Seats -suspension or not?

[Hesco]

Ever since I saw the first stock car seat installed in a truck, I have been wondering how anyone could ride in one. I understand how well they fit and how securely they hold you in place, but I have not understood how anyone could bear the compressive forces that a suspension seat eliminates. I spoke to a few guys in Charlotte that said they were using high compression foam for seat bottoms. I figured that with the quality of shocks we have today that this must be enough.
In lieu of Matt Gerald's recent injury, i am just asking for thoughts and opinions - should there be any guidelines developed to try and prevent this type of injury from repeating?
Matt's injury (from my understanding (I was not there)) was from the truck "casing" a jump. This would obviously be a "worst" case situation for the driver/seat. Other worst case situations exist also.
Would a different type of seat/foam helped? Are there already guidelines for your weight/required foam thicknes?
Thoughts?

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[movindirt]

Don't know the details of Matt's crash, what type of seat was he using? I know from experience that when the timing of you going up and down in a suspension seat gets 180 out of what the car/ truck is doing it is possible to bottom out the seat. Most agree that it is impossible to properly tighten 5pts in a suspension seat, based on the research that I have done.

I'm with you on needing more guide lines for seating.

[Coastal]

I love my sparco pro2000. I saw this the other day, FIA approved too might be nice for longer races:

http://www.ompracing.it/detail.html?productcode=HC/830

[Coastal]

I have always wondered if it would be possible for a company to design small shock absorber seat mounts.....

Ahem:

I love my sparco pro2000. I saw this the other day, FIA approved too might be nice for longer races:

http://www.ompracing.it/detail.html?productcode=HC/830

[450grl]

Ahem:

Oh...heheh...I didn't quite know what that was.... Very cool!

[Coastal]

Read this....

http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/sho...at+back+injury

[dutchkid77]

in my opinion, the suspension seats that are the standard in off road racing are also the most dangerous, and should be outlawed by any respectable series. aluminum or fiberglass are better, full containment is best... assuming they have proper high-density foam.

suspension style seats are the worst option because they actually magnify forces applied to the driver in a hard crash by allowing the driver to move independently from the vehicle. when you bottom out in a suspension seat, you are still traveling down as your truck/buggy is rebounding back up, compounding the impact.

containment seats transfer forces by contolling movement and dissipating energy to the strongest points of the body. bottoming out is controlled by different levels of foam. solid seats do provide much more feedback... this is very positive overall. it allows better feel of the track and vehicle, and better concentration.

matts example was so extreme, its hard to say if the injury could've been completely avoided with any seat. seat mounting and position, lumbar support, and foam all come into play.

[hoeker]

in my opinion, the suspension seats that are the standard in off road racing are also the most dangerous, and should be outlawed by any respectable series. aluminum or fiberglass are better, full containment is best... assuming they have proper high-density foam.

Agreed. i have had several violent rolls since i traded my suspension seat for an ISP and i know the ISP seat saved me from injury. my most recent was on the same jump Matt hurt himself on at RedBud, my rear suspension broke landing from the jump sending the truck into a high speed barrel roll. i was immobile in my seat and walked away with only a couple bruises and seat belt hickies. the truck was tore up pretty bad and my shoulder supports on my seat bent a little but i was fine. a proper fit full containment seat is the best solution for Short Course safety.

[gwilliamsjr]

I broke my back at Parker a few years ago which sparked a pretty big debate, one that I don't really want to get back in to but after extensive research here is what I have found out. While suspension seats have been tested to absorb huge hits, It is making the assumption that your spine is correctly position in a straight line. There are benchmarks of what the human spine can take when it is correctly positioned, however in our sport, that is very rarely the case in anything other than a tub seat. As you compress in the seat, and your belts loosen, this allows for your spine to become mis-aligned, generally the body hunches forward. When your spine is mis-aligned (think pushing in the side of a stack of soda cans) it is weak and can easily fracture, however when you are in perfect alignement, you may feel shock more, however you are less prone to injury. Another common way to get injured is when your body becomes out of sync with the car, as the car is moving upward, your body is compressing down in the seat, coupled with your spine being mis-aligned and injury can happen by simply driving through whoops. I agree with many of the previous posts that seat position, seatbelts, etc all contribute, and the seat is just one factor. I do know of injuries that have occured in tub seats, however the seat was not mounted to the approved seat mount which allows the mount to crush in the event of a huge impact.

[SF@DERTCO]

Suspension seats are dangerous.. Its been proven (Science). If anyone says otherwise they have no clue what they're talking about.