Increasing Safety - Roll Cage, Harnesses, Etc

[WildJones]

It seems like there are more and more guys building big cube big blocks lately or are focusing more on making their cars handle well, so I wanted to pause and ask everyone what they have planned for making sure they keep themselves and their passengers safe. It seems about a decade ago or so, everyone was adding roll cages to their cars, but roll cages can have a lot of downsides for mostly street driven cars that may or may not see occasional track days, be it auto cross or HPDE type events. Safety while cruising is just as important while competing.

Myself, I've been looking for a set of aftermarket seats that have belt pass throughs to allow the use of a harness connected to the back seat belt anchors (I'm not sure if the angles are right to do this yet), but even that game plan isn't foolproof. If the car rolls, or the roof caves in, a 4, 5, or 6 point harness will keep you in place (like its supposed to) and you will get squished. I'd like to keep my interior more or less stock looking, but honestly value my life more than keeping stock interior aesthetics or a back seat (which honestly, who wants to sit in the back seat of a 600hp car?).

So what are you guys planning on doing? Playing the odds and keeping stock safety equipment, or adding harness bars/roll cages, seats, and harnesses? I think this could be a valuable discussion for all...

[Markp]

Any extra roll cage will help but in the worst case scenario you are going to wish you had a 10 or even 12 point roll cage. A few more bars here and there even though you may not like the look of them or the inconvenience of them is a must if you plan on taking the car to its limits or even your limits. Better to be safe then sorry. Plus roll cages look badass in my opinion. I will keep my eye on this thread as I am in the process of building a 10 point cage in my car. I have a older rollcage that the previous owner installed 15 years ago so I am redoing it to meet NHRA 8.50 standards.

[brads70]

Roll cages and competition belts can be deadly if not installed correctly . Issue with roll cages on the street is your usually not wearing a helmet( or your passengers) and hitting your head and limbs in an impact will cause more damage than if you didn't have them. Belts need to be installed properly or they can kill also. Insurance company's around my neck of the woods won't insure a vehicle with a roll cage for those reasons.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

For now I am just adding three point belts.

As mentioned cages don't always equal safety, you may be recognizable but you have to be strapped in,  well, into a real seat to make it out in top condition.


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[HP2]

For a pure street car, I don't see any reason to go beyond original style safety equipment. Certainly make sure belt webbing is in good condition and mechanisms work properly. If you are concerned about it, you could swap 70-71 doors for later 72-74 doors with the side impact beams inside them. You also could weld up panel seams all around the passenger compartment to increases its ability to maintain its integrity in a crash.

I'm generally opposed to cages in street cars for the reasons already bought up. Its not that being padded makes them inherently unsafe, but in most installations they significantly reduce the space around the occupants. In some situations, a couple extra inches can mean the difference between cracking your head or straining your neck. If, like some mega customs builds, the cage can be installed virtually inside and integrated into the stock sheetmetal to where it is almost not visiable, then I think it may have some merit.

[marc70challenger]

Roll cages and competition belts can be deadly if not installed correctly . Issue with roll cages on the street is your usually not wearing a helmet( or your passengers) and hitting your head and limbs in an impact will cause more damage than if you didn't have them. Belts need to be installed properly or they can kill also. Insurance company's around my neck of the woods won't insure a vehicle with a roll cage for those reasons.

Bingo. If you have any rollcage /roll bar installed properly it's going to be close to your head   Even with helmets mandatory - NHRA/IHRA requires padding. Without a helmet, I'm not sure if any padding will help really.

It is actually something I am a bit concerned about with taking our car on the street. Driving down Main St with a full face helmet will probably get the cops called out ... lol ... and without it - smacking your head against the cage even at 20mph could easily kill ya or turn you into a veg.

And to another of Brad's points .. very important ... when I called Haggerty and asked them to add The Pumpkin ... when we got to question of roll bar/cage and answered yes ... she said:  Sorry Charlie, no can do.  IIRC, only like 6 states they will or have to.  VA ain't one.