“Cars should be designed so it’s easier to put a seatbelt on if you’re obese,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Dietrich Jehle, told Reuters Health. “It’s very important to increase seatbelt use in heavier individuals to best prevent deaths on the highways,” said Jehle, who is director of emergency services at Erie County Medical Center and vice chairman of Emergency Medicine at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Some automakers provide larger belts or extenders, Jehle said, but heavier people frequently struggle to fasten their belts, feel squeezed once strapped in and drive unbelted. An earlier study found that individuals considered morbidly obese were 56 percent more likely to die in vehicle crashes than people of normal weight.