Off-road 4 point harness - safe with pacemaker?

Hi, we do a lot of off-roading in our UTV (side by side). I am curious if anyone has had the 4 or 5 point harness seatbelts cause any problem with dislodging a pacemaker or leads from the box? It seems that there would be a lot of pressure over the area. We have not yet been out since recent placement, sub-dermal.


3 Comments

seat belt pad

by Skeet - 2018-09-26 14:22:29

chesk out softtouchinfo.com these pads worked really well for me.

seat belt pad - wide enough?

by tym4zin - 2018-09-26 14:38:37

I was looking at those Soft Touch pads. I have sent an email to them. Is it wide enough to go around the 4 point harness strap/pad? And you have never had any issue with the hard bumps and going over whoops? 

hmmm

by dwelch - 2018-09-28 00:48:44

I was not happy with my softtouch when I got it, for everyday driving it didnt help.

I have taken a pretty good hit on a pacer flat padded hit but it was a good hit and nothing happened.  You probably want some padding and it may hurt more you than the device.  Not in any way going to say this is safe or not safe.  You certainly arent the first one to wear a seat belt, tight or not.  

your skin/body is certainly more delicate than the pacer/leads.  you can see from pictures of your device or others where the leads are inserted and held in buy screws are not that far under the surface assuming yours is in the typical place in the shoulder.  your seatbelt is going to be flat on that area and not going to necessarily cause the right torque on that connection to tweak the lead.  but you never know.

you could easily IMO create something like the soft touch with even hand towels or facecloths, something over the shoulder but not on the device causing the belt from the top to be not on the device, and as needed something under the device as well, maybe sewn into a jacket or something to keep it all in place.  

I would certainly be worried about the soft touch in that if it moves or the U shaped support area is on top of the top of the pacer or pressing on the leads but not pressing on the pacer you might get damage to the leads or connection.  You essentailly want something like that device, using that kind of rubbery material but a few inches of it above and below the device not just an inch or less IMO...the softtouch solution would have to be perfectly centered over your device all the time.  maybe dont put it on the belt, duct tape it to your skin.  I felt the thing was too small and didnt give a wide enough free air space as they call it.  would be happy to buy one again if it had a wider surface that touches the body above and belon and a taller free air space.  for day to day driving.  I would worry about it moving into a bad space for off roading though.

You are certainly not the first one.  Folks carrying backpacks for hiking and such should have simiar problems, granted a good bump offroad is a harder hit than a backpack would give but otherwise you have the pressure on the device problem.  can use just general padding, (towels, etc) to spread and cushion the load putting less strain on the device and no single point of higher pressure, or try to make a void with something above and below so that there is no pressure on the device or the leads immediately above or below.  Hopefully some other folks with direct experience with this will post an answer.  

 

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