Seat belts are supposed to be one of the most important innovations for car safety.
Indeed, when used correctly, these devices can save lives.
In fact, over 211,000 lives have been spared in the past 30 years due to seat belt usage.
Frustratingly, though, if these so-called safety belts are defective, they can actually hurt more people than they can help.
The most obvious concern for belt safety is staying latched.
When most people think of safety belt failure, they think of defective latching, which causes a person to be thrown against the dashboard or through a window during an accident.
However, another major flaw is latching too tightly or pulling too strongly, which can result in dangerous internal injuries.
Once, most safety belts were primarily lap band only, and some middle seats still have lap bands alone.
Sadly, though, this design has been shown to place extreme amounts of pressure on the lower organs, such as the intestines.
This pressure is magnified in a car accident if the person is thrown forward against the lap belt.
These flawed safety belts have been known to cause internal organ ruptures due to this high pressure.
Also, normally your seat belt advances and retracts easily for you to move in your seat.
If the driver slams on the brakes, though, the belt should lock into place, taut enough to keep you from pitching forward yet not too tight to cause injury.
Still, some locking mechanisms can become stuck, strangling a person in their safety belt.
Again, the forward force against a tight seat belt can cause internal injuries such as organ rupture and hematomas from broken blood vessels.
These injuries due to safety belt defects have been nicknamed "Seat belt Syndrome.
" The symptoms associated with this problem-including internal injuries-are more prevalent with children than adults.
Sometimes, injuries like organ rupture can be fatal.