1965 Seat Belts???

[collins10672]

1965 chevrolet trucks had seat belts optionally installed.starting in 1966 required by federal law chevrolet trucks had seat belts,2 speed windshield wipers and backup lamps installed as standard equipment.starting in 1968 cars and trucks had to have side marker lamps installed also.very few 1965 chevrolet trucks came with seat belts since not many people were into safety features at the time.hope this helps.

[Captainfab]

If I'm not mistaken, 1966 was the first year for the shoulder belt option.....the weld nuts in the B-pillar.

[lakeroadster]

The Seat Belt Story
(The Medical and Public Health Law Site)

First, there is popular concern about accidents

Individual stories - MADD is an example

Interest Groups

Nader and Public Interest
Unsafe at any Speed - 1965
Insurance industry

Then Congress passes the Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act
1967 - regulation requiring seatbelts
1972 - realized that people where not wearing the seatbelts
Regulation requiring automatic seatbelts or airbags by 1975
Required cars between 1973 and 1975 to have automatic seatbelts or ignition interlocks
Chrysler v. DOT affirmed the regs
Industry choose interlocks - why?
1974 - Congress passed a law banning regs requiring interlocks and said that all future regs on passive restraints had to be submitted to Congress for legislative veto
DOT under Ford withdrew the regs
DOT under Carter (a few months later) passed new passive restraint regs for 1982 and Congress did not veto them
1979 - Regs were affirmed in Pacific Legal Foundation v. DOT
1981 - DOT under Reagan withdrew the regs because the car companies were going to use automatic seatbelts that could be disconnected.
1983 - Motor Vehicles Manufacturers Assoc. v. State Farm hit the United States Supreme Court

The court ruled that the DOT could not withdraw the reg without a proper explanation of its actions
Remanded to the agency for review

1984 - DOT (E. Dole) promulgated a reg requiring automatic seatbelts or airbags in all cars after 1989, unless
2/3 of the population were covered by state seatbelt laws
The laws had to meet certain criteria

What did MO do?
$5 penalty
No stop
No meaningful seatbelt defense

1997 - most newer cars had airbags
1998 - airbags kill grannies and little kids!

Nothing new - known at the time
Save many more

1999 - You can get your airbag disconnected
Products liability issues?

[fleetsidelarry]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

If I'm not mistaken, 1966 was the first year for the shoulder belt option.....the weld nuts in the B-pillar.

Yes (at least in my case), my '66 cab has weld nuts while my donor '65 does not.

[SIR]

when we where building our truck we had two "66" one for parts our parts truck had no "B" piller anchor point, it was mfg in St Louis,our "builder" was mfg in california and it has "B" piller anchor points for seat belts...

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by collins10672

1965 chevrolet trucks had seat belts optionally installed.starting in 1966 required by federal law chevrolet trucks had seat belts,2 speed windshield wipers and backup lamps installed as standard equipment.starting in 1968 cars and trucks had to have side marker lamps installed also.very few 1965 chevrolet trucks came with seat belts since not many people were into safety features at the time.hope this helps.

Is this correct? There's a small discussion on a '60-66 Facebook group, so I'm trying to clarify. I had initially stated that I read on this forum that the truck seat belts became standard in 1966, & they were optional up until then. But when researching, I'm finding other info that says the Federal Mandate was in 1968. So does this mean that the belts became standard installation in '66 but weren't mandated till '68?...or was the federal law implemented in '66 as suggested by the quote above?

[chevyrestoguy]

Whether it's factory installed or not, whether the cutoff year for mandated belts falls within the year of your truck, or if it's law or not, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE BELTS IN ANYTHING YOU BUILD, REGARDLESS. Seatbelts DO save lives, and statistics have proven it time and time again.

I'm off my soap box now......

[64shortbox]

I absolutely HATE the seat belt law here in California. The law was put on the ballot twice and was voted down by the people both times. The good old CA government still forced it down our throats "to save lives" funny thing is the seat belt law has absolutely NOTHING to do with saving lives, it's about saving the insurance companys money period. It was the insurance lobby that got this law passed. Here's the kicker, 3 of my immediate family members survived 2 separate accidents because they were NOT wearing their seat belts. Had they been wearing their seat belts they would have been killed in the accidents. Admittedly they were both T bone accidents but wearing seat belts should be our choice & not mandated by the government or shall I say the insurance lobby.

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by 64shortbox

I absolutely HATE the seat belt law here in California. The law was put on the ballot twice and was voted down by the people both times. The good old CA government still forced it down our throats "to save lives" funny thing is the seat belt law has absolutely NOTHING to do with saving lives, it's about saving the insurance companys money period. It was the insurance lobby that got this law passed. Here's the kicker, 3 of my immediate family members survived 2 separate accidents because they were NOT wearing their seat belts. Had they been wearing their seat belts they would have been killed in the accidents. Admittedly they were both T bone accidents but wearing seat belts should be our choice & not mandated by the government or shall I say the insurance lobby.

Not to start an arguement, but do you actually believe that seatbelts can cause more deaths than they save?

I have been in some serious accidents in my 30+ years of being a driver and a passenger (never at fault, knock on wood). I have been in head-on collisions at 50 mph, center-punched a telephone pole and sheared it off at 35 mph, been t-boned in the middle of a high speed intersection, and had two severe roll-overs. I have to say that if I HADN'T been buckled in, I might not be typing this right now. One of the rollovers was down a steep embankment, and I surely would have been thrown out and crushed from my rolling car had I not been wearing a seatbelt.

I have had this discussion for years with friends who don't wear their belts. I have heard the "what if I get upside down in a raging river" and "what if I'm knocked and the car catches fire" reasoning and I just don't buy it. I grew up in a generation where nobody wore a seatbelt. I started wearing a seatbelt because I was in the military, and you couldn't come on base unless you were buckled in. At first, it felt weird to be wearing a belt. Once it became a natural habit and I did it every time I got in the car, I can't pull out of my driveway without naturally buckling up.

We all have our own reason to buckle up or not, but I am living proof that buckling up keeps you alive. I don't care if the State mandates them because I'll wear one if it's law or not.

[Bowed]

A random online quote


" if you install belts, who is liable? It's a bag of worms ".

A random online quote



" even if they were available. Had
a customer come in with seat belts
to install in '58 Ford that did
not have them OEM. [B]My attorney
said,"If seat belts were originally
installed in car and you (me) were
to replace because of wear/poor
condition, I'm protected from a
lawsuit. If I install belts after
the fact and any failure occurs
and someone is hurt/killed I'm
legally responsible for any and
all financial/physical/property
damage that occurs as a result
of belt/install failure."[/B]

I'm not a lawyer so I can't give advise on seat belt installation and the law . With that said if I am going to install seat belts in a vehicle that did not have them originally , I would look into any liabilities I might face and how they would affect me .




.

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Whether it's factory installed or not, whether the cutoff year for mandated belts falls within the year of your truck, or if it's law or not, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE BELTS IN ANYTHING YOU BUILD, REGARDLESS. Seatbelts DO save lives, and statistics have proven it time and time again.

I'm off my soap box now......

Yeah, I agree. I'm wanting to know for statistical/historical reasons. Mine didn't have them when I bought it & still doesn't yet. However, I do plan to install them if I ever get it road-worthy again. I've always worn my seat belt, so it feels a bit weird when I don't have the option!

Originally Posted by 64shortbox

wearing seat belts should be our choice & not mandated by the government or shall I say the insurance lobby.

Having lived in FL & down the road from Myrtle Beach now, I will say that I don't think it's fair that certain states allow motorcycle riders the choice to wear helmets. Seems to me it should be the same for seat belts. That said, I've always worn a helmet when I ride an ATV or street bike, just as I've worn a seat belt. IMO, it's just the safest option.