U.K. SAFETY BELT SALES MAY CLIMB THIS YEAR

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29797, 13 April 1962, Page 9

U.K. SAFETY BELT SALES MAY CLIMB THIS YEAR

In the 18 months since the British Standard for safety belts was introduced, some 800,000 belts have been made; and optimists predict that during the current year the 18 firms which make up the industry will sell a million belts, says an article in the “Financial Times."

With prices ranging from about £4 up to £l5 or so for the most elaborate harness, this argues a very substantial penetration of the market. Even so it is still far short of that, say, in Sweden, where

safety harness has been in use for many years: there, according to conservative estimates, 60 per cent, of all cars on the road are equipped with harness, and the biggest motor manufacturer, Volvo, fits harness as standard equipment to all its cars.

Less Eager

British car manufacturers have been less eager, partly because of the legal anomaly which dictates that a belt sold as part of a car carries full purchase tax, while one sold as an accessory pays none.

However, the same anomaly has not prevented the fitting of heaters and screenwashers as original equipment on a very large number of British cars, and no doubt safety harness would also be fitted if it was thought that this would help sales. Meanwhile, the manufacturers are helping to bolster demand by selling cars with attachment points ready installed for harness —nearly all popular cars are now so equipped—and by selling approved belts under their own brand names through dealers. Three main types of harness are used—the simple diagonal anchored to the floor in the centre of the car, across the wearer's chest and up to a door pillar: the diagonal with a lap strap, anchored to the floor on both sides: and the full harness, with lap strap and shoulder straps, anchored at both sides and behind the wearer This list is in ascending order of price, of effectiveness—and of inconvenience.

Motor manufacturers, and most buyers, appear to be settling in favour of the compromise lap-cum-diagonal, which offers good protection without being too awkward to put on and adjust, and without cluttering up the rear floor with straps and anchorages.

This pattern has the extra advantage that while it restrains the body in an accident. it does not take on the Junction of a strait-jacket when the wearer wants to turn round for reversing or reach for a slightly distant control switch—though the layout of many British cars is so planned that some controls. such as the heater switch or bonnet catch, are out of the reach of anyone wearing any effective harness at all.

This description may serve to explain in part why motorists are not more eager to buy safety harness, in spite of the steady stream of evidence—on the basis of some 400 well-authenticated accidents—that safety belts do save lives. But the biggest resistance that the industry has to overcome is psychological—the feeling that “it can't happen to me,” that the fitting of belts is somehow cissy—and the continued indifference and ignorance of a large part of the motor trade. For all these seasons it is hard to share the industry’s confidence that it has yet broken through into the real motoring market. It seems likely that the safetyconscious fraction of the motoring population was quick to buy harness, and the rest may prove very recalcitrant.

To an outside observer, the sales approach seems a little puzzling. Nearly all manufacturers rely exclusively on the safety appeal of harness; yet there are other important advantages. Most rally drivers, for instance, wear harness because the extra support given when cornering, for instance, enables the driver to drive better, and the co-driver to relax far more completely. Passengers, indeed, are so thoroughly supported in the better kinds of harness that they can readily sleep in the moving car. ,