Posted by Rick Denney on August 01, 2001 at 15:14:09:
In Reply to: Re: Airbags and tubas posted by Carroll on August 01, 2001 at 14:00:44:
Actually, what happened was that the momentum of the euphonium was sufficient to crush the bell when it flew forward against the seatbelt. Seatbelts do not retract in a crash. They lock in position. There is a pendulum weight in the mechanism that during excessive G forces swings out from vertical, locking the belt where it is. Therefore, the horn would have been damaged anyway by whatever it ran into had the seatbelt not been fastened.
I know this is little consolation for the damage to the horn, but it may help to realize that you didn't make anything worse using the seatbelt, and may have avoided allowing the euph to become a missile inside the car.
Rick "head-on crashes are a nasty business" Denney