Seat Belt Extenders
Seat Belt Extender: Our seat belt extender meets automobile Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) #209 & #302 and comes complete with everything that you need to extend your auto seatbelt, including detailed seat belt extender installation diagrams and instructions! (Seat belt extender photo shown with lock washer, Grade 5 hex bolt & nut, but may come with Grade 5 hex bolt and lock nut.)
Our seat belt extender adds 12 inches to the length of your seatbelt safety restraint. And it is available in 3 different colors to help you match the existing seat belt color. The one time installation can be quickly and easily accomplished in about 5 to 10 minutes by following our detailed Seat Belt Extender Installation Instructions on our seatbelt extension main page.
Our seat belt extender avoids the 2 most importand issues involved in adding an extension to the safety belt of your vehicle.
With seat belt extenders, many auto manufacturers, (like Honda and others) have not made seat belt extenders available to their car owners. One reason is that each auto manufacturer has different buckling systems for their safety harnesses, so it is virtually impossible to produce a universal solution that can just be snapped onto the end of an existing seat belt.
The other seat belt extender problem is a safety issue. Honda, for instance, has been reluctant to supply an extension that can be clicked onto the male end of their 3 point (lap and over the shoulder) seat belts (and for good reason); it does appear to be less safe. When an extender is added to the "click-on" end of the belt, it re-aligns the shoulder harness portion of the seat belt towards the door. So the shoulder harness becomes off-centered on the driver or passenger's body, which can allow the body to slip out from under the safety harness more easily during impact.
With our extension, both of these above mentioned problems are solved! It can add one foot of overall length to the seatbelt system. Since it is easily added on to the restraint system where it connects to the door post (near or on the floor of the car), it adds overall length to the entire safety harness system; so the shoulder restraint portion remains centered on the passenger or driver. When you sell your car you can easily remove it and add it to your new car.
Here is a brief history of what years anchorage points were added to U.S. automobiles: Most U.S. passenger cars, beginning with 1962 models, have anchorages for at least 2 lap restraints in the front position, but not all autos. Starting in 1964, all U.S. cars were manufactured with anchorages for at least two lap restraints in the front. Since January 1968, U.S. passenger car and light truck manufacturers have been required to install lap restraints and shoulder harness anchorages at each front "outboard" (driver side and passenger side, not middle) seating position (except convertibles) as well as lap restraint anchorages at all other seating positions. Since 1/1/72, this same requirement became effective for trucks. In 1986, GM began phasing in 3 point (lap restraints with shoulder restraints) for the rear outboard positions of their vehicles and the other major U.S. manufacturers followed suit over the next 3-4 years.
Important: If the necessary anchorage points are NOT present, then proper anchorage points must be safely added before installation.