seat belt /shoulder harness in older bus?

[John Z]

One of the items on my winter list of things to do is install some sort of seat belt and shoulder harness system for the driver seat in my '04. What are some solutions others have tried and found to work well? What anchor point did you use for the shoulder harness? TIA

[RJ]

John -

My 4106 has seatbelts, OEM from the factory.

Since the '06 uses the same driver's seat as the '04, I can take pics of my installation, if you want.

HTH. . .

[John Z]

Hi Russ,

Thanks, i would appreciate seeing how GM did it. The seat has been chagned out in my 04, but i still would like to see photos of your setup. Thank you.

John Z

[ronz]

Hello Russ;
       I am another newbee who has recently purchased a converted 4106.
Since mine has no seatbelts in it i would also like to see some pictures of your seatbelts.
Thanks Much .. Ronz

[gus]

I got belts from JC Whitney and installed them in my 4104. The driver's seat is the only one with a shoulder strap because there is no front passenger seat, it is behind the wheelwell. I have three other seats also, all only have lap belts because they are so far back.

The driver's seat is a truck air ride. The lap belt is mounted to the seat as originally in the truck and the shoulder strap is mounted in the original bus luggage rack bottom with very large washers. It might come out in a crash but will at least slow me down a bit!

[buswarrior]

Hello.

You might want to wonder...

MCI only installed shoulder belts on the 102D models, and not on any that have come after (E & J).

Prevost, no shoulder belts in H3 45, I doubt in any other models.

A shoulder belt gets in the way more for a coach driver than an auto driver, since there is more upper body movement in steering and head bobbing to cover the mirror angles.

Take heart, the magnitude of force transmitted to the occupants of a bus versus an auto, for the same sort of crash is quite a bit lower, due to the greater mass of the bus being able to absorb more of the crash forces.

By the time a shoulder belt makes a difference, you'll be worrying about what the steering wheel has done to your legs, or you'll be cursing it from the beyond because it prevented you from ducking.

FYI, I am a full supporter of wearing seat belts in whatever vehicle one navigates down the road.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Dreamscape]

I am in the same situation.

I have a lap belt, no shoulder belt.

I have seen truckers using them, but no busses so far.

Must be a reason. Don't know if there is a law or not.

Happy Trails,

Paul

Dreamscape

[belfert]

My 1995 Dina has a shoulder belt for the driver.   I just assumed any modern bus had them.  I don't have any issues with movement being restricted.

Brian Elfert

[RJ]

John Z & Ronz -

I'll shoot those pics this week and get them to you.  Are the email addresses in your profiles accurate?

[John Z]

Russ, yes my profile is correct. I had not thought about buses not having shoulder belts. I just happened to notice one day while out for a bicycle ride, that the local school buses have shoulder straps, and i too just figured all the news coaches would have them. The restriction issue should be moot with the clutch/slippage that the new belts allow. I can lean all the way over to the floor in my car while wearing my shoulder harness, but if the movement is rapid, it will lock and prevent that motion. Anyway, i look forward to seeing the pics, thanks again.

[gus]

The shoulder belt is definitely in the way while doing a lot of maneuvering at low speed but I solve that by slipping the shoulder belt behind me-no problem whatsoever and the seat belt stays put!

[bobofthenorth]

I can't think of a reason to not want to have a shoulder belt but - given that the driver is the absolute first thing to arrive at a wreck - I'm not sure how much good its going to do either.  It seems to me that, if you need the shoulder belt, then you've probably got lots bigger problems than needing the shoulder belt.  My plan is to always run into things smaller than me.  There's lots of things out there that are smaller than me - I just have to hope my aim is good.     

[gus]

At least you're higher than most other vehicles, just don't hit the rear of any semis!

[ronz]

For Russ;
     Yes my email address is correct & Thanks.I appreciate you taking the time to do this for us..
Ronz

[RJ]

Ron & John -

Check your private email boxes - pics sent this morning. . .