Recently Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Based on Independent Subspaces (MDOIS), an MDO (multidisciplinary design optimization) algorithm, has been proposed. In this research, an MDO problem is defined for design of a belt integrated seat considering crashworthiness, and MDOIS is applied to solve the problem. The crash model consists of an airbag, a belt integrated seat (BIS), an energy absorbing steering system, and a safety belt. It is found that the current design problem has two disciplines - structural nonlin- ear analysis and occupant analysis. The interdisciplinary relationship between the disciplines is identified and is addressed in the system analysis step in MDOIS. Interdisciplinary variables are belt load and stiffness of the seat, which are determined in system analysis step. The belt load is passed to the structural analysis subspace and stiffness of the seat back frame to the occupant analysis subspace. Determined design vari- ables in each subspace are passed to the system analysis step. In this way, the design process iterates until the convergence criterion is satisfied. As a result of the design, the weight of the BIS and Head Injury Crite- rion (HIC) of an occupant are reduced with specified constraints satisfied at the same time. Since the system analysis cannot be formulated in an explicit form in the current example, an optimization problem is formu - lated to solve the system analysis. The results from MDOIS are discussed.