Racing Harness vs Seat Belt What Are The Differences

Photo by Milan De Clercq on Unsplash (Racing Harness vs Seat Belt What Are The Differences)

Everyone is familiar with the three-point seat belt that’s used in all passenger vehicles. Yet, despite being an effective safety device, motorsports drivers do not use them in their vehicles. Why is that? Well, it turns out there are significant differences between a racing harness and a standard seat belt.

Standard seat belts attach to three points while racing harnesses have either five or six points in total. Plus, harnesses are designed to keep the driver perfectly secure in the seat, whereas seat belts are designed to stretch and minimise momentum during a collision. 

In this article, we’re going to take a deep dive into what a racing harness is and the benefits it offers. Then, we’ll look at some key differences between a harness and a standard seat belt found in passenger vehicles.

Let’s get started.

What Is A Racing Harness?

The term ‘racing harness’ refers to a particular type of seat belt used in racing and other motorsports vehicles. A racing harness typically consists of five straps that mount directly onto the car frame to keep the driver safely in their seat. 

Some racing harnesses have six straps instead. They include two belts for the shoulders, two for the lap, and two sub belts that go around the driver’s legs.

Whether the racing harness has five or six straps, its function remains the same: to keep the driver in their seat, especially during a collision or other accident and minimise injuries.

Many racing harnesses are also compatible with HANS devices or Head and Neck Safety devices restraining the driver’s helmet. Having this compatibility extends the racing harness’s protective qualities, including protecting the driver from neck and shoulder injuries.

For safety reasons, many motorsports competitions have mandated racing harnesses to protect all participating drivers.

What Are The Benefits Of Using A Racing Harness?

At this point, you might already see that 5- or 6-point racing harnesses share many similarities with the standard 3-point seat belts you can find in all passenger vehicles. So, what are the unique benefits offered by racing harnesses?

Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of racing harnesses.

Additional Safety

First and foremost, racing harnesses are designed to provide a much higher degree of safety compared to regular seat belts. This is because racing and other motorsports involve vehicles travelling faster than those of everyday vehicles on the roads.

Those higher speeds amplify all the dangers that come with being in an automobile. For instance, a crash in a race vehicle involves a much more substantial impact and force than a regular fender bender on the road.

Racing harnesses are designed to offer much more protection both by helping the driver remain in their seat and protecting their head and neck by attaching a HANS device as described earlier.

Reduces Fatigue 

Racing harnesses also help to reduce fatigue among race car drivers significantly.

In motorsports, drivers tend to take plenty of sharp turns at very high speeds. When that happens, the driver’s body will instinctually brace (i.e. the muscles will tighten) to prevent their body from sliding too far in the driver’s seat.

Unfortunately, doing this often throughout the race also takes up a lot of the driver’s energy. So, how does a racing harness help with this problem?

Well, racing harnesses aren’t worn flexibly like with regular seat belts. Instead, they’re worn very tightly to keep the driver fixed perfectly into the driver’s seat.

As a result, there will be little or no movement of the driver’s body whenever they take a sharp turn. That means their body doesn’t need to brace when those turns happen, and as a result, they waste less energy and reduce overall fatigue.

Easy To Disengage

Racing harnesses are also very easy to disengage in the event of an accident. So yes, the harness must keep the driver safe at the moment of impact. However, motorsports vehicles can also catch fire after an accident.

That’s why racing harnesses are designed to disengage quickly with just the push of a button around the driver’s stomach.

In simple words, a racing harness will lock the driver in their seat throughout the race, but they can escape it quickly by pushing a button.

Race Harness Vs Seat Belt: What Are The Differences?

While the benefits of using a racing harness in motorsports are clear, there are still some crucial differences that need to be understood.

Here are some ways a racing harness is very different from a standard seat belt in passenger vehicles.

Seat Belts Are Designed To Stretch

Unlike racing harnesses, standard seat belts in everyday vehicles are designed to be stretchable. So, in a collision, the belt will stretch to slow down the driver’s momentum and reduce any impact against the steering wheel or other parts of the vehicle.

Race Harness Keeps Drivers In Seat

Racing harnesses, however, are not designed to stretch the same way a standard seat belt does. Instead, they’re designed to keep the driver in the seat as tightly as possible. As mentioned before, this is so that the driver’s body will not move, especially when taking corners at high speeds.

Race Harness More Secure

Standard seat belts only have three points, while racing harnesses have five or six. Having those additional points means that the driver is secured to the car in many more ways.

Securing

Another difference is in how the user is secured using a seat belt or a racing harness. With a seat belt, the user can secure themselves and disengage the belt entirely by themselves.

However, racing harnesses require another member of the team to secure the driver in place. That’s because they need to tighten the belt, and the driver cannot do that by themselves from the sitting position.

Still, the driver can disengage the harness very quickly by themselves, thanks to the centrally-placed release button.

Head And Neck Support

Lastly, racing harnesses offer head and neck support, which seat belts do not. To be more precise, racing harnesses are compatible with HANS or Head And Neck Safety devices to tether the user’s helmet and prevent injuries above the shoulder.

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