Fitting seat belts (1 Viewer)

[Demelza]

The van we are looking at, and this could be the one we buy, does not have seat belts in the back. It's a 1999 model and I believe that it is not compulsory for rear front facing seats to have belts pre-2001. But as we will want to take our two grandchildren with us, we don't want them to be bouncing around in the back. Does anyone know how costly or difficult it might be to have some fitted? The van has a u shaped seating area at the rear so we are thinking that we should fit a couple on the front facing long rear seat. Can anyone advise? Thank you.

 

[darklord]

There are a couple of issues here, one is securing the seatbelt anchorage to a part of the MH that future MOT testers will be happy with. Floor is out, body is out, etc etc, so in thruth, you may be looking at linking to part of the chassis.
you then have No2 problem, how to get the anchorage into the MH without allowing water ingress.
There are seats available for cars, that have the seatbelts attached to them, but the seat is then bolted to a significantly strong part of the floor or a rail, ANY slight signs or rust or weakness near this area, will cause a tester to fail the car.

We looked into this, for the same reasons, and although i am a competant enough mechanical type, with more than enough tools and welding gear etc, we decided not to bother.
We are currently ready to buy, and one of the deciding factors, is the number of seatbelkts in the rear...you will not be surprised to know how much that cuts your choice down. My favourite at the moment, is one with two dinettes, so there are three forward facing seats in the rear, two of them have belts, the thrid, I have investigated has the capacity with a lot of money and a little thought.oh: Good luck.

 

[Demelza]

There are a couple of issues here, one is securing the seatbelt anchorage to a part of the MH that future MOT testers will be happy with. Floor is out, body is out, etc etc, so in thruth, you may be looking at linking to part of the chassis.
you then have No2 problem, how to get the anchorage into the MH without allowing water ingress.
There are seats available for cars, that have the seatbelts attached to them, but the seat is then bolted to a significantly strong part of the floor or a rail, ANY slight signs or rust or weakness near this area, will cause a tester to fail the car.

We looked into this, for the same reasons, and although i am a competant enough mechanical type, with more than enough tools and welding gear etc, we decided not to bother.
We are currently ready to buy, and one of the deciding factors, is the number of seatbelkts in the rear...you will not be surprised to know how much that cuts your choice down. My favourite at the moment, is one with two dinettes, so there are three forward facing seats in the rear, two of them have belts, the thrid, I have investigated has the capacity with a lot of money and a little thought.oh: Good luck.

Thanks very much for your reply. It's looking like we are back to the drawing board again. We had liked the idea of that U shaped lounge because it gives a good sized bed but obviously it's not going to be for us! Good luck with your search too. Hope you find what you want.

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[Geo]

There are a couple of issues here, one is securing the seatbelt anchorage to a part of the MH that future MOT testers will be happy with. Floor is out, body is out, etc etc, so in thruth, you may be looking at linking to part of the chassis.
you then have No2 problem, how to get the anchorage into the MH without allowing water ingress.
There are seats available for cars, that have the seatbelts attached to them, but the seat is then bolted to a significantly strong part of the floor or a rail, ANY slight signs or rust or weakness near this area, will cause a tester to fail the car.

We looked into this, for the same reasons, and although i am a competant enough mechanical type, with more than enough tools and welding gear etc, we decided not to bother.
We are currently ready to buy, and one of the deciding factors, is the number of seatbelkts in the rear...you will not be surprised to know how much that cuts your choice down. My favourite at the moment, is one with two dinettes, so there are three forward facing seats in the rear, two of them have belts, the thrid, I have investigated has the capacity with a lot of money and a little thought.oh: Good luck.

Why is that?

 

[Demelza]

Why is that?

Hello Geo I'm interested to know why you have questioned that? Do you think it's possible then?

 

[Geo]

Yes anything is possible with a bit of imagination and a will to do it
An awfull lot is said about seat belt mounts what and where to anchor them I cant think of many vehicles where the mount is part of the chassis most modern cars use the bodywork at one point or another
30+ years in the motortrade and MoT testing has taught me just how flimsey some mounting points actualy are
Even a large 1.5 inch washer under a standard floor pan would take that much force to pull through. you would almost certainly be dead from the inertia involved
I am NOT advocating 1.5 inch washers but you get the drift
A simple reinforcing spreader plate is all thats reqd, the rest is nuts and bolts
The danger is when a complet novice attemps to fit his own belts, I have seen them bolted through cupboard units, the units themselves are retained by a few self tapping screws.
During repairs of rotten timber walls inan a class recently i was horrified to see the manufacturers belt mounting was no more than the timber framing inside the wall area a very ipressive aluminium plate was in full view but only six wood screws attatched that to the timber
In Motor Sport I spent 20+ years as a National Scrutineer and have seen many crashes and roll overs
I my self have corkscrewd 15 foot in the air and nosed dived at about 60 Mph my seat belt in that car was self installed wit 1.75" square plates and a bolt through the mini's floor pan
And im still here to tell you about it
Find a good local vehicle repair shop and let them have a look, listen to what there telling you and get back and tell us
Ps the belt trough the cupboard was an MoT pass
all I have to do is make sure I cant pull it out with a slight tugoh:
Geo

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[Demelza]

Yes anything is possible with a bit of imagination and a will to do it
An awfull lot is said about seat belt mounts what and where to anchor them I cant think of many vehicles where the mount is part of the chassis most modern cars use the bodywork at one point or another
30+ years in the motortrade and MoT testing has taught me just how flimsey some mounting points actualy are
Even a large 1.5 inch washer under a standard floor pan would take that much force to pull through. you would almost certainly be dead from the inertia involved
I am NOT advocating 1.5 inch washers but you get the drift
A simple reinforcing spreader plate is all thats reqd, the rest is nuts and bolts
The danger is when a complet novice attemps to fit his own belts, I have seen them bolted through cupboard units, the units themselves are retained by a few self tapping screws.
During repairs of rotten timber walls inan a class recently i was horrified to see the manufacturers belt mounting was no more than the timber framing inside the wall area a very ipressive aluminium plate was in full view but only six wood screws attatched that to the timber
In Motor Sport I spent 20+ years as a National Scrutineer and have seen many crashes and roll overs
I my self have corkscrewd 15 foot in the air and nosed dived at about 60 Mph my seat belt in that car was self installed wit 1.75" square plates and a bolt through the mini's floor pan
And im still here to tell you about it
Find a good local vehicle repair shop and let them have a look, listen to what there telling you and get back and tell us
Ps the belt trough the cupboard was an MoT pass
all I have to do is make sure I cant pull it out with a slight tugoh:
Geo

Thanks a lot for that. Really useful. We need to do a bit more research and see what the possibilities are. The van is an Autoroller 70 1.9 TD. Even though we've had reservations about the engine on hills etc, we feel happier about that now we've done a bit of research. This is our first time and this van seems OK in every other way. TBH we should have thought about the seat belt issue straight away. We'll plod on and let you know the outcome. Once again thanks.

 

[Touchwood]

We too wanted a rear lounge with set belts - our Compass Avantgarde has two lap belts on the forward facing rear lounge seat - I'm sure there are many other vans with this arrangement, so don't give up on a rear lounge just yet.

 

[Terry]

Hi check out my other van in the garage on here (iveco coach built Link Removed) I installed 2 seat-belts in the forward dinning area seats :thumb:I intended to bolt them through the floor but as it turned out when I stripped it down the original converter had made the seats with 1 1/2ins steel framing which made the job a lot easier :thumb:About 2 hours to fit both 3 point belts from a scrappy :thumb:It is your van and as such you can fit what you like :thumb:Just make sure you are happy with how and what is fitted
terry