Kevin Hart's Car Will Be Disassembled By CHP and Laws Could Change

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Kevin Hart's Car Will Be Disassembled By CHP and Laws Could Change

KEVIN HART CAR CRASH
CHP WILL DISASSEMBLE BARRACUDA ...
Laws Could Change
9/10/2019 1:00 AM PT

Kevin Hart's 1970 Plymouth Barracuda will be stripped down to nuts, bolts and metal pieces ... courtesy of the California Highway Patrol, and what the CHP finds could result in new car safety laws.

Our CHP sources tell us its protocol is often to disassemble cars involved in either fatal or major injuries to determine the cause of the crash. It's a 3-week process ... a week taking the car apart and 2-3 weeks evaluating the evidence and writing a report.

Our law enforcement sources say ... the end result may be a recommendation by the CHP to the state legislature to require that car companies that customize and restore classic cars must install safety harnesses, even if it deviates from the original vehicle. In Kevin's case, the Barracuda is a 1970, when harnesses were not required.

As one CHP source told us, even if there were mechanical problems with the car that caused the crash, a safety harness could have prevented or minimized the serious back injuries Kevin and the driver suffered.
....

I'm not sure what this means. Lap belts have been required since about 1965. Shoulder belts weren't required until about 1968, but they were an option on some cars before that. I had a 1967 Ford Country Squire. It came from the factory with lap belts. They were mandatory, not an option. I found, when I peeled back the headliner, that there were mounting locations in the inner roof that allowed me to add shoulder belts as well. They had been an option in 1967. I got the shoulder belts from a 1968 or 1969 Ford -- I can't recall which now.

This says "harness," not belt. So, five-point harness?

[Sneederbunk]

1. What's next, the Model A?

[Backseat Driver]

4. LOL - junk?

Think I saw this somewhere on DU just the other day?

https://www.omaha.com/news/plus/nebraskan-restores-model-a-then-finds-out-it-can-t/article_76ce1a8b-30e3-5572-88e2-4e210a266145.html

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. I doubt anyone was wearing a lap belt, in that wreck.

n/t

[Backseat Driver]

3. OTOH, it could point to the fact

that those devices might contribute by that restraint in unknown circumstances...nonetheless, it's the driver's responsibility to control their vehicle at all times; maintaining a safe vehicle mechanically notwithstanding someone else's criminal intent - the owner's. Last time I checked, a vintage classic car designed for speed doesn't need to fulfill its purpose...driver's choice to push the envelope; seems common sense that, more so, when it is not their vehicle! That said, it would fall to some other group to decide what was publicly "street legal."

[Mopar151]

5. Maybe an upgrade would be allowable/preferable.

5 - point race belts would be in keeping with the Hellcat engine. especially without airbags!

[The Figment]

6. Not only should this car have had 5- point NHRA certified safety harnesses

It should have had at least a 9.5 second or slower certified roll cage...797 horsepower in a early 70's Cuda? That thing would have never passed any drag strips tech inspection.