Originally Posted by Kayaalp

That's a tough one to answer. you have to think of safety equipment as a system. On the one hand, you've got stock seats, stock inertia reel belts, plus airbag. On the other you've got fixed-back racing seats, 5- or 6-point harnesses (depending on the seatback angle), and some roll protection. Everything else is a potentially-dangerous compromise.

In a frontal impact, your inerta reel belt acts as a pulley: as your upper body moves up, the lap belt tightens, and your hips stay reasonably well-planted in the seat. Your upper body keeps moving forward and the airbag helps reduce craniofacial trauma. This system works pretty well.

But think about what happens with a 4-point harness. As your upper body moves up and out, the shoulder belts actually pull your lap belt up off your hips. Then your upper body suddenly stops when the shoulder belts stop stretching...but your body keep moving forward, so you get shoved down. Since the lap belt is no longer tight, your hips now slide forward under the lap belt. This WILL cause major intra-abdominal trauma...like lacerations to your liver, spleen, bladder, and intestines. You can bleed liters of blood into your belly within a couple of minutes. This is why you absolutely MUST use some sort of anti-sub strap(s) with any harness system.

Now think about what happens when the roof comes down in a roll-over situation. Your stock seat-back is designed to collapse. Plus, the stock 3-point belt will allow your body to slide sideways towards the center of the car. But if you've got a harness bar behind you, your seat-back will not be able to collapse...but your neck sure will This is how the former president of the COM Sports Car Club died. He slid his Corvette backwards into a wall. The seat-back collapsed, but his harness bar was in the way and it broke his neck.



The bottom line with safety equipment is either stick with all-stock, or go all-out and get a proper 5- or 6-point harness fixed-back seat, and roll-protection. Don't do a half-assed job of it. A cheap 4-point "tuner style" harness attached to harness bar is probably OK for auto-x. But I sure as hell wouldn't hit the track or drive around on the street like that.



In a high-speed frontal impact, yes, a 5-point belt attached to a harness bar is probably better than a stock seatbelt. However, you will be screwed in a rollover or rearward collision. Better make sure you never spin the car Like I said, either stick with stock or go all-out. Anything else is a compromise and a big-time gamble.

Emre

Originally Posted by blaze_125

I meat him every once in a while

Originally Posted by datdjrobp

....

ummmm...

Originally Posted by blaze_125

I meat him every once in a while

Originally Posted by datdjrobp

meat = ground beef, sirloin, ribs, "laying the pipe"

meet = see someone in person