Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 207 specifies strength requirements for automotive seats and their attachment assemblies, so as to minimize the possibility of their failure by forces acting on them as a result of vehicle impact. The standard includes a requirement that front seats with folding seatbacks be equipped with a locking device, designed to limit the forward motion of the seatback in a collision and to keep the seatback away from front seat occupants. These seat back locks were installed in domestic two-door passenger cars during 1967-1968. The objectives of this preliminary evaluation are to determine of seat back locks are effective in reducing deaths or injuries and to measure the actual cost of the locks. The evaluation is based on statistical analyses of Washington, Texas, New York, Fatal Accident Reporting System and Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation data (with special emphasis on back seat occupants, frontal crashes, and crashes involving occupant ejection or vehicle fire), sled test analyses and a cost study of production lock assemblies. It was found that the locks hold seatbacks in place in crashes when the back seat was unoccupied, but locks or other seat components often separate at moderate crash speeds when there are unrestrained back seat occupants. No statistically significant injury or fatality reductions were found por seat back locks in any of the accident data files or in the sled tests. The locks add about $14 (in 1985 dollars) to the lifetimer cost of owning and operating a car.
Samenvatting