The design of this buckle allows it to release if the edge of the belt presses against the side of the buckle, spreading the outer half from the inner half allowing the buckle to release. This happened too many times when I bent over to pick up something.I have a similar belt, the buckle has a release tab on the lower front of the buckle, it does not release inadvertently.I returned this buckle and bought another belt with the release tab style buckle to replace it.You can see the difference in the pictures.