The phenomenon of submarining is of major interest in the design and optimization of restraint systems. A biofidelic finite element human body model can be more useful for investigating this phenomenon than the existing dummy. For the validation of finite element human body models, belt pull tests were performed to characterize thoracic and abdominal regions of the PMHS, and the 50%tile male Hybrid III dummy was tested for comparison with the PMHS. The spines of subjects were rigidly mounted to a test fixture through a mounting system to minimize the influence of the spinal motion during the test. The pelvis of the subjects were positioned close to the normal driving posture, but the torso angle was more reclined than the average driving posture due to the difficulty of adjusting the torso angle during the mounting process. This torso angle led to the belt being positioned more rearward with respect to anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) in the longitudinal direction. The subjects were loaded under lap belt only configurations with two levels of load limits, 1 kN and 3 kN. The lap belt was positioned in various vertical offsets with respect to ASIS and belt angles. The vertical offset of the belt from ASIS was determined based on volunteer test data. Belt pulling distance, belt cable force, spine reaction force, and belt kinematics were documented for the human body model validation. During the lap belt tests, both belt sliding over the pelvis and belt staying in front of the pelvis were observed, and a large amount of abdominal compression was observed during the submarining cases. After finishing the test series, autopsies were performed on the PMHS, and both PMHS showed no injuries in the abdominal region. One of the PMHS also showed a pelvic fracture at the iliac crest, but the PMHS had a pre-existing healed pelvic fracture at the same location. It was believed that this pre-existing fracture had not healed completely prior to death. Note that its ASIS region was intact so it should not have affected the occurrence of the submarining-like belt kinematics. Although only two PMHS were tested, the biomechanical responses collected through the belt pull test can be used to validate the computational human body model for further investigation on the submarining phenomenon.