Unfortunately, the advancements made in vehicle safety devices have not been enough to prevent failures. While they are rare, these failures can be life-threateningly serious. Even in St. Petersburg, there have been documented cases of seatbelt failure. There are a number of reasons that this can occur.
In order to understand why and how they fail, you must understand how a seatbelt works. The first component that can fail is the torsion bar, also known as a load limiter. In other words, this device is meant to release the belt a bit more when experiencing high degrees of force. The idea is to prevent injuries caused by the belt in an accident.
However, when the torsion bar breaks or fails in a crash, the seat belt can let loose and allow the passenger to fly into the windshield, dash, or another area of the car.
Of course, in order for the seatbelt to be useful at all, it must be latched. Even the responsible person who buckles their seatbelt before leaving the driveway can be harmed as a result of a latch failure. He hears the click, but something fails to grab effectively, or the latching mechanism lets go under the tremendous force of the accident. This releases the seatbelt and again, the person is propelled out of the seat.
On Saint Petersburg highways, speeds can be fast enough to leave a person in grave danger in the face of an accident should the latch release.
Poorly cared for, improperly designed, or previously damaged belts can also tear under such forces. This is much rarer than the other forms of failure, but it does happen. This may be something that can be prevented by the car operator. It is a good idea to regularly check seatbelts for cuts, holes, wear, and tear that could spell danger in an accident.
If a seatbelt fails in an accident, chances are that you will be able to collect damages from the manufacturer to cover medical expenses, lost wages, and other losses.
However, we ask that you take great care on the roadways. A personal injury attorney would much rather meet with a victim to discuss problems that occurred in an accident than with the heartbroken family members who lost a loved one.