System and method for preventing vehicle from starting when safety belt is not engaged

Abstract

A system and method for improving usage of safety belts during operation of vehicles by preventing them from starting when the belts are not engaged. A vehicle includes an onboard computer, a safety belt monitoring system, seats, and safety belts, and the system includes a connector and a hand-held unit. The connector allows for communicating with the computer, and the hand-held unit allows for communicating with the computer via the connector in order to program the computer to require both entry of a code and engagement of the belts of some or all occupied seats, as determined by the safety belt monitoring system, before allowing the vehicle to start. The hand-held unit may also allow for programming the onboard computer to require that the code be re-entered before allowing the vehicle to start again if a belt is disengaged during operation and the transmission is not in “park” or “neutral”.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.