Why Safety Belts - Audi A6 2015 Owner's Manual

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- Failure to pay attention to the warning
light that come on, could lead to person-
al injury.
Why safety belts?
Frontal collisions and the law of physics
Frontal crashes create very strong forces for
people riding in vehicles .
Fig. 147
Unbelted occupants in a vehicle heading for a
wall
Fig. 148 The vehicle cras hes into the wall
The physical principles are simple. Both the
vehicle and the passengers possess energy
which varies w ith vehicle speed and body
weight . Engineers call this energy " kinetic en-
ergy."
The higher the speed of the vehicle and the
greater the vehicle's weight, the more energy
that has to be "absorbed" in the crash.
Vehicle speed is the most significant factor . If
the speed doubles from 15 to 30 mph (25 to
SO km/h), the energy increases 4 t imes!
Because the passengers of this vehicle are not
using safety belts¢ fig. 147, they will keep
moving at the same speed the vehicle was
moving just before the crash, until something
stops them - here, the wall ¢ fig. 148 .
Safety belts 13 7
The same principles apply to people sitting in
a vehicle that is involved in a frontal collision.
Even at city speeds of 20 to 30 mph (30 to 50
km/h), the forces acting on the body can
reach one ton (2,000 lbs, or 1,000 kg) or
more . At greater speeds, these forces are even
higher.
People who do not use safety belts are also
not attached to their vehicle . In a frontal colli-
sion they will also keep moving forward at the
speed their vehicle was travelling just before
the crash. Of course, the laws of physics don't
just apply to frontal collisions, they determine
what happens in all kinds of accidents and col-
lisions.
What happens to occupants not wearing
safety belts?
In crashes unbelted occupants cannot stop
themselves from flying forward and being in-
jured or killed. Always wear your safety belts!
Fig. 149 A driver not wea ring a safety be lt is violently
thrown forward
Fig. 150
A rear passenger not wearing a sa fety belt
will fly forward and strike the driver
Unbelted occupants are not able to resist the
tremendous forces of impact by holding tight
or bracing themselves. Without the benefit of
safety restraint systems, the unrestrained .,..