RE: 90q Seat Belt Question

[Aleksander Mierzwa <alex@matrix.com.pl>]

Chris wrote:

	>KSMITH1@mailgw.sanders.lockheed.com wrote:
	>> Having spent a considerable time this past weekend >hugging
the front
	>> differential of my wife's 90q in order to install >a new
"automatic"
	>> seatbelt, I came to question the efficacy of >Audi's design.
The seat
	>> belt assembly includes a cable that starts at the >take-up
reel,
	>> travels forward along the edge of the passenger >compartment,
	>> ...

	>What model year is this 90?

	>Anyway, what I think you're referring to is the >ProconTEN
system.
	>It is not used for locking the belt retractors, but >for
actually
	>tensioning the betls in a serious crash. It was >Audi's design
answer
	>to other pyrotechnic implementations which used >small
explosives
	>(a la airbags) to retract and tension belts in a >crash.

	>I think the idea behind Audi's system is that in a >serious
crash,
	>the deformation of the body and the rearward shift >of the
engine
	>and transmission will pull on the cables and tighten >the belts
	>around the passengers.

	>-Chris

I think the main fuction of the ProconTen system is to pull the steering
wheel away from the driver. 

						Alex