NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Like a lot of consumers, Paul McAleer focused on comfort when he recently went car shopping. Adjustable seats, a tilt steering wheel and extra height were all important.
Because he’s a self-described “fat guy,” the website designer also has to check whether he can fit in the seat belt.
While McAleer buckles up when he drives, a new study found that seat-belt use declines as body size increases. But even large drivers who want to use a seat belt may be thwarted because not all carmakers offer bigger belts or extenders.
“It would be in their best interest to make seat belts longer in the first place,” said McAleer, who lives in Chicago.
Federal standards that specify the length of auto seat belts date back four decades and only require that seat belts accommodate a 215-pound man. Some manufacturers offer bigger belts or extenders anyway, but other auto companies have concerns about effectiveness and liability.
Vanderbilt University psychologist David Schlundt studied the relationship between seat-belt use and weight after noticing that obese people sometimes struggled to fit into the auto restraints.
“They really have a hard time getting that belt buckle over them,” Schlundt said. “They have to stretch it out and then over, and then some can’t see the buckle.”
Schlundt and colleagues at Meharry Medical College in Nashville reviewed nearly 250,000 responses about seat-belt use from a national health survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Based on that 2002 data, the study found that seat-belt use declined as body mass index — a calculation based on height and weight — increased.
About 70 percent of extremely obese individuals reported always using a seat belt, while nearly 83 percent of normal-weight people always used their belts, the study found. Findings were published in the journal Obesity.
