Seat Belt Expiration ?

pvalovich · #1 09-28-2010, 04:01 PM

Do seat belts have a shelf/use life? I seem to recall a post some years ago saying they must be replaced - whether installed or not - after so many years. Or maybe I dreamed that up.

danielhv · #2 09-28-2010, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pvalovich

Do seat belts have a shelf/use life? I seem to recall a post some years ago saying they must be replaced - whether installed or not - after so many years. Or maybe I dreamed that up.

Doubt it... There are alot of old planes out there with the same seat belts in them as the day they were built. Maybe there is a service life if ur doing aerobatics or something?

Neal@F14 · #3 09-28-2010, 05:39 PM

In a certificated spamcan, the seatbelts have to have their TSO tags intact and fully legible on them. I read a posting on another aviation forum that the FAA was ramp-checking at Texarkana last week and grounded someone's plane for torn/missing seatbelt tags.

Dunno if the seatbelts on an experimental must have the tags or not.

szicree · #4 09-28-2010, 05:53 PM

Funny you ask this today, as I just finished putting my kids new carseat in our car. The seat actually has an expiration date stamped right into it. I figure it must reflect the shelf life of either the seat structure or the attach belts (which are basically seat belts). Still, I gotta assume it's just some CYA sorta deal from the lawyers.

tsorce · #5 09-28-2010, 07:45 PM

What is the legal requirement?
What is the reasonable amount of time from a safety perspective?
The attached photo is from my Glasair TD1 the seatbelt was about 24 years old.

DCat22 · #6 09-28-2010, 07:58 PM

I think I remember seeing a Cessna document with a 10 year lifespan for the belt webbing...but that is *purely* from distant memory.

That said, I plan to replace the belts at some interval. From having done rock climbing...all that stuff doesn't last forever, especially with sun exposure.

Phlyan Pan · #7 09-28-2010, 09:15 PM

Coming from a car racing background...there is a reason for belts to be replaced at regular intervals. Dirt, abrasion, chemicals, and UV especially degrade the webbing over time and weaken the belts. Belts have to be replaced/rewebbed every so often (2 or 5 years I believe) depending on the certification they have.

That said, belts in a race car have to withstand massive decelerations (50 g impacts I think? Don't quote me on that.) to be considered acceptable to do their job and in a race car it's basically a foregone conclusion that this type of event will happen sooner or later. Aircraft belts shouldn't (hopefully) have to withstand an impact like that, they're generally for holding you in place in the plane so the requirements shouldn't be quite as stringent. As morbid as it is, if you have a 50g impact in an airplane I don't think the belts would be the weak point in the system.

So how often should you replace your belts? Well this is experimental right...so what do you feel comfortable with? Realistically, the answer probably depends on a lot of different factors. The biggest is probably how much UV exposure they get.

LarryT · #8 09-30-2010, 12:11 AM

...deteriorates w/ UV exposure. Therefore webbing should be replaced periodically.

LarryT

Walt · #9 09-30-2010, 06:27 AM

When is the last time you replaced the seat belts it your car? My car is out in the sun more than the plane will ever be!

The insp for seat belts where I came from was checking for damage, cuts, fraying, security etc., and of course the legibilty of the all important TSO tag

No time change on belts, based on condition only.