Can a seatbelt pressed against your neck kill you?

I read something about seatbelts killing kids because it wasn’t used properly. They would often put the seat belt under their arm or behind their back because it was uncomfortable. All these are obvious dangers.
But in a car crash, can the seatbelt itself actually kill anyone just because it is pressed against their neck or under their chin?
Would it kill just children or also short adults?

I don’t know about the current style of seat belts, but the semiautomatic type that was popular around 1990 could certainly kill you. You were supposed to apply the lap belt manually, but the shoulder belt deployed automatically when the door was closed and retracted automatically when the door opened. Unfortunately too many people thought the shoulder belt alone was sufficient and never bothered with the lap belt. Big mistake. In a front-end collision without a lap belt, your butt slides forward on the seat and your head slides down against the shoulder belt. If memory serves, there were a few cases of people being decapitated that way.

Several years ago, I read a couple of articles in a forensic science journal on this topic and saw the photographs. Not a nice way to go. This article may have been one of them: Roh, L. and Fazzalaro, W., “Transection of Trachea Due to Improper Application of Automatic Seat Belt (Submarine Effect),” Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 38, No. 4, 1993, pp. 972-977, https://doi.org/10.1520/JFS13497J. ISSN 0022-1198

From The Onion: Chrysler Halts Production Of Neckbelts :slight_smile:

Another case of trying to protect the stupid from themselves gone horribly wrong.

California passed about that time a mandatory seatbelt law. A couple months after it had taken effect, a reporter from the California Journal stationed himself at the exit to the garage used by legislators and senior staffers and checked for the compliance as they left. It was 50% while public compliance had risen to 80%.

Anything pressed against the neck in the right position with enough pressure has the potential to kill.

In many shorter people the seatbelt is pressed against the neck. Does that mean it will kill them in a sudden crash?
Any crash hard enough can kill anyone regardless, but it’s hard to imagine a seatbelt itself breaking someone’s neck from the front.

I was in a car vs deer accident where the vehicle flipped over. I was hanging upside down for a time. I was held by the lap belt. I don’t remember the shoulder belt being an issue.