Use of Seat Belts

Your Dec. 4 article on the use of and resistance to seat belts mentions that “small women particularly complain of the shoulder harness cutting across their neck.” Any car company whose seat belt designers (none of whom, presumably, are small) eliminate this source of great discomfort to small people, whatever their gender, would certainly get my business (I am 5 feet, 2 inches tall) and, again presumably, that of thousands of others whose annoyance with the belt is compounded by anger at having paid a substantial sum of money for a car that, however splendid its other features, never provides us with a comfortable ride. Get it?

CAROL EASTON

Venice

* You write that seat belt advocates who argue for mandatory seat belt laws reject the “libertarian stance” because “the decision to not buckle up ultimately affects everyone through higher taxes, medical costs and insurance premiums.” What’s next? Mandatory bans on eating high-fat foods? Mandatory sunscreen wearing laws? Just where will this sort of madness end?

DANIEL KIRSNER

Los Angeles