The National Association of Highway Safety Insurance (IIHS) has launched a new seatbelt assessment. A total of 26 new cars were evaluated, and only two models achieved excellent results of "GOOD".
According to U.S. federal safety standards, if you are driving without a seat belt, the vehicle must issue an audible warning of at least 4 to 8 seconds and a visual warning of at least 60 seconds. The seatbelt warning feature is said to prevent about 1,500 deaths per year by enabling 34% of people who don't use seat belts to use it.
Still, as of 2019, nearly half of those killed in crashes are not using seat belts. Therefore, the proportion of not wearing seat belts is beyond imagination.
In order to achieve a high score in IIHS's new seatbelt assessment, vehicles must note that seatbelt alerts are not installed at speeds below 6 mph (approximately 9.6 km/h). The vehicle should not only be able to identify the seat of the driver and the front passenger, but also the safety usage of the rear seat occupants and whether the seat belt is fastened, and be able to issue visual and auditory warnings.
The warning sound should be louder than any other sound coming from inside the car. Visual and auditory notifications must last at least 90 seconds. The second row of seats must emit a warning sound for more than 30 seconds continuously. If the vehicle receives excellent scores in all categories, you will receive a "GOOD" rating.
Even if the front seat meets all of IIHS's requirements, if the rear seat doesn't meet all of them, it will receive an Acceptable score instead of "GOOD." Even if some or all of the front seat conditions are not met, a "MARGINAL" score is awarded if the seat belt warning sound lasts longer than 8 seconds. If it beeps for less than 8 seconds and does not meet other criteria, it will receive a POOR score.
As a result of testing, only two models, the Subaru Ascent and Forester, received a "GOOD" rating. Only five models, including Hyundai Paristi and Tucson, received an "acceptable" score. Most of the models, on the other hand, did not get high scores.
The main reason why the score of most vehicles is low is 3 aspects. One is that the rear row is not wearing seat belts and there is no warning tone. The second is that the rear row is not wearing seat belts and there is no visual warning sign. Because now the warning sound and logo of the front row without seat belts are very common. The back row is not very common.
The third is that the warning sound is very low, and the reason why the two Subaru models have received high scores is because its warning sound is four times that of the other warning sounds in the car. It is not until the seat belt is fastened that the alarm goes away and meets all the requirements of the IIHS standard.
But IIHS's new seatbelt test is said to be ready for manufacturers soon. Sean O'Malley, Chief Testing Coordinator at IIHS, commented: "Seatbelt warning issues can be solved through software improvements rather than hardware. "With this change, there is a good chance that manufacturers will get higher scores."