seat belts (1 Viewer)

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janandvic

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Does anyone know if seat belts can be installed to the side benches of a Bessacarr E560. As grandparents to a 3 year old we would like to be able take her away now and again.
 

American Dream

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Does anyone know if seat belts can be installed to the side benches of a Bessacarr E560. As grandparents to a 3 year old we would like to be able take her away now and again.

Hi Janandvic,

When you say side benches do you mean they run along the side of the van.

I looked into this for my kids, and it is illegal to fit belts on sidewards mounted seats as, in the event of a collision, they can do much more harm than good.:Sad:

(That's what the MOT man said anyway).

Perhaps Geo can advise?

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Boo

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Coaches have an array of different seating positions and they have to have seatbelts fitted by law.

Boo

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Tinyk

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Coaches have an array of different seating positions and they have to have seatbelts fitted by law.

Boo

They do but you can only have them forwards or backwards not sideways, plus if you fit belts they have to be tested seperatley for strength, not sure about a Motorhome mot but certainly on a coach they have a test all of their own.

In all honesty it would probably be safer to allow the grandchild to travel in the front passenger seat and one of the adults travel in the back though not ideal for anyone.
 

scotjimland

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Does anyone know if seat belts can be installed to the side benches of a Bessacarr E560. As grandparents to a 3 year old we would like to be able take her away now and again.

Hi

I found this information,

Motorhome seat belt regulations explained

After January 2006, the seat belt laws changed for newly manufactured motorhomes. The regulations are now broken down into three categories:

1. Motorhomes manufactured between 1st April 1982 and 30th September 1988 and weighing up to 2,540kg (unladen weight)...

... must have three point safety belts for the driver and specified passenger. Any optional belts can be three point or two point belts.

2. Motorhomes manufactured after 1st October 1988...

... must have seat belts fitted for the driver and any forward facing front passengers. Three point belts are required for the drivers and specified passenger seats. Other front belts may be two point belts if the passengers head cannot strike the windscreen. Any optional rear belts can be two or three point belts.

3. Motorhomes manufactured after Janurary 2006...

... must have at least two point safety belts for all designated seats. Mountings and belts have to conform to European and UK legal requirements (travel seats will need to be badged as such). Rear passengers in motorhomes will be obliged to use the designated seats and their safety belts. Sideways facing seats cannot be designated as travel seats (statistics show that belted side facing seats can be very dangerous in the event of collision).

Motorhome seatbelt regulations

Should you require any additional information, call 08452 77 70 70 to speak to one of our advisors.


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American Dream

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whilst seat belts cannot be fitted to side mounted seats lap belts can. hope that helps.

Would this help with a young child in their own travel seat?

Personally I would rather have the youngster in one of the front seats..as mentioned earlier in this post..But only if it were possible to have the child's travel seat facing backwards and disable the air bag on that side.

Out of interest.Is it legal to travel with the passenger front seat rotated and will the seat belts still work?
 
Mar 30, 2009
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Most seat swivels or rotating plates, whatever you wanna call the jibber that turns your front seats around.... 99% of them are crash test approved to be in the forward facing postition, this is why they will (or at least should) only lock in the forward facing position, to stop people from rotating the seats whilst the vehicle is in motion.

Also, the seat swivels are designed to withstand the force of an impact in the forward facing position. I have seen the results of crash tests on seats swivels in the forward facing position, and it isn't very pretty, so imagining what would happen if the swivel was in a different position would not be a nice thought.

Sorry to be the doom and gloom on all this, but as an added note with all the red tape there is these days, it may invalidate your insurance if anything were to happen whilst your seat is facing the other way.

note: this is from experience with euro motorhomes, i am not sure what the deal is with american RV's.
 
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Terry

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Hi as already said seat belts should be fitted to all forward facing travel seats :thumb: see ScotJimland post for years etc, Side facing seats should only be fitted with lap belts :thumb: and not 3 point ones as these have an effect of garotting :Eeek::Eeek:
Since side seats are not required to have belts fitted if you fit your own then satisfy your self that they have good anchor points to your own satisfaction :thumb:
terry

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oldun

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During a crash the occupants in side facing seats with seat belts of any kind will be subjected to a totally different loading than those in forward or backward facing seats.

Seat belts were not designed for such loading and several sources have quoted that seat belts on sideways facing seats are positively dangerous.

Unfortunately I cannot quote any links - it's just down to my memory.

Also check with your insurance to see if passengers carried in seats without seat belts are covered.

I am not sure about my insurance (safeguard) but they do ask "how many seats with seat belts?"
 

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