Anyone install 4pt. harnesses and keep the factory seats?

    Quote from funinthesun

    Canoehead, I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. I remember hearing of an accident that took someones' life based on the seat belt, but did not know who it was (or who she was related to). After seeing the results of this last fatality, and the original one where the rider did not have the belt on, has really awakened a lot of people to this issue. I wouldn't be too surprised to see a lot more people upgrading the belts soon. When my new seats come in, I'm gong to look real closely at getting that done. Thank you for your posting regarding the accident. I'm sure it is difficult knowing a life could have been saved if a simple decision to spend a few more dollars on the assembly line was made.

    Hey Phil...I don't think it was @Canoehead sister....he was just posting what he found on the other forum.

    Quote from Canoehead

    Just picked this up off of the old forum from dwilson. I believe it is what most of us expected.


    My sister was the person killed in this accident and she WAS wearing her seat belt! In fact, the seat belt is what caused my sister's death and it was also the cause of the critical injuries to her husband (the driver). For all you Polaris Slingshot owners I would recommend you DEMAND a 4-point harness type seat belt in these vehicles! My sister's main artery was severed from the seat belt. Even a go-chart has a 4-pt harness for extra safety. Don't thing a regular seat belt is going to save you from injury but it won't. I truly believe if they had this type of seat belt, my sister would be alive today.


    I pray to God you ALL move forward in DEMANDING a different seat belt design!!!! I hope some how this information helps you.


    This post by another family member just after the accident occurred is also important ....


    "as a family member I would like to set the record straight, though the accident is still under investigation.
    Seat-belts: were being worn, both by driver and passenger. This was a 100mph impact, were the pick-up truck swerved into the lane the SS was driving to avoid another truck that had pulled out of a driveway. The brunt of it was on the passenger side, were the woman was sitting. The driver of the SS was trying to turn the SS to take the brunt of the impact, but there was just no time. The injuries were all due to seat-belts. That being said, if they wouldn't have worn seat-belts they would have most likely been ejected.
    Helmets: If they would have worn helmets, they would have added additional weight to their heads, probably causing more head and spine trauma; it was a 100 mph impact.
    Shoulder harness: which is not what the SS has, but we speculate the impact still would have caused more spine and possible head trauma."


    Being that this was a head on collision with a pickup truck with a combined speed of approximately 100 mph and that the Slingshot is not equipped as a modern car, while tragic you must keep in perspective that the cause of the occupants death was the other driver, not the seat belts. Had this been a regular motorcycle or any car built before air bags the outcome would most likely, and unfortunately, been the same. Given the impact even a 4pt harness would not have guaranteed any less trauma.


    "during the deceleration that comes with a forward crash / deceleration. Since our shoulder harnesses cover both shoulders holding them firmly back into our seats, a sudden deceleration injury would allow our head to flex rapidly forward and down, thereby causing fractures to the base of the skull and/or the upper cervical vertebrae. This typically causes death by several means, including damage to the upper spinal cord and/or lower part of the brain resulting in the inability to move and breath."

    http://blog.parathyroid.com/ra…cal-causes-racing-deaths/


    "The universally accepted measurement of neck tension sufficient to cause fatal injury is 4,000Newtons. The test conducted by CAPE at 42 mph and 40 g’s acceleration upon impact resultedin 5800 Newtons of neck tension. That exceeded the standard for a fatal accident by 45 percent."


    http://simpsonraceproducts.com…NS_Safety_White_Paper.pdf


    "Harness sets are designed for use with a sub-strap. Use of harness set without sub-strap can cause serious injuries!The sub-strap holds the harness buckle in place over the pelvis area and helps prevent the driver from sliding down in the seat.The pelvis area can withstand 5000lbs. of load before serious injury where the abdominal area can withstand only 800 lbs.of load so it is very important that the harness remains in the proper location"


    http://www.jegs.com/instructions/471/471harnessinstall.pdf


    .

    :REDSS: The ghost of SLingshot past ......

    Edited once, last by Orangeman ().

    I have a touch of ocd and like all my stuff matching. I just ordered a set of NRG 4 point harnesses to match my NRG pedals, e-brake, and steering wheel. I am most likely going to leave the stock seats in. Will probably just change them to the all black ones. I have a set of all black seats out of a 2016.5 slingshot. I plan on taking the stock seatbelts out. Also ordered another set of NRG seatbelt pads to match the 2 I already have.


    It's always terrible when an accident occurs. The only issue I have ever heard against my stock seat harness setup was the fact that they hook a bit lower than most people's shoulders and there would be a compression of your shoulders (because of the squeeze effect) in the event of an accident.


    I honestly don't care. I (personally) firmly believe I would be so much better off with my harness than with a seat belt in a wreck. And if I HAD to pick death or paralysis..... Well lets just say that i would get to see my family the rest of my life.


    I don't "think" that you would actually have this happen due to all the give in the seat bottom and the fact that most people don't tighten themselves into the harness till they shut off blood flow. So there is some give in the harness anyway.


    Just do what you think is correct. And if you want to raise the connect point at the top you can buy the bar that Bert's sells. I will stick with mine and be happy with it.


    I heard PRP was going to make a system to attach a harness to the roll bars so I called them. I talked to a salesman and he said they were NOT going to make a system to attach a harness but he said within a month another company should be coming out with their system but he would not tell me who it was. I guess we need to wait and see.

    Quote from Tim0341

    I heard PRP was going to make a system to attach a harness to the roll bars so I called them. I talked to a salesman and he said they were NOT going to make a system to attach a harness but he said within a month another company should be coming out with their system but he would not tell me who it was. I guess we need to wait and see.

    I actually just got with them about this as I'd asked them about it back when I bought my PRP seats a few months ago. They had developed a bar similar to Berts back then and we're sending he initial units to powder coating back then. Well apparently something happened to that first run and they're due in Slingmods in a couple of weeks (two weeks :P ). Slingmods says a few more weeks. Don't know which is more accurate.