today at about 40 mph and about 5 foot in the air. Il never learn my lesson I suppose but seriously lap belts are ok. The other safety things built into cars these days are huge in numbers. If someone has to sit in the middle then use the lap belt. It's not going to do any harm

CakeUpWall · 15/09/2015 00:43

Please don't ever trust a lap belt to keep a child safe. I know a girl who was in a school-run accident whilst in the middle seat with only a lap belt available.

Long story short, she is very, very lucky to be alive.

Bolograph · 15/09/2015 09:08

The other safety things built into cars these days are huge in numbers.

A car with a lap belt is old enough to not have ABS, not have airbags other than (possibly) the driver. Consider, say, a 2000 Zafira. Which of these "safety things...huge in numbers" do you think that's fitted with that mitigate the risks for a rear seat passenger? ABS didn't become compulsory until 2007, it won't have stability control as it barely existed, it might have a driver's airbag but won't have anything for the rear passengers, it won't have pyrotechnic pre-tensioners on the rear seats, it probably don't have the rear seat reinforcements we now expect (because they're basically a side effect of centre three-pointers). What do you think it has over a car made in 1984?

sanfairyanne · 15/09/2015 09:15

Are you together? If not, I guess you could express a preference but, no, you cant go round saying things like 'no child of mine is using a lap belt'. You have equal parental responsibility. If you are together, choose one without a lapbelt - plenty out there!

sproketmx · 15/09/2015 19:08

I don't have abs in my truck, it's not an issue. My ex has a shitey wee 63 plate megane and it has a lap belt and air bags front and sides and an impact zone. I've got no handbrake, worn front pads, bust steering column, a leak in driver side shocky, strut mount sticking, track rod ends away n mot's in a month. Stop being so bloody precious about a lap belt. There are hundreds of bigger issues.

araiba · 15/09/2015 19:15

you are out of line to say my kids.

presumably as the babys father, they are his too

Samiam123 · 15/09/2015 19:28

In a word? No. We have a relative who almost died in a serious car crash age 10, largely because he was wearing a lap belt. Not to put too fine a point on it, his gut was pretty much severed and he spent many months in hospital with numerous operations. Thankfully he's a strapping young man in his 20s now but I've never felt safe with lap belts since then. I would certainly never put any child who still needs a car seat / booster cushion in one.

Seat belts are by far the ONE biggest safety improvement in cars made in the last 40 years or so. For me, airbags etc are negotiable as they add a minimal benefit, but seat belts are absolutely key. Head restraints come in second place (I know someone who was paralysed from the neck down after being hit at low speed at a traffic light). More modern improvements are great, but not as essential as these two.

However, I don't think it's necessarily U to have a car with multiple seats including a couple of lap belts for one-offs. It's all a question of balancing risks.