What are your thoughts on seat belts and rollover bars on indoor rentals, electric kind?
2 schools of thought on this - increased driver safety vs a customer perception that the kart can easily rollover if it has to have roll bars.
I mean, if they’re not mandated by local legislation, you still would like to see them or you’d rather not?
I’m in the not camp - appreciate your thoughts
I don’t assume anything about the karts with seatbelts and roll bars. I have driven good CRG karts that had these at Gopro and OKC.
It’s actually useful safety equipment and people are dumb as paste (myself included) so I’d be ok with that.
I’d prefer not, assuming it’s a racing league. If I’m hopping into an open rental session with regular folk, yes please.
Sorry to give a wishy-washy answer.
I personally as a customer could care less… But thinking about your business you will probably find that they will help with perception.
My rentals don’t have roll over bars, but they are also not electric (100lbs lighter), or running indoors, or running on pavement.
So for your fleet, I’d run them. A racer might scoff at them, but they will still give you their money 
GoPro is a good example here. On the other hand not having them might turn some away.
Are they necessary? Do karts routinely roll over? Will your insurance require them?
If not, then no.
We’ve already done too much in the name of safety to screw up the survival of the fittest (or smartest). Look what that has produced!
The advice I got from Sodi was not to have them unless it’s mandated. The karts weigh 145 kg plus driver, the weight is low and at the sides (batteries). To roll one is nigh on impossible. Just wanted ur opinions, I’m still on the fence!
On thé kid karts yes 100%
Hehe I saw a kid flip a rollbar 400+ lbs electric at RPM in Jersey City. It is possible!
To be fair he pretty much pinned it into the barriers. Big crash.
Jim Hall shared with me his worst crash at the Ventura Counry fairgrounds. A pilot did not brake at EOS. Proceeded to hit barriers. Kept going, hit kerb, which caused her to get air and go over a fence and crash in parking lot.
That’s 3 chances to brake, missed. Some folks have odd panic reaction (floor it).
Here’s a Derp moment from the internet:
It’s kinda insane what passes for kart tracks when it comes to insurance at times. Hitting solid barriers is fine, but soft snowbanks is not apparently
(OK I’m a little bitter here)
Holy mother of………you do see some crazies that’s a very good point
Might be a case of the devil you know. Perhaps the insurance companies have zero data on karts crashing into snowbanks and as such can’t underwrite a risk they can’t quantify?
But yeah. Snow is soft.
Given that we are talking about Khazakstan here which most likely has a very different legal climate than the USA, I’d tend to go standard. The USA seems uniquely litigious globally. European countries, I am told, have much less lawsuits like this.
I think that’s 100% fair.
I would go with the belts in most cases.
I get where you are coming from on this, even though you get the “THESE ARE NOT BUMPER CARS” speech with rental karts people have other ideas for what is fun. Plus rentals don’t usually have the most supportive seats so something that helps hold me in place is welcome over flopping around.
That’s true! The seats are typically harnesses that are 3-4 point so they do keep you in place.
I would be more concerned about run-over than roll-over. Even with the tire guards, I have seen rental karts drive over one another and a rear hoop can protect the driver some.
I’m erring towards having them, the roll over does provide good neck support aldd soo for when you get rear ended.
Good point, the few tracks I have been to that do not use the roll-over bar require neck collars (assuming for that reason).
I’m not sure this thought this a real consideration/danger, but how are the belts at holding the driver in place, and how easy will it be to ensure they are on properly for every session for every customer? If the belts are good, and proper use can be assured, then they sound OK, but if not, it seems like in an inversion the roll hoop could become an unintended weapon that could crush a flailing limb or more important body part.
Reality is, like any harness, they need to be cranked down. I crank it tight, but I am guessing loosey-goosey is standard. Which would be useless. It is mainly concession karting folk using these and they wouldn’t really think about it.
Running Sodi karts I wouldn’t put them on if you have an option. I’ve worked at a couple rental facilities and I’ve only seen one kart flip in 4 years. The weight is low enough and they aren’t going fast enough, so you really have to try to get those things even on two wheels, much less upside down.
I would think as a business owner, Insurance Regulations and variances in cost would dictate having them or not more than anything else. The U.S. is pretty strict in this regard, but Kazakhstan may not be. I know many electric karts have remote governors that can restrict an individual kart or the entire group if someone is acting foolish or there is an on track incident that requires the entire field to slow down. Not sure if they are sophisticated enough yet to slow the karts only in a yellow flagged corner versus all over the track, but the tech is getting better.
Yes they are. You can set an auto yellow flag to slow karts approaching an incident and auto green flag them after they pass it. Not just slowing the karts but running the lights also.
You can slow a misbehaving driver, slow the entire field, even set certain sections of track to auto slow the karts - such as pit entry and area.