seat belt follies

Had a little, uh, fun with the inertial lockers on the seatbelt
retractors last night. The belts tend to lock under relatively
mild deceleration and side G-force -- normally you never notice
if you're not moving around in the seat. So last night I'm coming
down a fairly bumpy on-ramp and trying to lean *forward* to see
back into the highway lane in the side-view mirror -- yes, I've got
them adjusted correctly but with the whole car still at an angle
to the travel lane it's not enough to see down it without changing
my viewing origin. Guess what, the belt locked and I couldn't lean
forward for a few seconds! Normal human necks don't twist around
quite far enough to clearly see back that far, so while as much of
a direct view as possible is also prudent in this situation, I really
needed the mirror right then.
.
This happens to me on occasion when trying to reach the EV button on
the gauge panel, too -- mine is located just a bit out of arm's
reach without leaning forward slightly; possibly a poor placement
decision on my part but I don't need to get to it that often after
the car's in stage 4.
.
I don't begrudge the car's engineering to ensure I'm a little safer;
the belt-locking is almost the moral equivalent of the mom putting
her hand out across the kid's chest in the passenger seat on a sudden
stop, whether it would have any effect or not -- but maybe these are
just a wee bit touchy??
.
_H*

 

Had a little, uh, fun with the inertial lockers on the seatbelt
retractors last night. The belts tend to lock under relatively
mild deceleration and side G-force -- normally you never notice
if you're not moving around in the seat. So last night I'm coming
down a fairly bumpy on-ramp and trying to lean *forward* to see
back into the highway lane in the side-view mirror -- yes, I've got
them adjusted correctly but with the whole car still at an angle
to the travel lane it's not enough to see down it without changing
my viewing origin. Guess what, the belt locked and I couldn't lean
forward for a few seconds! Normal human necks don't twist around
quite far enough to clearly see back that far, so while as much of
a direct view as possible is also prudent in this situation, I really
needed the mirror right then.
.
This happens to me on occasion when trying to reach the EV button on
the gauge panel, too -- mine is located just a bit out of arm's
reach without leaning forward slightly; possibly a poor placement
decision on my part but I don't need to get to it that often after
the car's in stage 4.
.
I don't begrudge the car's engineering to ensure I'm a little safer;
the belt-locking is almost the moral equivalent of the mom putting
her hand out across the kid's chest in the passenger seat on a sudden
stop, whether it would have any effect or not -- but maybe these are
just a wee bit touchy??
.
_H*