By now putting on your seatbelt before you head out on every journey should be an automatic response after getting behind the wheel or settling into the passenger seat. Why? Because seatbelts have proven themselves useful in helping to keep you protected in the event of an accident. And the notable component of its safety power is the pretensioner.
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“Faster than a person can even react, a modern seatbelt retracts forcefully to adjust occupants into a safer seating position when the airbags deploy,” explains How Stuff Works writer Akweli Parker. “How does it do that? With a seatbelt pretensioner, of course. Like a valiant but tragic hero, the seatbelt pretensioner sacrifices its life in an accident, in order to save yours.”
According to Parker, the pretensioner contains a piston that is set into motion by an “explosive” charge after an accident has been registered by the vehicle’s sensors. It’s the job of the piston to engage or retract the seatbelt fabric, resulting in a noticeable and quick tightening.
“This extra seatbelt ‘pre-‘ tension, moments prior to the full force of impact, pulls the bodies of the driver and front-seat passenger firmly into their seats. This positions them so as to receive the maximum protection benefit of the front airbags. It also helps prevent the unfortunate phenomenon car crash-ologists call ‘submarining.’ That’s when the momentum caused by the crash jerks a victim’s body under his or her lap belt and sends it careening forward below the dash,” explains Parker.
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News Source: How Stuff Works
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