Soo...

"Logansteno: Bought a VW?" (logansteno)
05/22/2014 at 09:43 • Filed to: None

Am I the only one who thinks the new seatbelt system GM is going to make optional in some of their cars is a good idea?

It won't let you shift out of park unless you're buckled up. It uses a sensor just like for the airbags to see if someone is sitting in a seat and won't let you go until you're buckled.

It might get annoying for moving cars around in the driveway and such, but I honestly think it's a really good idea. Especially for people like my grandmother who never wears her seatbelt!

DISCUSSION (46)

Brian Silvestro > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 09:45

Yeah it makes sense, I don't know why every company isn't doing that.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 09:46

Yeah, but then people who really don't want to do it will just buck the belt behind them.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Brian Silvestro
05/22/2014 at 09:47

I've been questioning why companies haven't been doing it for years.

deekster_caddy > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 09:47

Our '08 Passat with a manual has an electronic E-brake (kinda like Park). If your seat belt is buckled it will release the E-brake for you when you let the clutch out in gear. If your seat belt isn't buckled, you can't turn off the stability/traction control. So stuff like that is becoming more and more common. I'm a religious seat belt wearer anyhow, so I'm okay with tying things to the seat belt.

I've always held the belief that non-seat belt wearers shouldn't have their medical bills covered by insurance after an accident. Why should we all pay more for your stupidity?

ncasolowork2 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 09:47

Nope I think it should be mandatory not optional.

catkam623 misses his 944 > Brian Silvestro
05/22/2014 at 09:47

I have one issue and that is when the sensor fails you're fucked there should be like a bypass switch that's difficult to find for when the sensors broken.

Brian Silvestro > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 09:47

True, true.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
05/22/2014 at 09:48

AKA the people who end up dying in a car accident then their families sue the car maker for building an "unsafe product."

Brian Silvestro > catkam623 misses his 944
05/22/2014 at 09:49

This is true.

Arben72 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 09:49

There used to be a software "glitch" with bmw m3s. If you put in drive (dct) without your seatbelt on, it would throw it back into neutral. My car was updated before I got it, but I probably would have hated it.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 09:49

Agreed.

As long as the keys don't cause the airbag not to deploy.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > deekster_caddy
05/22/2014 at 09:50

Amen to that second part. If you're stupid enough to not wear a belt, you can pay your own damn medical bills!

deekster_caddy > catkam623 misses his 944
05/22/2014 at 09:50

Honestly I've seen seat belt buzzers and stuff in cars going back 40 years and they still work properly. It would be very rare for one of those to fail. But like tying remove from park to the brake pedal, there needs to be a mechanical override somewhere in case the solenoid fails (much more likely).

commander warsstar is smitten with subaru legacy outbacks (and redheads) > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 09:54

In theory it's good, but it sucks in practical application. Like you said, moving cars around the driveway would be a pain. Personally, there are plenty of times where I need to move vehicles just a little bit at a time and having to buckle a seatbelt in every time I do that would be a hassle. And actually, an easy way to override the system would be to just grab a buckle from the junkyard and clip it in.

It should not be a mandated system. If someone is dumb enough to not use a seatbelt while driving, they deserve what comes to them.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Arben72
05/22/2014 at 09:56

"glitch" yep okay. BMW just sneakily threw that in there without telling anyone.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > commander warsstar is smitten with subaru legacy outbacks (and redheads)
05/22/2014 at 09:58

It takes 2 seconds to put a seat belt on, it wouldn't bug me that much.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 09:58

I think its an enormous intrusion on my personal choice and should under no circumstances be mandatory.

commander warsstar is smitten with subaru legacy outbacks (and redheads) > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:03

To each his own I guess. Personally I'm bugged by those fucking auto belts. Thank God they only lasted a few years.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8
05/22/2014 at 10:04

As someone who wears their seatbelt religiously, it wouldn't really bug me. I'd want it for my idiot passengers who don't want to buckle.

Nothing > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:04

No. I think it's stupid. Soon to follow, a government regulation requiring it. Why must we take the ability for people to be somewhat responsible for themselves away from them? Spare me the crap about insurance rates, public safety, blah, blah, blah. Rates will always go up, some people will always be unsafe.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:04

I honestly think we, as a country/society, need to stop trying to fix stupid. If people really want to risk their lives by not wearing a seatbelt then let'em have at it.

quarterlifecrisis > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:05

It's just a simple inconvenience though, and a completely unnecessary one. Do I put my seatbelt on when I drive? Yes. Do I put my seatbelt on when I'm doing the vehicle shuffle outside jumping in and out of vehicles, never. Usually the doors don't get closed all the way, and depending on the transmission, there might not be 2 legs inside the vehicle.

We don't need to overregulate any more than we already have. It's a conscious choice to make.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Nothing
05/22/2014 at 10:07

Because it's easy to buckle up and it's proven to save lives. You're required to have insurance to drive your car, why not require wearing a seat belt?

Moves-Like-Senna > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:10

I love the idea. I don't get how people drive without a belt. I just can't do it. Even to just move a car, I don't feel secure. I feel like I can move too much.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:10

My redneck family has always found a way around seat belt sensors. The newest one is going to the junk yard and getting a buckle that fits in your seatbelt receiver and leaving it in there all the time.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:11

It would make my job more difficult and waste a lot of my time. Don't get me wrong, I always wear a seatbelt when driving on the street. But throughout any given dayI'm constantly moving cars on the lot, onto and off of lifts. To do this I lean out the window so that I can line the vehicle up onto the lift without having to make a bunch of adjustments in its positioning. Like many of you, I lose money when my time is wasted. What about people who rarely drive in public roads? At construction sites? On farms? Working behind the scenes at an airport?

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:11

Until you have a 10 year old car with 200,000 miles where the switch/sensor quits working at a gas station on the bad side of town. I also don't always wear my seat belt while off roading so it would bother me.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif
05/22/2014 at 10:11

I'm sorry, but that's just stupid.

Nothing > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:14

I get it, and I buckle every time I drive. I go through the hassle of contorting into the harness in the Miata. I don't think there should be some safety interlock in the car preventing it from being shifted if I don't have it on. It's bad enough that there's the incessant chime. Maybe we need to revisit the late 80s and get the mouse track seat belts back.

At some point, people have to be responsible for themselves. Guess what, your poor decisions have consequences. If we could only figure out how to not let motorcycles shift if the rider isn't wearing proper protective gear...

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:14

I suppose for kids it's a good thing, to make them wear it.

But I will most likely by my kid (if/when I have one), or better yet, make him/her buy their own 10+ year old car. I'll just put an amplifier on the no-seat-belt chime.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8
05/22/2014 at 10:16

The belt sensor in my dad's 10 year old car still works for both driver and passenger. The one in my girlfriend's dad's 17 year old car still work. The odds of those things going out are really low.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:16

I fully agree but it is mostly just my grandpa driving around in the bush at 5km/h looking for something to shoot at. He rarely hits any sort of pavement.

Racescort666 > commander warsstar is smitten with subaru legacy outbacks (and redheads)
05/22/2014 at 10:18

Those were awful. A seatbelt interlock wouldn't be too bad for me because I reflexively put my seatbelt on every time I get in a car.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif
05/22/2014 at 10:20

That makes a bit more sense.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:23

You can't change them, as he says "There was no seatbelts in the tank I drove, why do I need one in a Ram Charger"

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif
05/22/2014 at 10:23

...BECAUSE IT WAS A BLOODY TANK!?

Racescort666 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:26

That's one thing that bothers me, when my passengers don't want to buckle in my car. I have told people to walk before because they refused to wear seat belts.

Usually word starts to get around that I'm a crazy driver so I usually look at whoever doesn't want to put their seatbelt on and tell them that they're going to need it. If they are still obstinate, I live up to my reputation. After that, they either give in or won't ride with me anymore. Their fucking problem.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Racescort666
05/22/2014 at 10:28

If they don't put it on by the top of my street, I just slam on the brakes and let the forthcoming bruise tell them to put a belt on.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:31

Yeah I agree the chances are really low. The sensor in my 21 year old car still tells me when my belt is off (luckily there is no chiming). It still another point for failure, whether it be from water getting in your car or wires rubbing together and shorting out.

But my main point remains, and that is that my car shouldn't force me to wear a seat belt when I'm driving across an open field.

Quite frankly the point is pretty mute for me as I don't picture ever buying a new car given how overly complicated they have become.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 10:49

Again, there is no reasoning with him.

ILLec > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 11:20

Hell no, I specifically disable the seat belt beep in all my cars. Nothing more annoying then being told what to do. People need to make their own choices in life, not the government forcing them.

HammerheadFistpunch > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 11:58

for most drivers its a great idea. However there are times driving without a seatbelt is the safer choice and that's a shame that it wont be an option. Example: driving through deep water crossings should always be done with the window down and seatbelt off in case you have to bail.

HammerheadFistpunch > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8
05/22/2014 at 11:59

The off road market is going to be bothered by this for sure, seatbelts off-road aren't a great idea. water crossings for example should always be taken without a belt.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > HammerheadFistpunch
05/22/2014 at 11:59

In that kind of situation, Id just buckle the belt behind me.

HammerheadFistpunch > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
05/22/2014 at 12:00

its what you'd have to do, but that's not fun or comfortable.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > HammerheadFistpunch
05/22/2014 at 12:01

A few minutes of discomfort is better than drowning!