# A Review of Seatbelt Technologies and Their Role in Vehicle Safety
## 3 Results
### Citation Network Analysis  
To improve the visualization and analysis of relationships between the citations in research articles, a citation mapping of articles indexed in Scopus, WoS, and SAE (the Society of Automotive Engineers) was performed. This method effectively highlights the networks and connections between cited works, making it valuable for identifying research trends, mapping academic impact, and exploring scholarly influence. Figure 4 displays a pie chart illustrating the percentage distribution of the identified papers based on their type (journal, conference, or proceedings). After the screening process, journal articles account for 69% of the total papers analyzed. Figure 4: Percentage distribution of the papers considered in this review. Figure 5 showcases the network visualization of keyword co-occurrence, generated using VOSviewer v1.6.20 tool [11]. A total of 74 author keywords appear more than 5 times. The top three keywords are \"safety\", \"active safety\", and \"autonomous vehicle\". Figure 6 illustrates the number of citations for each author-provided keyword. Papers containing the keywords \"safety\", \"active safety\", \"injury\", \"kinematics\", and \"seatbelt\" have the highest overall citation counts. Figure 6: Network visualization of the keywords provided by the author and the number of citations. The keywords were chosen based on their prevalence and relevance across multiple domains, including scientific literature, industry documentation, and policy reports. For example, the term \"seatbelt\" was selected over the variant \"seat belt\" due to its more frequent usage not only in academic publications but also in the automotive and medical sectors, where consistency in terminology is critical for indexing and retrieval. As a primary restraint system, seatbetts are designed to reduce the risk of severe injuries by keeping passengers securely positioned and distributing impact forces across stronger body parts. Their effectiveness is improved by various components, including webbing, retractors, buckles, pretensioners, and load limiters, all working together to ensure optimal protection. The components of a three-point seatbelt system are as follows: the webbing, made from woven nylon fibers, ensures strength and flexibility; the buckle, which allows the belt to be fastened and released in the latch; the locking system or latch, securing the buckle in place; the retractor, a mechanism that keeps the belt tight, allows free movement under normal conditions and locks the webbing in place in certain situations when deceleration or belt extension speed exceed specific thresholds; the anchor points, which are the parts through which the seatbelt is attached to the vehicle structure. In addition to the components mentioned, the need to improve occupant protection has led to the integration of pretension systems and load limiters into seatbells, significantly improving passenger safety during collisions. The markings present on a seatbelt, following Regulation No. 16 of the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations (UN/ECE), are uniform provisions concerning the approval of safety belts, restraint systems, child restraint systems, and Isofix child restraint systems for occupants of power-driven vehicles. Vehicles equipped with safety belts, restraint systems, child restraint systems, and Isofix child restraint systems (OJ L 313 30 November 2007, p. 58, ELI: [[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2007/16](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2007/16)]([https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2007/16](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2007/16))(2)/oj, accessed on 12 February 2025) [12] provide information about the type of components they consist of, as illustrated in Figure 7.  
By examining the marked area in the figure, the following characteristics can be distinguished:  
* A--Three-point seatbelt. * B--Two-point seatbelt (lap belt only). * Z--Special seatbelt. * e--Presence of a load-limiting mechanism in the belt. * r--Presence of a retractor mechanism in the belt.