Data from a national sample interviewed in early 1965 show that a third of the car owners reported seat belts in their cars, and a third of those who did have seat belts claimed that they used them all the time. The crucial factor associated with having and using seat belts is formal education, not age. Using seat belts is associated with other forms of risk-avoidance behavior, but not with verbally expressed desire for security on the job (common among the uneducated with insecure jobs). It is associated with actual use of other new products, but not with verbal attitudes toward new products.