328 Seatbelts

Passive restraint systems were not mandatory in the USA until around either 1990 or 91. The 328s were out of production by that time.

Best regards,
Dino

 

You're right (1990), but I guess the interesting part of the question, and the part I don't know, is why the Testarossa had those crappy motorized belts prior to 1990.

With the 328, I don't think they could even have fit those belts -- nowhere to put the track in that old body-on-frame design, whereas the 348 is a unit-body car with those wide sills.

It is one of the smaller reasons I passed on the Testarossas and stuck with the 328. Motorized belts and airbags marked the beginning of the nanny age and the end of the sports car era, IMHO.

 

You're not crazy. The first new car I ever bought was a 1988 Dodge Conquest - my present to myself at the time for passing the bar exam. It had that same system and it, too, was also crap. Used to jam up halfway in the track all the time.

 

Hi Robb,

Very few cars had passive restraint systems in the 1980s. Mercedes offered a drivers side air bag as an option in 1985. But it was standard equipment I believe for MB as of 88 (my mothers 89 300E had a driver side airbag). Porsche's first cars to get airbags as standard were the 944s in 1987, then the 964 C4 which came to the US in 1989.

In addition to having serious quality control issues, it was my undstanding that Maserati left the US market after 89 because did not have the funds to make their cars compliant with the passive restraint requirement of 1990.

I am not sure if the first 348s and Mondial Ts had motorized belts. Although the cars were not recieved by dealers until the spring of 1990 the first 348s and Ts brought into the states designated as 1989s (which I thought was to get around the passive restraint issues until the worked out their motorized belts). My Father was called to look at one of the early Mondial Ts that came into the local dealer, and he passed on that car but I don't recall its belt system.

The only thing safety change I'm aware of that was mandatory on all cars in 1986 was the centrally/high mounted 3rd brake light.

Best regards,
Dino

 

... which is good, because when your Biturbo is on fire again you really don't want to be worried about the automatic belts locking up.

FWIW, my educated guess is that NHTSA set a mandatory implementation of 1990, and some makes like Merc wanted to be ahead of the curve. Ferrari knew the 328 was in its twilight years, with the 348 being readied, so didn't bother to try to retrofit passive restraints to this circa. 1975 design.

The TR was early in its life cycle in 1987, so it was likely worth it to alter the design. On the plus side, the TR kept the classic Momo steering wheel as other Ferraris of the era (355, for one) ended up with disgraceful lumpy plastic steering wheel hubs.

 

I had a 1986 Honda Accord which, like my 328, had standard belts. The way Honda handled the passive-restraint rule on later years of that Accord design was to move the upper mounting of the belt from the B-pillar to the upper-rear corner of the door itself! The concept was to leave the belt buckled full-time, and when you opened the door, the belt would move out of the way. In actual practice, everyone I know who had one of those cars simply buckled and unbuckled the belts in the traditional manner.