• Always buckle up for safety.seat belt receptacle image by Albert Lozano from Fotolia.com
  
  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belts saved more than 13,000 lives in the United States in 2008. The NHTSA has devised a number of standards to ensure seat belts are properly manufactured and used in passenger vehicles, thereby reducing the likelihood of a fatality in the event of a car accident.
  
  

Assembly and Installation

• According to Standard No. 208 of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Regulations, seat belts must be installed in passenger cars as well as trucks, buses and other passenger vehicles. In passenger cars, a lap belt or lap and shoulder belt must be available for every seat in the vehicle. A lap and shoulder belt must be assembled on each front outboard seat, except for in convertibles.
  
  

Safety Mechanism

• A single-point push-button release as well as an emergency- or auto-lock seat belt retractor is required for the lap and shoulder seat belts on passenger vehicles, according to Standard No. 208 of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Regulations. Torso restraints in passenger vehicles must also have an emergency-lock retractor.
  
  

Anchorage

• According to Standard No. 209 and Standard No. 210 of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and Regulations, all passenger vehicle seat belts must include straps, webbing or similar material, buckles and fasteners. Seat belts must be anchored in the proper location to ensure proper restraint and decrease instances of failure.