What is the Cadillac seat belt story?

[hearn]

What year were seat belts first offered as an option and what year did they become mandatory?  Thanks, Jim

[Dan LeBlanc]

Front seat belts became standard beginning with Chevrolet in 1963.

[66 Eldo]

I have heard 1964 was when they were mandatory and only on the front seats.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

If it were up to Ralph Nadar, we'd all be driving Trabants.

[76eldo]

My father bought a new Sedan DeVille in 1964.  The car had seatbelts in the front for sure, possibly rear too, I can't remember.

As my other brother tells it, shortly after getting the car he and my dad were getting into the car to go somewhere.  I guess the new seatbelts were a novelty and my brother wanted to put them on.  As soon as he touched the seatbelt my dad yelled at him "Hey, I have those folded just the way I want them, don't touch them!"

How times have changed...

Brian

[Jeff Rosansky CLC #28373]

Our 70 had front shoulder straps.  Fixed and they buckle separately with a big fat buckle rite in the middle of your chest.  No wonder nobody wore them.
I put in a set of regular shoulder belts (say what you want but I am a seatbelt wear-er and my kid drives the car). Just lap belts in the back tho however there are mounting holes in the rear deck for shoulder belts.
Jeff

[D.Yaros]

I will second 1962 as being the year for mounting holes first appearing, as I have them on my 1962 Olds.  Believe all cars did in '62, in order to comply with a federal mandate?

[Jeff Wilk]

Cadillac Serviceman states that the seat belt "dimples" first appeared mid 1959. These were to ease locating the approved mounting positions.

[Jason Edge]

Front and rear seat belts were optional for all of the 1963 model year. In 1964, the front seat belts became standard equipment after engine unit # 057000, while the rears remained optional.  This was posted in the January 1964 Serviceman Bulletin on page 8. Here is a direct link to it as posted the 63/64 Cadillac site: http://api.ning.com/files/Zyr5pZDlIYjwMkYsqUMAIkJelsrLVN2QvRLp3jFGxgnTfhqvYOcL7-kGtD9lsa9Y99yjgV-VzWYGhLhQfvrX84BH3JxKSjWH/Jan19648.jpg
Click picture to enlarge once you pull it up.

[TonyZappone #2624]

If my memory serves me correctly ( ha ) In New York state anyway, the first seat belts were mandatory in Spring, 1965.  We quite often dealer traded with dealers in Pa. and had to be careful because they weren't required in Pa. at that time.  I remember spring 1965, because the first car we got in with them was a dark blue Impala 4dr.

[kav]

I love that mine has none . It really freaks passengers .

[J. Skelly]

GM installed front lap belts as standard equipment on all U.S. vehicles starting with the 1964 model year.  Rear seat belts were standard with the 1966 models.  As I recall, both were mandated by Federal law.  This was followed by a collapsible steering column for 1967 models, shoulder harnesses for 1968 models, and head restraints and door side beams for the 1969 model year.

My Dad ordered a '63 LeSabre hardtop to replace our '57 Bel Air hardtop.  Lap belts were only available in black, and I think these were dealer-installed only.  Since our car had an off-white interior, he bought belts at Montgomery Ward and I helped him install them.  The mounting plates were already there.  I think he had to remove two bolts for each seat position.   

[N Kahn]

My 1961 Cadillac Eldorado one off has them front and rear but I have no idea when they were installed.

[INTMD8]

Another weird law was that dual headlights were illegal prior to the 1958 model year.

Good thing it didn't stop them from building them anyway 

[Classic]

Probably more than you wanted to know: (copied from Wikipedia)

"In 1964 and 1966, public pressure grew in the U.S. to increase the safety of cars, culminating with the publishing of Unsafe at Any Speed, by Ralph Nader, an activist lawyer, and the National Academy of Sciences' "Accidental Death and Disabilityâ€"The Neglected Disease of Modern Society".

In 1966, Congress held a series of highly publicized hearings regarding highway safety, passed legislation to make installation of seat belts mandatory, and enacted Pub.L. 89â€"563, Pub.L. 89â€"564, and Pub.L. 89â€"670 which created the U.S. Department of Transportation on October 15, 1966. This legislation created several predecessor agencies which would eventually become NHTSA, including the National Traffic Safety Agency, the National Highway Safety Agency, and the National Highway Safety Bureau. Once the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) came into effect, vehicles not certified by the maker or importer as compliant with US safety standards were no longer legal to import into the United States.

NHTSA was officially established in 1970 by the Highway Safety Act of 1970 (Title II of Pub.L. 91â€"605, 84 Stat. 1713, enacted December 31, 1970, at 84 Stat. 1739). In 1972, the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act (Pub.L. 92â€"513, 86 Stat. 947, enacted October 20, 1972) expanded NHTSA's scope to include consumer information programs. Since then, automobiles have become far better in protecting their occupants in vehicle impacts. The number of deaths on American highways hovers around 40,000 annually, a lower death rate per vehicle-mile travelled than in the 1960s.

NHTSA has conducted numerous high-profile investigations of automotive safety issues, including the Audi 5000/60 Minutes affair, the Ford Explorer rollover problem and the Toyota: Sticky accelerator pedal problem. The agency has introduced a proposal to mandate Electronic Stability Control on all passenger vehicles by the 2012 model year. This technology was first brought to public attention in 1997, with the Swedish moose test.

NHTSA's activities provide today's consumers with a great deal of auto safety information that was not generally available before the agency existed."

As far as older cars are concerned, I am not aware of any US Federal regulations that require retrofitting seat belts, horns, wipers, lights, turn signals, emission controls, windshields, etc.  A few states may have different rules - check with your state.  I just came back from attending a 4 day 1 & 2 cylinder tour in Michigan.  Most cars on the tour had been retrofitted with stop lights by their owners for personal safety reasons, but a couple had nothing (a 1898 and a 1902).

[Jim Govoni CLC 20546]

Seat belts were offered in GM cars as an option beginning in 1952.

[D.Yaros]

Did you mean to say 1962?

[Jim Govoni CLC 20546]

Nope, it was 52 for GM , Nash offered them in 49.

[joeceretti]

As a side but related note, Cadillac was the first to replace the annoying buzzer with the annoying chime seatbelt reminder in 1976. When I was a kid I clearly remember my brother taking a screwdriver and jamming it through the center of the seatbelt buzzer in his Honda Civic. Buzz no more!

[speach]

So Ralph Nader is responsible for the ending of chrome conv racks. I wish I could have a conversation with him!