Why Wear Seat Belts - Seat Toledo 2014 Owner's Manual

22 Seat belts

Why wear seat belts?

Physical principles of frontal collisions
In the event of a frontal collision, a large amount of kinetic
energy must be absorbed.
It is easy to explain how the laws of physics work in the case of a head-on
collision: When a vehicle starts moving
known as kinetic energy is produced in the vehicle and its occupants.
The amount of kinetic energy depends on the speed of the vehicle and the
Fig. 6 Vehicle about to
weight of the vehicle and its passengers. The higher the speed and the
hit a wall: the occupants
are not wearing seat
greater the weight, the more energy there is to be released in an accident.
belts
The most significant factor, however, is the speed of the vehicle. If the
speed doubles from 25 km/h (15 mph) to 50 km/h (30 mph), for example,
the corresponding kinetic energy is multiplied by four.
Because the vehicle occupants in our example are not restrained by seat
belts, all of the occupants' kinetic energy has to be absorbed at the point of
impact
Even at speeds of 30 km/h (19 mph) to 50 km/h (30 mph), the forces acting
on bodies in a collision can easily exceed one tonne (1000 kg). At greater
speed these forces are even higher.
⇒ F ig.
⇒ F ig.
7.
Fig. 7 The vehicle hits
the wall: the occupants
are not wearing seat
belts
6, a certain amount of energy
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