Safety in a CJ

[SenorCole86]

Hey guys, I got in a wreck the other day. I didn't wreck the Jeep, I was driving a company vehicle . . . yeah, sucks. I know though that if I had been driving the Jeep, I would have been severely injured or dead. The Jeep's brakes are worse, it has no shoulder belts, and no airbag. Those three things are the reasons I walked outa that company vehicle. Soooo, it was kinda an eye opener for me guys. I don't ever wanna be in that situation in the Jeep, and no amount of careful driving can save you from the stupid people out there, therefore, I'm looking to make my CJ safer. I wanna upgrade the brakes, which shouldn't be a big deal, and I need to get some shoulder belts ( I'm not sure how to do that, I'm guessing they just mount on the rollbar?) and (call me crazy) I might look into getting an airbag. My questions are: how do stock shoulder belts mount and would a TJ steering wheel + sensors somehow fit onto and wire into a CJ? Thanks a lot guys, any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jay79cj7]

The over-the-shoulder attachment for the seatbelt bolts to the rollbar. If you are concerned about safety, you could get one of the newer YJ roll bars (rear seat coverage) and then the belts should bolt right in. I don't think my 79 came stock with shoulder belts and the previous owner put them in. He had a tab welded to the roll bar for the shoulder attachment to bolt to.

 

[redrooster]

Do you have the vertical or "laid back" CJ roll bar? If it is the laid back bar then you get another bar from a newer CJ that had the over the shoulder part. Or just buy the belts and some weld on tabs from Blue Torch Fab.

 

[B.B.D.]

i put a 94 tub on my cj that came with the shoulder belts front and rear , better roll bar , and put the power brakes on the cj as well. not to mention the rust hadn't eaten through all the floors seat mounts.

 

[LVRockCrawler]

make with the belts (cant imagine driving a jeep w/o at least a shoulder belt) and brakes (lots of aftermarket out there) - dont even think about airbags - too many sensors and such - cant imagine any aftermarket retrofit being affordable AND reliable.... i'd imagine they'd do more harm than good if not correct...

 

[Wrangl3r93]

Yeah seatbelts save lives. I got rear ended by a maxima doing 30mph and all i could see was my face smashing against my nice flat windshield. Luckily i had my seatbelt on and i fully believe it saved my life, what was only a scratch on my rear bumper could have been my life had i not been wearing a belt. As for airbags i'd say no. I had a friend who tried to take his blazer offroad and hit a bump just right i guess and it sent it off into his face. Wasn't any injuries except those airbag burns on his arms but if you wheel i'd say no airbags.

 

[GaryMB]

Or at least get a switch to turn the airbags off when offroading. Installing airbags would be alot of work though, and I agree with LV--too many sensors to deal with, and it would be unsafe if it was not done correctly. I wouldn't dream of driving a CJ w/o shoulder harnesses; I've had them save me from some nasty bruises offroad w/o even crashing. 5 or 4-point harnesses would be the ultimate upgrade, along with a rollcage add-on that extends down by the windshield, but a regular shoulder harness would be good.

 

[SenorCole86]

Alright guys, thanks a lot. I'm gonna go get me some shoulder harnesses. Adios.

 

[redrooster]

If you really want the security, get a full on 6 point roll cage with the cage tied to the frame and seats mounted to the cage. Then you can put 4 point safety harnesses in.

 

[LVRockCrawler]

just dont forget you need a bar across the back at shoulder height if you want to mount a 4pt. harness... cant mount it to the floor