It’s getting really fuzzy now. We had a 64 Ford for drivers training and I just can’t remember if it had belts or not. I think it did but can’t be sure because we had a specific procedure to go through when starting a car which included putting the belts on. I do remember our 68 Dart (which I later bought from my folks) had the lap and shoulder belt which was the first one with a shoulder belt. It was not automatic though but clipped to the roof so it had to be taken down each time. Just for long trips I guess.
Yeah sure, people have said stupid things during transition periods. Like hiding under a desk at school in case of a nuclear attack. Or in the Army we were taught to jump in a fox hole and cover up with the poncho. I don’t think they even believed that one but they had to say something besides “you’ll just be fried to a crisp anyway”.
I remember that comment from a McNamara memoir. McNamara had proven his bones at the Office of Statistical Control in WW2, bringing efficiency expertise to the management of the bombing campaign in Asia. Ford II hired the whole crew after the war to re-make his company. McNamara eventually became the first non-Ford to run the company. He knew nothing about cars before, was horrified at the death rate, focused on safety.
Quoth Wikipedia:
‘The state of Wisconsin introduced legislation in 1961 requiring seat belts to be fitted to the front outboard seat positions of cars. Seat belts have been mandatory equipment since the 1968 model year per Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208.’
I could say that he should have stayed with Ford but that may not be fair. At any rate I remember in 56 and more in 57 with the steering wheel and padded dash, but I always saw it as a nice design element rather than a safety thing. Guess it never dawned on me it was safety, I just liked the design. I guess an 8-10 year old doesn’t think much of safety features though.
Nash offered an optional seatbelt in 1950. Ford began the safety crusade in 1956. Seat belts and padded dashboards were optional. However, the door locks were designed not to pop open as easily in an accident and the hub of the steering wheel was recessed.
My dad bought a new Rambler in 1960. The floor pan had the fittings for front seat belts, but the belts were a dealer installed option. My dad had them installed and it was a good thing he did. In 1963, my mother and brother were making the 350 mile trip to visit me while I was in graduate school. They were less than 50 miles into the trip when they were rear ended by a semi. The Rambler was hit so hard that the car buckled and all but one door was jammed shut. The engine rammed into the radiator. By being belted in, my mother and brother weren’t injured. My dad also had an optional head rest installed on the passenger side which prevented my mother from having a neck injury. The Rambler was replaced with a new 1963 Studebaker Lark. Front seat belts were standard equipment. The rear passenger compartment had the fittings for seat belts, but the rear seat belts were a dealer installed option. I bought a 1965 Rambler. The front seat belts were standard, but I had to drill the rear floor pan to install rear seat belts. I owned a 1968 AMC Javelin. It had shoulder harnesses that could be used. The shoulder harness was independent of the seat belt.
Tom Mccahill, in his book, “What You Should Know About Cars” published in 1963, advocated for seat belts and shoulder harnesses. I have had seat belts in every car I have owned, including the 1947; Pontiac I bought in 1962. I bought the belts from J.C. Whitney and installed them myself. Even my dog is belted in when he rides in the car. I put him in a harness. I have a loop that attaches to the harness and then the shoulder harness in the car goes through the loop. He sits in the seat like a person. When he sees his harness come off the coat rack, he gets all excited because he knows he gets to go for a ride.
The first car in our family with seatbelts was a 1965 Olds 98. The seatbelts were standard. Like many kids, I kept surreptiously unbuckling my seatbelt in the back seat. Then one day in the grocery store parking lot someone came wheeling fast around the end of a row of cars and hit us head on. I was thrown forward hard into the back of the front seat, getting my knee badly bruised. After that I kept my seatbelt fastened.
In fact, on the rare occasions I have reason to move my car from one place to another like from a gas pump to in front of the convenience store I fasten my seatbelt even if for only a few moments. Learned my lesson as a kid that accidents happen in parking lots! In fact, the only time I don’t buckle up is when merely moving the car from garage to driveway and back again.
My cats both have a hard sided pet carrier. I run the belt through the handle and secure with it snugged up such the carrier doesn’t move in a hard stop. Unlike dogs, my cats aren’t happy to go for a car ride.
I have tried–repeatedly–to warn him about the health consequences of all that bottled-up anger, but that only seems to make him more hostile, so I have backed-off. It’s very sad.
Lap belts w/o shoulder belts did cause some problems in accidents but overall were considered to do more good than harm. I recall a high school friend’s account of a head on collision of two nearly identical late 50’s Chevy’s traveling ~ 25-30mph in front of his home. The driver using his lap belt walked away with some bruises, the other’s head went through the windshield were it remained as his torso fell back into the car. That’s all the convincing we needed.
I installed lap belts in my 1956 Ford V8 back in 1962.
IIRR my little 1968 V8 AMC coup (a real hot “sleeper” that beat Mustangs off the line) had factory installed belt plus shoulder harness. I may have had to specify them as an option when I configured the order for my car.
I miss the days back then for one feature: I could order a car with strong text the option combination I wanted. I didn’t have to by a package or a trim level.
Ordered that little two door AMC with high compression V8 289cu-inch, four barrel carb. HD clutch, four on the floor, HD suspension, tach, front disc brakes, “airliner reclining front seats” (almost bucket seats), tinted glass, high performance low profile tires, etc. A color close to British racing green, Options the dealer didn’t even know existed.
Without doubt!
I was in a fairly low-speed collision while driving my father’s '66 Galaxie 500. Thankfully, I had the lap belt fastened (there was no shoulder harness), but my face hit the steering wheel, and my front teeth were loosened for several weeks, as a result.
If I hadn’t been wearing that lap belt, I surely would have sustained more serious injuries. And, if I had the option of wearing a shoulder harness, I wouldn’t have hit the steering wheel.
