A five-point harness is a form of

seat belt A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduc ...

that contains five straps that are mounted to the

car frame A vehicle frame, also historically known as its ''chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car had a ...

. It has been engineered for an increase of safety in the occurrence of an automobile accident. As a result, this form of seat belt has been mandated in the race car competition of NASCAR. This was an invention made mandatory to have due to the high velocities involved in the sport. Along with the design of the seat belt, helmet straps have been designed to increase the safety of the driver. This invention has also been used to secure infants and young children in

child safety seat A child safety seat, sometimes called an infant safety seat, child restraint system, child seat, baby seat, car seat, or a booster seat, is a seat designed specifically to protect children from injury or death during vehicle collisions. Most c ...

Structure

The five-point harness is preferred as a safety mechanism for its high amount of safety compared to other designs. The five-point harness consists of five

straps A strap, sometimes also called strop, is an elongated flap or ribbon, usually of leather or other flexible materials. Thin straps are used as part of clothing or baggage, or bedding such as a sleeping bag. See for example spaghetti strap, sho ...

. Two are located at the shoulders, two at the hips, and one at the crotch that all come to connect to a buckle release mechanism. This way of buckling up holds the driver's body tight in the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

, which in turn protects the upper body from

injury An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, o ...

. The only downside to this seat belt mechanism is the insecurity of the driver's head.

Helmet

There have been different models of helmets designed to hold the drivers head in place. A helmet restraint is equipped in some five-point harness seats to prevent brain and neck injury. For example, in NASCAR, it protects the driver in case of a car crash or an immediate change of velocity where the driver has limited control of his

momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass an ...

. The apparatus consists of a strap that runs from both of the sides of the helmet to the vehicle; or a strap connected to the vehicle from both sides of the driver that runs across the front of the helmet, instead of two independent straps on each side attached to the helmet.

Helmet straps

To prevent the helmet straps from impairing the drivers vision, there is a design where the straps are held

horizontal Horizontal may refer to: *Horizontal plane, in astronomy, geography, geometry and other sciences and contexts *Horizontal coordinate system, in astronomy *Horizontalism, in monetary circuit theory *Horizontalism, in sociology *Horizontal market, ...

to prevent the straps from sagging. There are also designs in which no apparatus is needed to keep straps out of the drivers sight. Helmet straps are made up of shock absorbing material used while climbing or for security when working at high elevations. The straps include a woven nylon that requires up to 475 lbs. of force to cause the straps to tear. Straps that are stretchable allow the drivers brain to slow down to avoid

brain damage Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...

caused from the brain slamming into the skull; but the straps do not let the head move too far forward to cause neck injuries.

Child seats

The five-point harness is also used to buckle up children in forward-facing and rear-facing seats. It is designed with the same concept of tightly holding the passenger to the seat with the use of five different straps but built for the young children. This form of seat harness for young children "should be a default standard" when children are present in a motor vehicle according to Phil Wilson. The reason there have been a number of injured young children and infants in survivable accidents is due to incorrect use of the

Child Safety Seat A child safety seat, sometimes called an infant safety seat, child restraint system, child seat, baby seat, car seat, or a booster seat, is a seat designed specifically to protect children from injury or death during vehicle collisions. Most c ...

(CSS). To assist caregivers in the safe transportation of children, the USA National Child Passenger Safety Board maintains the quality and integrity of the National Child Passenger Safety Certification Training Program. The program is used to train and certify child passenger safety technicians and instructors. Three of the most common issues that put children at risk: improperly used or installed safety seats, children left in hot cars, and teen drivers.National Safety Council
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Citations

References

# #Lyman J. Roberts, II; Asif A. Lala; Panasarn Aim Jirut
Head Restraint System for Racecar Drivers.
7 May 2002. Google.com/Patents. Retrieved 25 January 2010 #Andrew Jackson Aslup
Driver Head Restraint.
18 April 2002. Google.com/Patents. Retrieved 26 January 2010 #{{cite journal , last1=Wilson , first1=Phil , title=Fasten their seatbelts: legal restraint of children in car seats and road ambulances , journal=Nursing Children and Young People, date=September 2007 , volume=19 , issue=7 , pages=14–18 , doi=10.7748/paed2007.09.19.7.14.c4451 , pmid=17926766 #Kevin Bonsor; Karim Nice

23 February 2001. HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved 28 January 2010. #Shane Speck

4 July 2003. HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved 25 January 2010. Motorsport terminology