Harnesses vs seatbelts

[rpjg1975]

This may have been covered elsewhere but not found anything searching around. In 'the book's it suggests that donor seatbelts may be used rather than harnesses. Is there any major arguments between doing this? Just thinking my roadster will be mainly road use so would get away from both the extra cost of buying harnesses and also the chew on getting in and out of them too.

Welcome any comments

Cheers

Russ

[shh120m]

harnesses are more suitable to a seven, as they "hold" you in tight, whereas a seatbelt only works with forward inertia. Since the roadster is completely open i would suggest that you invest in a set of harnesses, but its completely down to you. If your just going to be pottering about then seatbelts should be fine, but if your going to be ragging it about then harnesses would be a much better idea, especially for any passenger as theres nothing to hold onto, you dont want to eject someone at sixty miles an hour

[shh120m]

forgot to say, you can pick them up pretty cheap, i bought a set form one one of the suppliers a while back and they were only 40 quid for the pair, you dont need owt flash aslong as theyve got the relevent CE marks.

[voucht]

Hi,
There is one rule to respect, and it is true for every car, not only the roadster : you can have harnesses only if you have a roll bar, and a good one. With harnesses, you can't lean down on the side or move from your seat in any way. So if the car flips over and you don't have a proper roll-bar, your head will be the first part of your body to the ground. You have more freedom to move and protect yourself with regular seat belts. This is theory : I don't say you will be safer (especially in the roadster !) but at least, you can expect being a bit safer with seat belts if you don't have a roll-bar or if you don't trust the one you have. It is up to everyone's appreciation.
Harnesses are considered safer than seat belts in case of a crash, but it is not their main purpose, and I'm not sure they actually are. The main purpose of a harness in a racing car is to hold you into your seat in case the car rolls over (an then you need a good roll bar), and to hold you stuck into your seat when hard braking, without using your arms and legs to hold yourself in the bottom of your seat.
If I can add a second rule : never buy second hand harnesses. It is the same rule as for motorbike helmets : if it has been in crash, its place is in the trash bin, it should never been used again. Actually, harnesses stretch during a crash, and they can only do that once. I've seen harnesses stretched of more than 10mm after a crash. And as you can never know the history of a second hand harness, better to buy brand new ones.
Harnesses look good and sports-like, but they also have down sides, and it is good to know them.
Hope these details will help to make your choice.
Cheers.
Sylvain