What Is an Inflatable Seat Belt?

This once-promising safety technology faded away after just a decade on the market.

Nick Kurczewski | 

Jun 12, 2023 | 3 min read

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QuickTakes:

• What is an inflatable seat belt?
• Which automakers used them?
• Pros and cons of inflatable seat belts

When Ford introduced a new safety technology called inflatable seat belts back in 2009, it seemed these potentially life-saving devices might soon become a common safety option on most passenger vehicles. Instead, Ford and other carmakers that adopted inflatable seat belts phased them out of their vehicles a mere decade after they first appeared.

Why was such a promising safety innovation so short-lived? And what are the key details that used-car shoppers should know about vehicles that still have them?

What is an inflatable seat belt?

Inflatable seat belts look and feel almost identical to the regular belts found in all cars and trucks. While they're unobtrusive in appearance, inflatable seat belts have unique features that help keep a car's occupants safe in the event of a crash.

Inflatable seat belts have two layers of outer material with an airbag system sandwiched between them. This makes them slightly thicker than regular seat belts. They also have a unique, solid metal buckle, and in some makes and models, “Inflatable Belt” is stitched into the belt material.

While regular seat belts are an invaluable safety feature, they can cause injuries when extreme forces of impact are exerted on narrow swaths of a passenger's body. During an accident, an inflatable seat belt's airbag deploys within milliseconds, minimizing the risk of injury by spreading that force across a wider, cushioned surface.

Which automakers used inflatable seat belts?

Ford rolled out inflatable seat belts with the 2011 model year of the Explorer. The devices eventually were made optional on many other Ford and Lincoln vehicles, including the popular Ford Escape and Explorer SUVs, the F-150 pickup truck, and Lincoln MKT and Navigator SUVs.

Lexus introduced the feature on its pricey, limited-production 2012 LFA supercar, while Mercedes-Benz offered inflatable belts as an option on its S-Class luxury sedan. In all, inflatable seat belts can be found on a variety of used cars and trucks dating from the 2011 to 2020 model years.

Pros and cons of inflatable seat belts

While inflatable seat belts effectively minimize forces exerted on the body during an accident, the belts proved to be incompatible with some child safety seats. This led to confusion and concerns about which child seats could be used with inflatable belts. That confusion became an obstacle to wider adoption.

Fortunately for used-car shoppers, a number of resources are now available online to clarify which child seats are compatible with inflatable seat belts and to demonstrate the proper way to install child seats in cars equipped with the devices.

Meanwhile, a 2019 safety study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety drew attention to widespread shortcomings in rear-passenger crash safety. It found that inflatable belts helped minimize the risk of belt-related injuries or deaths, but so did belts equipped with crash tensioners and force limiters.

During an accident, a crash tensioner quickly cinches the belt tightly to hold the occupant in place. Fractions of a second later, a force limiter provides a small amount of slack so that the belt itself doesn't exert excessive, potentially damaging force on the passenger's body.

Having pioneered inflatable seat belts, Ford Motor Company opted to abandon the technology and instead focus on installing force limiters and crash tensioners in the rear belts of its vehicles. Despite their promise and strong performance, inflatable seat belts fell out of use after the 2020 model year.

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