It would be nice to have a five points, racing style, seatbelt in the front two seats.

 

I voted YES but it would depend mostly on how much it would cost.

 

Without a full roll cage, a harness is not safe for street use.

When I autoX, being tightly strapped in with a harness is great, but for daily driving, it would be very uncomfortable since you really need to be strapped in VERY tight, thus restricting a lot of body movement (adjusting stereo/AC/etc).

 

I have actually been concerned about how they where going to install normal seatbekts. Because the normal route for the shoulder stap is though a loop bolted onto the B-Pillar and down to the frame (which is now gone). I wonder if they will have any problem getting though US saftey regulations. All the picture I have seen of the front seats shows the belt going through the top of the seat back down to some unknown place. It seens to me that the only thing keeping you from going forward is the hinge between the seat back and bottom. I'm sure that Mazda realizes this issue and I am curious about how they will address it.

As far as 5 pt belts... I wouldn't get that option, but I wouldn't care if they offered it. My opinion is that Mazda probable will not offer it because the RX-8 is not a single purpose race car.

 

It will probably be anchored somewhere on the roof, like most of the other 3rd door vehicles out there today. I suppose they could anchor it to the seat itself, but they'd better make that hinge very sturdy!

 

I don't remember which article it was in, but one of the ones I read talked about the seat belts. It mentioned the obvious about not being able to attach it to the B-pillar. They said the seats would have "super-stiff" backs to faclitate being the anchor point. It think that's best, attaching them to the roof just seems like it would be clumsy.

Even though it has the suicide doors, I'm assuming you may still have to fold the front seat forward for full access to the rear. Is that true, has anyone seen how this is done? It would be great if people could get in the back seats without the driver having to get out, I just don't know if there is that much room.

As for the five point belts, it would be fine with me if they offered them as an option, but I wouldn't get them. The car is going to be a daily driver for me and I wouldn't want the extra hassle.

 

i voted yes to have them as an option for the racers but mine is going to be a daily driver so i wont be getting them

 

screw that, 5 point belts suck. Unless you are going to race then why have them? If you are going to get a 5 point belt you might as well ride around with a neck harness and a helmet everwhere you go. It's rediculous to have that on a passenger vehicle.