Hey Guys I am new to the forum. I have the schroth 2 inch hans belts and a kirkey intermedite road race. When I sit in the car with my belts tightend properly it seems like when i pull my head forward like it would in a crash the belts slide on top of the hans device and I am able to pull my head and the device forward. The angles are correct to the best of my knowledge. Is something wrong or is this the design of the hans?
Hans Device Slippage
Ranger
#2
Not exactly sure what “pull my head forward” means. In an impact your torso attempts to go forward. The neck will attempt to elongate and and your head will also rotate such that your chin drops. Your HANS should limit both motions. If there’s not enough limitation maybe you need to tighten your harness straps. Most folks use a sliding HANS strap that can’t be tightened, but if yours isn’t the slider, than tightening your HANS strap is worth trying too.
When you are tightening your harness, if you can breathe, it’s too loose. Saved my life a couple yrs ago.
ChrisAllen
#3
Pull my head forward as in just forcing my helmet and trying to hit in on the steering wheel I guess is the best way to describe it. When I do the shoulder straps slide on the surface of the hans and then when I sit up straight the hans has moved forward under the harness. I do have a tether on the hans though so i can turn my head
Ranger
#4
Sounds like your harness isn’t tight enough.
Don’t sit back and force your head forward. Imagine your torso thrown forward so hard your straps are tight as bowstrings and stretching under the momentary strain. Then imagine your head trying to go even farther forward. Not so much rotate with the chin going down, but honest neck elongation head forward.
With your straps super tight as above your HANS should not be able to slip. Encouraging your HANS to slip without your straps being super tight is a bad test.
ctbimmer
#5
The HANS will move fore and aft a certain amount until the front of it bottoms out on your chest. Sounds like normal function to me.
FARTBREF
#6
Ranger is not exaggerating about how tight the belts need to be…I went in the pits during the SCCA 13 hour because I was not happy with the belts, hard to drive fast thinking about a loose belt. Look closely at the routing and make sure there is nothing preventing the belts from being as tight as possible. I have lost 15 lbs in the last year and may have to change belts/seat as the distance from the latch to the adjuster is too much. Once you are sure the belts are as tight as they should be then you can start fiddling with the HANS…
Al
Ranger
#7
That reminds me…for guys that are relatively thin that adjuster to latch distance becomes an issue. The problem is that the adjuster can end up right in the seat hole or worse, outside of the seat.
In order to beat this I switched to Schroth belts 5yrs ago because you can get the adjuster really close to the latch. That puts the adjuster inside the seat where I can get to it.
cwbaader
#8
All belts need to be very tight to start the session. I generally tighten my shoulder belts after a couple of laps just to be sure. HANS movement is normal. All belts are designed to stretch in a crash…the theory is to slowly decelerate the body/head to prevent injury. That is why you should always discard belts that have been in a crash!!!
cheapthrills
#9
[quote=“Ranger” post=74779]That reminds me…for guys that are relatively thin that adjuster to latch distance becomes an issue. The problem is that the adjuster can end up right in the seat hole or worse, outside of the seat.
In order to beat this I switched to Schroth belts 5yrs ago because you can get the adjuster really close to the latch. That puts the adjuster inside the seat where I can get to it.[/quote]
I assume you’re talking about the lap belt. For people with miniscule waists like myself, I find that the latch&link harnesses are actually more comfortable, since the adjusters are built into the buckles. Unfortunately, they are not FIA-approved, so with their 2-year expiration date you wind up paying more money per year. A little extra money spent on staying a lot safer (i.e. I’m more likely to have my harnesses appropriately tight) is definitely worth it.
OP, how did you choose the HANS size/angle? If you have an opportunity for a safety vendor to check out your HANS while you are strapped into your seat, do so. I tried several sizes with an HMS rep before I bought mine and wound up with a different angle than I would have expected.