I too have been rendered startless by one of those interlock things.Not just 70's VW's and Subarus, rubber bumper MG's, Dodge Aspens, all kinds of cars (by federal government mandate, as you pointed out) had a system that required you to buckle the driver's belt (and usually also the passenger's belt, if a passenger was present) to close an electromechanical relay (usually) to pass current from the ignition switch to the starter relay or solenoid. Every one I've ever seen after 5-10 years on the road developed dirty/open contacts in the interlock relay, and had to be jumpered. And the best way to do so is to cut and splice the wiring, IMHO. No flaky spade contact (or whatever kind of contact the relay used) to develop resistance and burn up the connections on some dark evening (ask me how I know that one sometime...
). Maybe it's the Lucas experience coming through
, but for me, solder and heatshrink, the best cure. Just my $0.02 US worth.
That may be why they installed the more complex system.