Regardless of the cocoon of air bags surrounding the occupants of today's vehicles, Dr. Priya Prasad, Ford Motor's Technical Fellow for Safety maintains that "the single most important piece of safety technology in a car or truck today remains the safety belt," and Ford engineers are actively researching new restraint technologies, like the four-point belt system shown above.
Ford research showed that consumers who tested the four-point belts perceived them to be safer, more comfortable and (depending on design) easier to use than conventional three point belts. Ford maintains that thousands of testers of "all demographics and sizes" gave the racecar-like harness the thumbs up, and we're sure that the photo intentionally shows a female driver, but we're skeptical that women will really find the new system "more comfortable."
Still, we're all for efforts to adopt simple, comparatively inexpensive, and effective technologies to enhance safety, and there's no question that four-point belts are safer than today's three-point system. Just ask any racecar driver.
[Source: Ford]
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