I'm wondering if there are any pictures of seatbelts in HMMWVs? It occurs to me that driving off-road would be a bumpy situation if seatbelts didn't hold down the occupants.

Cheers,
Cipher

I'll be driving one next weekend, I can take some pictures if you like.

They are lap belt only. Or they were when I got out in 1996. Also, when I got out they were looking into the dangers of wearing the seatblet with LBE's. Apparently it had a tendency to cause internal injuries in accidents. So I'm not sure if they have modified them since then. Hope it helps.

Original HMMWVs came with lap belts only like Steve says. They were retractable like the ones in an ordinary car back seat, but not locking. You had to pull it all the way out then tighten the slack.

Starting in about 1991-92, 3-point shoulder seat belts like the type used in the front seats of cars came onto the scene. Contractors came in and did MWOs (Modification Work Orders) to all of our HMMWVs. They added the shoulder belts at them same time they did an MWO to our parking brake system. They did both the front and back seats of 4-door HMMWVs and the front seats of 2-doors.

In 1993-94, I got my first brand new HMMWV (as opposed to inheriting one from the previous staff officer). It had the shoulder belts factory installed in all four positions. In soft top 4-door HMMWVs without the rear cargo cover, you can see the little mount for the rear seat shoulder belts on top of the rear fender well.

I remember driving the HUMVEE in the mid-80's when it first came out and having the lap belts. Glad to hear they put in some real ones finally. Of course no seat belts in the jeeps was real scary especailly when Mostert (my tank driver) drove. 70 mph going dow the Baumholder MTA road....yee haw

I'll take some digital pics of the whole missile launcher for you when I go out for training in a couple of weeks if you're interested. We'll be setting up the system and doing some training with it, both vehicle and tripod mopunted, so I'll have plenty of chances to get some good pics for you.

BTW - Not ALL MUMMV's have been modified with the three-point belts. The hard-tops that my National Guard TOW unit has are still equipped with lap belts. Of course these are hand me downs, but must have never gotten the MWO that Sabot refers to.

Thanks for all the information.

Jay: I would be very interested in any photos you can take of the HMMWVs. There are some good pics in the gallery, but more can't hurt.

Interesting that the original specs didn't include three-point seat belts. I believe civilian vehicles were mandated by the government in the late 70s or early 80s to have three-point seat belts.

Question before we see any pictures from Jay: Where do the shoulder straps hook onto? Is it built right into the frame of the vehicle?

Cheers,
Cipher

For the front two seats, they mount to the B pillar (the A pillar is the windshield frame, B pillar is the "rollbar", C pillar is the rear frame if there is one). The back seats mount where I stated earlier, on the rear fender well. On 4-door soft tops, there is a little cut out that covers the rear seat mounts. I'll post TM scans if there is a real interest.