Seat belts keep people in place when a car accident happens. In a crash, if people are not belted in, they will fly forward and collide with anything in their path. Even worse, people can be thrown from the vehicle if they are not belted in. The safest place to be in an accident is belted to the seat, because the seat usually stays intact even when the outside of the car is smashed in.

On the Other: Seat Belts Can Fail

Seat belts can unlatch, have torn webbing or have retractor failure. If they unlatch, it is as if you are not wearing a seat belt or, even worse, if it unlatches while you are driving, that act in itself could cause an accident. With torn webbing and retractor failure, the seat belt will not hold you properly during a crash.

Bottom Line

You should always wear your seat belt whenever you are a driver or a passenger in a moving vehicle. Some reports of seat belts being dangerous if the car catches fire or plunges into a lake are false. In reality, wearing your seat belt, even in those cases, will help you survive. If you are thrown around or ejected from the car, this may result in your being unconscious, with no hope of getting out of the car.

Source:

State Compensation Insurance Fund

Anapol Schwartz

Snopes.com