Safety experts demand Government gets moving on lap seatbelts

Leading car safety advocates have called for the outright ban of lap seatbelts on imported vehicles.

They also want a campaign to upgrade vehicles already fitted with them.

The Consumers' Institute, The Dog & Lemon Guide and the New Zealand Car Safety Trust said yesterday that upgrading seatbelts was a simple job that would cost about $250, not the $2000 claimed by Land Transport New Zealand.

Huntly coroner Bob McDermott has called for lap seatbelts to be banned, saying they cause shocking injuries and kill people. He wants three-point seatbelts to be compulsory.

Research by Auckland's Starship children's hospital also found lap seatbelts could cause life-threatening injuries or permanent disabilities in children, and called for them to be phased out.

Consumers' Institute spokesman David Russell said there was good evidence to show lap belt injuries killed and maimed and a move to stop their use had to start somewhere.

"There is no justification for allowing importers to bring in vehicles with seatbelts that are known to kill the people wearing them.

"There are plenty of new and used cars available internationally that have safe seatbelts and these are the only ones that should be allowed into the country. Let's take a pragmatic first step," he said.

More than 1 million vehicles in New Zealand have lap belts, mostly in the centre rear seat.

Seatbelt installer Autoliv's New Zealand spokesman, Chris Sweetman, has said converting lap seatbelts was also a major exercise. The mounting parts behind the seat were designed for child seats, not to take the force of an adult.

Autoliv said it could cost between $1500 to $2000, depending on the vehicle's engineering requirements.

New Zealand imports all its cars. Holden and Ford have phased lap seatbelts out altogether, but the Honda Odyssey and the Toyota Previa - both popular family cars - still have them.

Dog & Lemon Guide editor Clive Matthew-Wilson said LTNZ had deliberately misrepresented the degree of difficulty involved in replacing lap belts.

"Upgrading lap seatbelts is a relatively simple job that can be done on most saloon cars in less than 1 1/2 hours. The new seatbelt is worth about $150.

"We have a quote from a highly regarded Auckland seatbelt installer for $750 for the whole job, including an engineer's report. If the regulations were simplified this price could drop to as little as $250 for the whole job."

Mr Russell said tens of thousands of vehicles could be safely upgraded from lap belts if the political will was there.

"The Government seems to want to solve the problem by waiting until the vehicles fitted with lap belts go off the road because of old age."

Hatchbacks and station wagons cannot be upgraded from lap seatbelts because there is nowhere to bolt the third point of the new belt.

New Zealand Car Safety Trust spokesman Gordon McKeown said lap belts should always be adjusted properly.

"A badly adjusted belt will be far more dangerous than one that fits properly."

- NZPA