Seat ibiza Owner's Manual page 11

The physical principle of a frontal crash is easy to explain.
As soon as the vehicle is moving, so-called "kinetic energy" is
created by the movement of the vehicle, in the vehicle itself as well
as in the vehicle occupants.
The extent of the "kinetic energy" effect depends largely on the
speed of the vehicle and on the weight of the vehicle and the
vehicle occupants.
The higher the speed and the greater the weight of the vehicle, the
more energy must be dispersed should an accident occur.
The speed of the vehicle is, however, the more important factor. If,
for example, the speed increases from 25 km/h to 50 km/h, the
kinetic energy increases fourfold!
As the vehicle occupants in our example are wearing no seat belts,
their entire kinetic energy can only be dispersed through the crash
into the wall, should a crash occur. The consequences would be
severe or possibly even fatal injuries.
If you are driving at a speed of only 30 km/h to 50 km/h, forces
which can easily exceed 1000 kg are exerted on the body should
an accident occur.
The forces exerted on the body will increase further at higher
speeds, e.g. At twice the speed the forces increase fourfold!
Vehicle occupants not wearing their seat belts are thus not
"linked" to their vehicle.
In a frontal crash, these people will continue to move forward at
the same speed as the vehicle was travelling before the vehicle
K
crashed!
Safety First Controls and equipment
The danger of not using the seat belt
Tips and Maintenance
Seat belts
B1H-120
Fig. 3
B1H-160
Fig. 4
Technical Data
9