Tell me about ELR seat belts...

[Defrost]

If you jerk them out, they lock, right? But is that a given? Are there some that won't lock except in a real accident?

I'm curious because we took our old '97 Chevy Astro (the one that was t-boned years ago by a Volvo doing about 40mph) to the airport, and I noticed when playing with the belt that's been replaced because the dog chewed it up that I couldn't make it lock no matter how fast I jerked it. But then I checked the others and none of them would lock, either. (These are ELR belts with locking latchplates.)

So my question is, will the belts lock in a crash even if I can't make them lock otherwise?

[NZ Child Restraints]

ELR i understand are the belts you pull hard on that then lock, and ALR are the ones that enter lock mode when fully extended (for restraint use).

If I can hunt out my tech manual I can see what it says.
Perhaps your belts were put in incorrectly? Retractor might be upside down, or one of the lock prongs may not have been fitted correctly?

[Defrost]

ELR belts are the ones that only lock when you slam on the brakes (or jerk them, in my experience).

ALR belts are fairly uncommon these days; you pull them out and they lock as soon as you stop pulling.

The belts that you can pull ALL the way out and then they start locking are "switchable." The are in ELR mode until you pull them all the way out and switch them to ALR mode. ;)

[joolsplus3]

See if this explains it... http://auto.howstuffworks.com/seatbelt3.htm

[skaterbabscpst]

the ELR engages (if I understand the explanations Cam has given over the years) when a gravity device engages. It's not uncommon for the relatively mild force you would put on it with even a hard pull to not be enough to trigger the gravity mechanism.

[Ashley_R]

Some have a pendulum that locks the belt when the retractor or car is tilted. In tech class our instructor has one of these, it locked when it was tilted at about 45*. I think most of the cars that have these type of retractors seem to tilt more easily. I drove one for a while and if you stepped on the brakes the car would seem to tilt a lot more than anything I've ever driven and everything that was on the seats (re: my purse and its contents) would slide off the leather seats.

[Defrost]

A-ha! Thanks for the article, that explains it! Some of them lock when the belt is jerked, while others lock when the brakes are applied. *lightbulb!*

[joolsplus3]

Cool :)

[lovinwaves]

*whew* What alot of great info here in this thread! :thumbsup:

[singingpond]

Our '87 Honda Accord (not currently in service) was like this -- no matter how hard/fast you yank on the belt, it won't lock up. My understanding is that there is an accelerometer (something that detects rapid deceleration of the vehicle) responsible for locking the seatbelt. I don't remember that it ever engaged just from hard braking, but I could be wrong. I never liked this system, as there seems to be no good way to test if the belts are still locking properly, short of actually crashing into something :rolleyes:.

Katrin

[singingpond]

See if this explains it... http://auto.howstuffworks.com/seatbelt3.htm

Cool link... I also went on to read the next section about pretensioners, which I remember were discussed here a few weeks ago...

Katrin

[azgirl71]

If I try to lock a ELR belt I can't. Of course if we are just driving and hit a bump they lock in a second. I wonder if it has something to do with the age of the vehicle and how they were designed in 97.