The thing I find with blogs is that my nature of their frivility, the core thought and in-turn conclusion [something that in print is a norm] is often discarded; leaving the reader to wonder if blog writer felt that the experiences they were writing about enhanced their life or had a negative impact - i.e: was a conclusion reached.
You mention that the seatbelts provided pretty much a ‘turn-key’ solution [excuse the pun] to your predicament but then identified the Saab as having a flaw - in writing I hope to clear up this issue. I understand that to ‘blog’ is to in effect write a diary which by defualt can be a rambling set of thoughts but with writing comes responsibility to be as clear as possible - one thought is did the journey companion not have two well tested hold-all’s -the hands? Rendering the problem human not as you imply technical on the part of the Saab.

Craig, you’re right. On this occassion the human hold-alls would have done the trick pretty well. On occassions where there is no campanion though your solution could get me banned from driving. I think the problem is technical, not human.

To clear up your other point – the conclusion – the experience was life enhancing. I enjoyed the seat belt solution. It worked ok, and the bottles looked cute. I can’t see it featuring in the new Saab brochure though, alongside the boot-mounted snowboard rack.