The vehicles seat belt is a safety device that is designed to protect the passengers of a vehicle against harmful movement. The harmful movement results from the passengers obeying Newton's first law of motion during an accident or sudden stop. It states that “an object remains in rest or constant motion in a straight line unless acted on by an external force” (Croce, 2005) . An accelerometer, on the other hand, is a sensor that is used to measure acceleration in various planes. The accelerometers are used in the seatbelt to facilitate the initiation of the seatbelt’s protective mechanism (Boğa, 2011) . This paper discusses the use of the accelerometer technology in the seat belt then highlights the other technologies that are also used.
The accelerometer on the seatbelt is used to detect harmful movement caused and inertia and initiate the safety belt locking mechanism. The accelerometers are implemented in two primary forms. The first one is the traditional electro-mechanical device and the second is the use of Micro-electro-mechanical systems. The later uses the miniaturized sensors packaged as integrated circuits and are placed in the three planes X, Y and Z to determine the harmful movement and initiate the protective mechanism on the seatbelt (Boğa, 2011) . The protective mechanism provides feedback to other protective mechanisms such as the airbag deployment system. Furthermore, the seatbelt is not just locked but pulled back (pretention) and released in a controlled manner to minimize the pressure excreted to the passenger other systems such as the airbag deployment mechanism kicks in. However, the classical uses mechanical mechanisms initiates and implements the prevention of the harmful movement of the passenger through locking of the seatbelt at the current position.
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Other technologies of the seatbelt include the manual lap belt combined with the motorized shoulder belt and the retractor locking mechanism. The seat belts also come as either classical belts or inflatable tubes. The inflatable tubes inflate in the event of a hazardous movement restraining the passengers ( Andréasson, Bäckström, & Vattenfall, 2000) .
In conclusion the seat belt is a safety device that is designed to protect the passenger from the harmful movement as a result of inertia. The functionality of the seatbelt is achieved in various ways among them the use of accelerometers, fixed lap installation and motorized shoulder versions. The accelerometer provides a means of detecting the hazardous movement and initiates the protective mechanism which involves pretention and controlled pressure management. Additionally, the sensor provides electrical feedback that is utilized by the car intelligence in deploying other safety mechanisms such as the airbag.
References
Andréasson, R., Bäckström, C.-G., & Vattenfall AB. (2000). The seat belt: Swedish research and development for global automotive safety . Stockholm: Cultural Preservation Committee, Vattenfall (Kulturvårdskomm., Vattenfall.
Boğa, I. B. (2011). MEMS Accelerometer Modelling and Noise Analysis: Modelling and Noise Analysis of Closed-Loop Capacitive Sigma-Delta MEMS Accelerometer .
Croce, N. (2005). Newton and the three laws of motion . New York: Rosen Pub. Group.
