Auto Lap Straps

Not a common choice for cars generally but may have a use in certain applications, for example they have been used as Original equipment in Ford Escort and Volkswagen Golf Cabriolets from the late 1980’s. However for both of these cars it is possible to fit Lap & Diagonal seat belts.

ALR’s are Auto Locking Retractors. They pull out and retract back but in use they are fixed belts as per a standard Lap strap, so they can not be pulled out once you have put the seat belt on.

How do they Work?

An ALR uses a mini retractor with a locking device. Unlike a normal automatic seat belt, they do not have a webbing sensitive locking device. The locking device is triggered once you have pulled more than 300mm (12 inches) of webbing from the reel. You can continue to pull the webbing out as long as you do not allow even a mm to go back into the reel. Once you let, the webbing to retract you cannot pull anymore webbing out until you let the webbing completely retract and then start again. Thus when worn they act in the same way as a standard lap belt.