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My favorite genre, by far.
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I miss you automatic bucklers. RIP.
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this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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Pls help if you know why these aren't around anymore--I need to know
They were actually more unsafe because only the part across your torso was automated and you still had to manually buckle the lap belt. People generally didn’t do that and got injured badly, a standard 3 point plus airbag is much safer. Then add in the driver side door airbag and the system is doooooomed
Lol wait, these had lapbelts with them? Uhhh, yeah glad I didn't get in any wrecks with it. Oops...
I got a citation for not having mine on right outside my house Don't ask how the cop could determine this. That would dignify them too much
And they ended up being more annoying to buckle for people with less mobility because they'd have to twist two directions to reach both ends of the lap belt, whereas the standard 3-point allowed them to more easily reach the belt when it was retracted.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration passed regulations in the late 70's requiring active safety features of either an airbag system or automatic seat belts by the late 80's (the legal saga of those regulations coming into effect is its own long story). Then, in 1995, airbags became mandatory, so the automatic seatbelt systems became redundant for regulatory compliance. And culturally, by 1995 people actually were choosing to wear their seatbelts, so that the automatic seatbelt systems didn't actually make as big of a difference in practice.
There were probably a lot of reasons why automatic seat belts were a passing phase, but the safety regulations you mention were likely the most significant. I believe automatic seat belts were considered valid passive side restraint and cheaper to implement until side airbag technology became the more economic choice. Plus all of the additional downsides like mechanical complexity and consumer preference stuff mentioned in other replies.
Anecdotally, the non-seat-belt types I knew would always just keep in unbuckled anyways. 🤷
I made a seperate reply but..
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/automatic-seat-belt-terrible-idea/
Not too sure, but I heard that some people trying to quickly get out would have these belts go around thier neck choking them. So injury risk ig?