3 point harness

99% of harnesses should be an MOT failure due to their lack of an intertia reel system (ie they don't retract). Schroth used to make one that had a clip on system so it could be used like a normal seat belt and this was available through Safety Devices, basically you're looking for an E mark.

To mount them safely, you can use the two mounts either side of your seat as you sit in them, but the rear must extend from the back of the seat horizontally and go up or down no more than ten degrees before it reaches the bolt. So the rear shelf or a harness bar on a roll cage are the proper places, not the rear seat belt mount point on the C pillar, and definitely not the points under the rear seat base.

If you don't keep the rear belt/s horizontal, when you crash you'll submarine. If you picture a triangle, with the top being the point at which the harness passes over your seat and the two lower corners being your mounting points, the top point merely moves forward and down. Sorry to be so long winded, hope that makes sense...

eh? Why should inertia reels be required for an MOT? Statics work just as well of not better when adjusted properly and is all that were fitted early on?

Back to topic - what the others said! If I'd got myself in gear today I might have fitted one to the Herald and I'd have photos to help explain

MSA blue book says anything within 45deg of the hole in the seat is "acceptable"

i remember having a problem because my cheap £30 a piece jobs were E marked but my £170 each FIA ones werent although, never had anything said MOT time

Here's the harness in my BMW, you can just see where I've mounted the two shoulder straps on the rear shelf. The main point is to remember that if the seat breaks in an impact, the harness will hold you in place, not moved about with you... That doesn't really make sense. Sorry, it's also not ideal to have them in a car without a rollcage (like here... Ahem). If you roll over and the roof comes down, you'll be pinned upright with no chance to scooch down... And it goes on.

Those LOOK fantastic though ;D

I always liked one of my friends cars, it has 5 point harnesses (I think?) as well as standard inertial reels for day-to-day driving, it's only a two seater mind

Whay thank ya, I left the intertia reel belts in too, just in case I got somebody who knew the law for my age of car.

Mr Pinch, I know what you mean about MOT, I've never had a problem either. Did you hear that the MSA are now supposed to recognise the American SFI standards? My pair of five point, 3in harnesses like in the picture cost £108 landed in this country, not much more for aircraft release either. Fully SFI approved for three years as I recall.

i only had my inertia reels in then to run in "standard production" class.
Didnt know the MSA would recognise american standards, should make it easier to maintain national B spec on a car now (belts must be in FIA date), mine are in date for another 4 years so i should be ok for a while

Seth, wherever I go... So do they. Clip in styleee ;D

That's what I was trying to say, if the 'vertical load' snaps the seat, you've got problems a harness probably ain't going to fix. I was shown a load of testing videos a couple of years ago on different types of harness set-up and mounting. Some badly mounted harnesses put such adverse stress on the body, limbs were torn off... Nice.

I'm a firm believer in having a crotch strap now too, I just worry about slipping out from underneath it in an impact. In fact with the amount of curse word I've been shown about crash research over the years, it's a miracle I ever feel confident enough to get in a car... I reckon my old man had it sorted with his vintage stuff, throw yourself under the dash* or throw yourself out... The latter it is then.

*slice of engine turned alloy