The other kind of seatbelt lock
07/13/2017
Readers who drove Japanese cars in the seventies will probably remember the actually practical belt buckles without buckles. They were called "Liv-Flap".
They were shown at the 1974 Geneva Motor Show , among other places . The ARwrote in March 1974:
"The locking mechanism of the Liv-Flap automatic seat belt is new, and for the time being it is only available in Switzerland and is distributed here by the Meyer-Barca company. As with the "Toric" system from England recently described in "AR", the actual belt section does not have a buckle, but is held in place by a hinged steel bracket at the short end of the belt when it is folded down."
This type of belt fastening was found to be very practical. When testing the Datsun 260 Z in October of the same year, AR wrote:
"The automatic seat belts fitted as standard (Liv system without a buckle on the belt) are extremely comfortable to wear; you can even use them to fasten your seat belt for driving distances of just a few hundred meters."
The typical search for the buckle was no longer necessary. Simply grab the belt and pull it over. That's it.
Surely these belt buckles should have caught on? But they didn't. The Liv-Flap belts disappeared and gave way to the systems commonly used today. It is not clear what exactly was the reason why they were not able to establish themselves in the long term. Perhaps they were simply not suitable for direct attachment to the seat (i.e. without belt whips)?
Perhaps one of our readers knows more?
