What is safer on the street? A 3 point belt, or a 5/6 point harness with roll bar?

[Uhcoog1]

I'm trying to decide what is best for my dual purpose car. This car will be driven on the street and at HPDE's.


Option A: 3 point retrofit seat belts from XV Motorsports with factory Hyundai Genesis coupe seats (picture below). No roll bar.
Option B: 5/6 point harness with fixed back FIA approved seats and a 4-6 point roll bar.


It seems option B is the safest for the track (with a helmet and a hans). My question is really what is safest for the street with no helmet and no HANS.

From what I can tell, it seems you are likely to hit the steering wheel with your face with a 3 point belt. Ouch!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJzfqc5niVg"]VW Gol Trend 1.6 NO Airbags - YouTube[/ame]

And on the other hand, is the 5/6 point "unsafe" on the street because there is no HANS?


Anyone have any experience in this?

 

[inkjunkie]

Not that this is any sort of answer to your question but is your typical 5-6 point harness dot approved?

 

[mcnoople]

With the extra hassle and confinement of the 5/6 pt harness are you going to wear it faithfully and everytime you drive no matter how short the drive is? A big deciding factor would be can you actually have a proper 3pt belt in the car. Early A's don't have the upper anchor for the belt so you would have to add it. The cage and harness are likely much safer, but I would go with sebring seats with 3pt in mine. Something like this is what I would install, usually you can find them for around $350-400 on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/96-06-Chrys...pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

 

[Uhcoog1]

Not that this is any sort of answer to your question but is your typical 5-6 point harness dot approved?

Most are not. Schroth is the only company with DOT approval I believe?

With the extra hassle and confinement of the 5/6 pt harness are you going to wear it faithfully and everytime you drive no matter how short the drive is? A big deciding factor would be can you actually have a proper 3pt belt in the car. Early A's don't have the upper anchor for the belt so you would have to add it. The cage and harness are likely much safer, but I would go with sebring seats with 3pt in mine. Something like this is what I would install, usually you can find them for around $350-400 on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/96-06-Chrys...pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

I would wear the harness everytime out. When driving my truck, I usually put the seatbelt on as I start to drive. With a 5 point, I'd have to put it on before moving the car. So, in that case, I'd be wearing the 5 point for a few seconds longer than a 3 point. My wife may not like the belts, though.

The 3 point belts I have are the XV belts. My car has the upper anchor. Lucky me.

http://www.xvmotorsports.com/products/detail/index.cfm?nPID=113&cid=40&cdesc=A-Body Products

 

[mopardude318]

i would think a roll cage would not be safe on the street because...just think real quick.. usually, when your on the track, your wearing a helmet....on the street, will you really be wearing your helmet too?? LOL.....i wouldnt want my melon banging on that cage in the event of a roll or major accident....lol padded cage or not, it wouldnt feel good...

 

[MoparMagic1992]

With 40+ year old designs and lack of crumple zones what are your odds of surviving a decently high speed crash even with a 5 pt harness?

In head on crash youd be toast IMO

 

[Uhcoog1]

i would think a roll cage would not be safe on the street because...just think real quick.. usually, when your on the track, your wearing a helmet....on the street, will you really be wearing your helmet too?? LOL.....i wouldnt want my melon banging on that cage in the event of a roll or major accident....lol padded cage or not, it wouldnt feel good...

A 4-6 point roll bar is what I am considering, not a full cage. There wouldn't be any bars overhead going forward of the main hoop. I know they say you can move around a lot during a crash, but the roll bar would be behind my seat and up by the roof. Theoretically, I wouldn't ever get close to hitting it with my head.

Here's the nhra 5 point rollbar that is pretty much what I would be doing.

 

[Lonewolf3165]

I believe chromemoly tubing has to be TIG welded not MIG welded.
With a 6 point bar as pictured you actually could have the best of both worlds. You could have the 5/6 point harness AND install factory type 3 point shoulder / lap belts. So why not do both? You'd just have to pass the lower belt under the side bar, but if you use a swing out bar that's not a problem either.

 

[inkjunkie]

You do realize that the 5" mentioned is not from above the helmet, it is from the tube running towards the rear..

 

[Uhcoog1]

You do realize that the 5" mentioned is not from above the helmet, it is from the tube running towards the rear..

Yeah, I do. And granted that is an nhra published diagram I believe (maybe not given it didn't say TIG).

What I plan on building probably won't be exactly to NHRA spec. I'd make sure my head was far enough away for street driving, both vertically and horizontally.

 

[Uhcoog1]

With a 6 point bar as pictured you actually could have the best of both worlds. You could have the 5/6 point harness AND install factory type 3 point shoulder / lap belts. So why not do both? You'd just have to pass the lower belt under the side bar, but if you use a swing out bar that's not a problem either.

Sounds like the way to go maybe!