Whether your car has racing bucket seats, luxury leather interiors, or durable fabric seats designed to withstand your dog, there’s a seat belt feature that many cars have in common. On all seat belts except the driver’s, there’s a fabric loop just by the buckle. The driver’s seat belt has no loop, but rather a small button just below the buckle. The fabric loop on seat belts is called an energy management loop, and it's designed to rip under intense stress. By ripping, it can cushion the blow of a collision by a few inches and help keep the passenger safe. If you have the misfortune of being involved in a crash, the loop will rip open. That gives you a few more inches of seat belt to work with, lessening the impact, which stops your seat belt from ripping and prevents injuries to you as well. The driver’s side seat belt doesn't have a loop because when the car is moving, it's always supposed to be buckled in, so there’s no point preventing it from hitting the side of the car.
