Freelander - Seatbelt Design
Securely Seated: Seatbelt Design
Underlying its capability as a family vehicle, particularly the 5dr, all 5-seat Freelander models provide three 3-point inertia reel seatbelts in the rear. Careful design ensures that the seatbelts cannot be inadvertently misused.
Rear seatbelts
On Freelander 5dr, which has a 60/40 split folding rear seat, the rear seatbelt buckle anchorages are mounted to the seat cushion frames, which have been reinforced accordingly.
This allows the centre occupant to be securely seated on the 60% portion when the 40% portion is folded down, provided that the seat back is fully engaged and the red warning button on the top side of the seat is completely retracted out of sight.
The unique design of the belt for the centre occupant prevents them from accidentally inserting the tongue into the wrong buckle. All of the rear buckles are anchored using webbing for comfort and ease of use. Those between the split seats are sheathed in a plastic sleeve, biasing the buckle head towards the occupant and preventing damage when the seat is folded.
Front seatbelts
On Freelander 5dr models, the front seatbelt upper mounts are height adjustable to optimise the seatbelt positioning across the shoulder for people of varying builds.
Anti-submarine panels
Further helping to keep occupants securely seated, the front seat have special ramps or anti-submarine panels in the cushion, reducing the tendency to slide beneath the seatbelt in a severe forward impact.
Fire retardant
All of Freelander's interior fabrics have been stringently designed for fire retardance, exceeding US Federal legislation - the toughest in the world - by 20%.
The Benefits
- 5dr rear seatbelt buckle anchorages and red warning button; safety for rear occupants.
- 5dr rear seatbelt buckle design; occupant retention.
- 5dr front height adjustable seatbelts; safety and comfort.
- All; anti-submarine front seats; occupant retention.
- All; fire retardant fabrics; safety.
To see how the Freelander copes with the latest crash tests click here. NOTE these crashes were done at 40mph where the Freelander was designed to withstand 35mph when standards asked for 30mph.
