Interpretation ID: aiam0663
Director
Automotive Safety Engineering
General Motors Technical Center
Warren
MI 48090;
Dear Mr. Lundstrom:This is in reply to your letter of February 28 1972, in which you asked to be referred to the information on which we based our statement in the notice of February 24, 1972, that systems meeting the injury criteria of Standard 208 are available using current seat belt technology.; Research data on the capabilities of seat belts are found in severa places in the public docket, notably in the progress reports from our Safety Systems Laboratory and from Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (69-7 General Reference Nos. 74, 75, 83, 96, 102, 117, 120 and 135). There are records of vehicle tests in which current lap and shoulder belt systems have met the injury criteria (see, e.g. N13-69-7-20, N13-69-7-37). Also, the record contains information on energy absorbing webbing and anchorages, both of which are improvements within the current state of the art (see, for example, the 6th progress report from Cornell, runs no. 625-630, 69-7 General Reference No. 135, the data from Toyota in N13-69-7-23, and the Takata Koyjo data in N16-69-7-1).; Although the behavior of the head seems to be a greater problem fo belt systems than the behavior of the chest, due in part to the effects of rebound, the changes in the head injury criteria proposed in Notice 17 should ease the problem considerably.; Sincerely, Douglas W. Toms, Administrator