Wondering if anyone thinks this is dangerous:

Racing seat + Stock seatbelt

No Harness, no roll cage, no seat airbag

Is this a recipe for disaster?

 

if your driving recklessly and whatnot then sure.

 

define a racing seat

 

So the only change from stock is the seat?

Define "racing seat" and I will give you your answer.

edit: great minds think alike ^^^^

 

Racing seat like you know... bride, sparco, etc...

 

still not being specific enough

a full bucket seat needs harnesses

a reclining seat does not, and can use a stock seatbelt

recipe for disaster? I don't think so....many Z's didnt come with side airbags

 

if it's reclinable, I wouldn't label it a racing seat. I know what you mean though. But reclinable "racing" seat and no other changes = you are fine.

Personally I think you are creating a recipe for disaster if you DID run a cage; cages are meant for cars whose occupant(s) are wearing helmets. Even with padding, hit your head hard against a cage and you are in for a world of hurt.

As for the airbag, take in to consideration that your insurance company gives you a rate based on that factor being present in your car. Purposely removing a major safety item such as an airbag will create some extremely serious issues in the event of an accident.

 

I had to lose my airbag when I went to paddles, cant run the stock wheel. I must say not having an airbag is in my mind.

 

Legally you can't drive your car with the airbag removed or sell it.

JET

 

Well, that's the decision you made by running paddles. Personally I think that's a poor one and you are just asking for injury (and possibly no insurance to pay for it), but weigh those pluses and minuses yourself.

 

Was it a death sentence to drive in the 80's and before that? It's like people forgot that airbags have really only become standard since the 90's..

...before that you'd sit in a bench seat with seatbelts that you had to dig out of the seat crack with no crumple zones, no collapsible steering column, no air bags, no abs, no computer traction control .. what we got today without airbags and with racing seats is still 1000x better than what we had 20 years ago..

 

yes

 

As a matter of fact the mortality rate in the era preceding these saftey devices was much higher. So yeah I guess it was a death sentence.

JET

 

is there a simple explanation why bucket seats need a harness?

i just got 2 bride buckets, and i am getting a harness bar and 4 point harness for the track, but do i need to be concerned with using just the seatbelt as a DD ?

 

because the angles at which buckets are constructed, is based around a belt fitting through the seat, not around it. Can it be done? Sure, I am sure tons of people have done it. Would I recommend it? Absolutely not

 

thanks adam, that is what i thought... i may end up swapping seats for track days... you have any harness bars and harnesses in stock?

 

Yes, I will pm you

 

Certainly cars are safer in today's world but you don't think "death sentence" was an exaggeration? If so, many of our parents and grandparents shouldn't be alive today if it was such a death sentence to drive before this era.. That was the point I was making..

 

I of course remember cars with no airbags, but I'm going to assume your initial post wasn't in response to me since I didn't mention mortality in relation to airbags. What I DID mention is the consequences of removing one of the most important safety devices in your car--both from a safety standpoint and a legal one.

Airbags greatly reduce the amount of serious injury incurred in the event of an accident, that much I'm fairly sure we can all agree on (I know their pitfalls, but a busted nose or a bruised forehead is many times better than a fractured skull). However, if you get in an accident and have serious injury indicitive of someone that was not protected from an airbag, your insurance company is going to be asking questions. First would be why it didn't deploy, in which case they would bring lawsuit to the car manufacturer to cover your medical bills. When they realize that you purposely removed the airbag, they may revoke their responsibility to pay your medical bills and will likely drop you from their services. So while you are in the hospital with serious injury that could have been prevented by leaving your airbag intact, you also are now going to have to find a way to pay for the medical care out-of-pocket.

4-point harnesses are also cause for concern on a street-driven vehicle if mounted to the floor; floor-mounted harness straps will pull your body down in to the seat (instead of back) as the momentum of an accident carries you forward, which will cause serious back and shoulder injury. If the force of impact was strong enough it will actually rip the chair out of the floor, sending your entire strapped body flying in to your dashboard and windshield. The only safe way to run harnesses is to match them with a formidably-strong, rear-mounted shoulder-height harness bar to anchor the straps.

I already mentioned how unstreetable a cage could be; as said before, cages are meant for cars whose occupant(s) are wearing helmets. Your head will split open like a melon if knocked against one with any force at all.


Personally, the farthest I would go would be to install reclinable racing seats that still allow me the use of the factory seatbelts--or if that's not possible, run harnesses with a properly installed harness bar. It is up to you if you would like any other parts (or combination of) that have been mentioned in this thread; I am not going to preach and tell someone NOT to do anything, but I WILL throw out the ramifications of making those decisions.

 

not to mention there are alot more cars on the road today than in years past, and alot more roads...law of averages says as a net result, you have to have more accidents