hackish 8 #1 July 23, 2008 Automotive seatbelts are made from nylon as far as I know. It looks similar to type 24 webbing with a MBS of 5500lbs. That matches fairly closely with published strengths of seatbelts. My question is why don't automakers seem to care about UV exposure. Maybe I'm just wrong about the type but I've heard of risers on PEP's left out in the sun for a season being tested and found to break very easily. So if parachute webbing is very sensitive is it any more or less than automotive? Maybe people just don't care about it... -Michael Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnRich 4 #2 July 23, 2008 QuoteMaybe people just don't care about it... Or maybe there's more to the story than just what you're thinking about. Google is your friend: http://www.google.com/search?q=seat+belt+uv+degradation+strength Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DBCOOPER 5 #3 July 23, 2008 I don't know about auto seatbelts, but airplane seatbelts certainly "age" poorly. Auto glass has uv protection built into it.Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 643 #4 July 24, 2008 You are correct. By the time seatbelts suffer visible fading, they have lost fifty percent of their original strength. Good engineers always include a margin for wear and tear, but even so, I recommend replacing seatbelts that have suffered significant fading. Automobile manufacturers don't bother to assign "lives" to seatbelts because automobiles rust out after ten years in your environment, fifty years in Southern California. In your environment, seatbelt anchor bolts will rust out at about the same rate that webbing fades: an engineer's dream! A few years back, Cessna issued an SB saying to replace seatbelts after about 15 (?) years. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
