That's what I'll probably lean towards, since at most I will be able to consider myself a "weekend warrior". What does the DOT legal rating mean? Will it be safe(r) in a rollover, or does that just indicate that the materials/buckles/mounts/etc. meet certain specifications?


Cabo

 

I have a custom roll bar and a 3 yr old son and his head is no where near the side bars.
They installed the bar very tight to the roof which leaves almost a foot of space from his head to he bar.
Also a nice thick padding helps.

 

I think if you are not that serious about racing and want something to use on the street and sometimes track, go with the sparco harness bar and 4 pt harnesses. It'll stiffen up the chassis a little bit and provide a good, safe point to mount your belts. That way you dont have to spend the dough on a custom cage.

 

Looking at harness bars it seems to me that if you are wearing the OEM belts with the bar installed in a side impact, you could easily hit your head against the short part of the bar going to the upper seat belt anchor. Can you say "split like a coconut"?

 

i guess installing a harness is a chance you can take or not take.. im getting harnesses to prepare my car for future track use..

i think if you just get some locking device in the backseat's seatbelt like the CGlock which has 80% of the support as a real harness...it will keep the passenger strapped and from going forward and hitting the harness bar..just my thought..

 

no that would not be a problem at all. the reason being is that the seatbelt thing is overtop of the bar. and if splitting your head on that were a problem, it wouldn't matter if you had the bar in or not. additionally, if you have your seat upright in the proper driving position, the seatbelt mount is to far back anyway.

haha, have you ever worn a real harness? there is not a chance in hell the CGlock has 80% of the support as a real harness. MAYBE around the waist only, but when i am in my harness my back is glued to the seat, and my butt isn't sliding anywhere either. when i have my regular seat belt on afterwards i literally feel naked and vulnerable to accedents. there is no way the 3pt factory belt can have 80% of that support.

 

It's not a simple decision - I'm in the process of installing harness' myself and have been reading up on it for 3 months now. I've found my answer to the problem, but it may not be yours. There are so many people telling you "it's ok since we do it all the time" - I prefer to use my own judgment; after all this stuff isn't rocket science.

If you get the chance, try sitting in an Evo with a harness bar installed. Put on the OEM seat belt, lock it by yanking on it, or have somebody hold it tight from behind. Try to move your head towards the door, and your temple will easily hit the harness bar - you won't need to try very hard (I've done it). The harness bar works great with a harness/helmet, it's just a bad idea to leave it in the car when you're going around town using just the stock belts. That's why SPARCO explicitly says to never use it on public roads. So, if

1) you don't mind removing it when your done,
2) or if you always use your harness and not your seat belts,
3) you are willing to give up your rear seats for moving people while its installed

than a harness bar is a good, cost effective solution.

Many people will also tell you that mounting the shoulder straps to the rear lower seat belt anchors (C/D points) is ok. Schroth's install instructions state the the angle from the harness belt to horizontal cannot exceed 20 deg or you will suffer spinal damage in an impact. Again, my judgment tells me to believe the manufacturer rather than the friendly opinion on the internet. People will tell you that the manufacturer has to say these things because of liability reasons, so they don't really apply. Think about that for a moment - use your head.

There's no perfect solution, whatever you decide upon will be a compromise between

1) what you can afford
2) what works / doesn't work at the track
3) what works / doesn't work around town
4) how much hassle you are willing to put up with in installing / removing things when you hit the track
5) if you are willing to give up your rear seats

Whatever you decide upon, use common sense, use your own judgment (it's your head after all), and put your safety first.

 

although i 100% disagree with the head hitting the bar thing, i know some people like to have there seat as far back as it can go so that it is more "comfortable". and if your seat is all the way back you could hit it. my bar is in all the time right now, and it is not possible for my head to hit the bar, even with the factory belts on. my seat back is forward of the top mounting point for the seatbelts/harnessbar so it is impossible for my head to hit it. if your reclined so far back that your head can hit the bar, that means your shoulder belt isn't going to help you in an accedent, nor will the airbag.

 

Harnesses are just a bad idea w/o a full roll cage, IMHO. They do make your car look fast.

 

although i would agree with you if i were club racing my evo at a track, or open road racing it like some of the people in my area do, but i autocross. my car is not going to roll over. and if it does, it will be one time at the most, and the structural support the car has is sufficient for a roll at low speeds. additionally whenever i am wearing my harness i am also wearing a helmet, which is added safety in the case of a rollover.

i didn't buy my harnesses for looks, otherwise i would have gotten the 75 dollar ones, not the 250 dollar ones... hehe

 

Kevin is right - it depends a lot on what you do with it. I track race, so I went with a roll bar + harness, but for auto-x a bar/cage is overkill.

 

Great info. I don't think it's needed unless you will Auto X or race.

 

I personally went with Stroth Rally 3 harnesses. They are a 4 point system with 3 anchors that connect to the lower OEM front seat belt anchors and the D pillar anchor points in the back seats. I chose Stroth for a few reasons. The first is that they are DOT approved for street use, so there should be no problem with my insurance company if I ever need to depend on injury coverage. I hope that NEVER comes up, but it was something to consider. The second is the anti-submarine feature - that should keep me from sliding out from under the harness.

I completely rulled out harness bars and roll cages because my Evo spends most of it's time as a typical passenger vehicle. I have been in a side impact accident where having a cage or harness bar (or even a harness) would have seriously injured me (the Driver's seat was partially crushed, and I was "popped up" and out of it slightly), but I felt the need for a better system than the OEM seat belt for track days. Another concern aside from the side impact issues is that OEM seats will collapse backwards in some accidents, and I don't want to snap my neck on a harness bar.

My solution is a compromise, and I am concerned about what might happen if I turn the car over at high speeds. However, my braking and cornering loads have reached a point where I can't count on the stock belts to keep me correctly planted in the drivers seat; the thought of fighting to stay both in the seat and control the car while braking hard from 140 mph or so for a 60 mph corner is also pretty scary.

I don't use the harnesses in day to day driving - they fold back out of the way. When I do snug them up they feel almost as secure as a real 5 point system; almost.

 

Good post - even better signature

 

I guess I could say the same thing, have you ever tried a CG-Lock? The shoulder part of a harnes is for one thing only, to keep you in the seat during a high speed accidnet. The CG-Lock is not and has never claimed to be a safety device. What it does do and has been proven by thousands who use it, is it keeps you firmly planted in the seat like the lap belt portion of a full harness system.

Remember the other 20% is for collisions, the 80% is for keeping you from sliding in the seat. I tell you what I'll do, I send you a CG-Lock for you to try. No charge.
Pm me if want to take me up on my offer.