Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 16:28:43 +0000 (UTC) From: amesnopsamrak.demon.co.uk (Andrew Stephenson) Subject: Re: Seatbelt Locking Problem
I wasn't satisfied with what I believed about inertia reel seat belt mechanisms, so went looking on the Net. The proper set of keywords must be pretty obscure, because all I could find which talks about the innards of car seat belts was on these sites:- * Some kid's essay. Skip past the basic physics to a paragraph near the end: http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/2019.php * Funny (definitely non-serious) response to some kid hoping to get homework done for free: http://www.seps.org/oracle/oracle.archive/Expert/forbesm/Physical_Science.Physics/2002.06/001022971292.11219.html Looks like the ballbearings went out years ago. A springloaded pendulum does explain why parking on a slope makes a belt lock, especially if the spring is weak. -- Andrew Stephenson