How can I add more seat belts to my MoHo?

RustyRuss

RustyRuss

Joined
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Runcorn
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MH
Autotrail Apache 632
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Since Sept 2019
Kathryn and I have been discussing taking away Grandchildren/nieces/ nephews/ friends etc in our 4 berth, two seat belt Autotrail 632 Apache 2012 vintage. Has anyone been successful with this yet? How much? What components required? What happens at Mot time? Paperwork?

TIA!!

Cheers!

Kathryn n Russ
 
I should think not without considerable difficulty.

Belted seats need to be attached to a substantial metal framework that is attached directly to the chassis.

Ian
 
It's non starter just not practical on a modern vehicle. Just look at a vehicle with rear seat belts very heavy steelwork is involved that attaches to the chassis. Also I think any mods have to be DVSA approved.
 
Ask Autotrail, it may be a common modification.
 
I believe the 632 has side benches.
So not possible...

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Our van has 6 berths and 4 designated belted travel seats (including the driver).

If there are more than 4 of us we take a car as well.

I'm pretty sure that fitting extra seat belts even if possible is not easy to get certified. Seat belt son side seats is a big NO.
 
It would require a lot of work but may be doable if your motorhome has a chassis in the right place for a seatbelt frame to be bolted to, there are these kind of things available and some of the manufactures may be able to fit them for you.

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We had a removable 5th seat with three point seatbelt added to our campervan. It was done by a recognised converter and accepted without any problems by the DVLA. However it was not particularly inexpensive and we intended to use it quite a lot. But it is a way of getting another belted seat.
 
bigtwin said:
I beg to differ; easiest thing is not to take the sprogs. 😉😎🤣

Ian
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You're right, we have a 4 berth and only 2 seat belts, but we've never had overnight guests. 👍👍👍
 
My cab belts are attached to the seats themselves so maybe that's an option for rear seats too.
On the other hand rear facing and side facing seats dont need seat belts Or at least they didn't when I was driving stretch limos.
 
tribalbrit said:
On the other hand rear facing and side facing seats dont need seat belts Or at least they didn't when I was driving stretch limos.
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Law has changed since then....limo has different rules to motorhome 👍
 
Even if not a requirement sitting on a side facing seat without a seatbelt, in a crash would be horrendous.
 
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tribalbrit said:
On the other hand rear facing and side facing seats dont need seat belts Or at least they didn't when I was driving stretch limos.
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I believe children must be in a belted seat, so whilst an adult may be able to travel in an unbelted seat I don't think children can and the OP was saying that he wanted to take his grand kids and there friends away.
 
Only practical way (yes there are workarounds but??) is in an accompanying vehicle unfortunately.
 
Is it legal to have passengers in a trailer eg a toad?
Ps not suggesting it just stirring the pot.
 
the1andonly said:
Is it legal to have passengers in a trailer eg a toad?
Ps not suggesting it just stirring the pot.
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Absolutely not!

(Although I have seen it................)

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When we bought our previous van, a 2007 post-convert Ducato, it had two travel seats in the back. I'm guessing that when it was being 'professionally' converted from a ex-work van to a campervan, they'd replaced the front seats with captains chairs. This left them with a spare standard Fiat van double seat from the front row. So they hacked up the frame in the seat base, added some random angle-iron with booger welds, and then attached it to the floor in the back using coach bolts, failing to hit anything of structural significance. This passed the MOT for many years. I don't know how the paperwork was sorted, but it definitely wasn't type approved!

I always thought the seats moved a bit too much whenever I leaned on them. It was only when I was making some changes to the van that I stripped off the woodwork covering the base and I realised how much of a safety hazard they were. The welds were terrible, the cross-bracing had been cut out to make more storage and the floor visibly flexed with the leverage. So I removed the seat and made a storage unit with a fold-out table in its place.
 
We had a Mazda Bongo that had been converted with 4 traveling seats. The rear rock and roll bed had 2 belts, one using the original fittings but the second belt had been bolted to a 1 inch square box section inside the wardrobe, luckily we never had to test it but I doubt it would have held.
 
Never understood why anyone would make a 'van with 4 berths but only 2 belted seats, always mystified me. Or is it so there's a spare bed for when one of you is drunk/been unfaithful/snores/burnt dinner/forgotten wedding anniversary/...space for your own misdemeanour....!!!

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Conrad J said:
Never understood why anyone would make a 'van with 4 berths but only 2 belted seats, always mystified me. Or is it so there's a spare bed for when one of you is drunk/been unfaithful/snores/burnt dinner/forgotten wedding anniversary/...space for your own misdemeanour....!!!
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The Majority of Autotrails - 2, 4 and even 6 berth, have just 2 Travel Seats (the 4 seat optional layout is not very popular).
Makes perfect sense for a roomy 2-person layout (I have a 4 berth Autotrail with 2 seats and specifically chose that setup)
 
Conrad J said:
Never understood why anyone would make a 'van with 4 berths but only 2 belted seats, always mystified me. Or is it so there's a spare bed for when one of you is drunk/been unfaithful/snores/burnt dinner/forgotten wedding anniversary/...space for your own misdemeanour....!!!
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I think a fair number of families that do this also have the other half bring the car. I don't really understand, you may as well get a caravan.
 
We have an Autotrail excel with 4 travelling seats. Due to weight we don’t consider them and end up taking the car. To much hassle and impractical as we have a drive away awning for kids and with weight being spread over both axle we have awning where the seats meet the floor. If we get another van we won’t be getting driving seats for passengers
 
Guigsy said:
I think a fair number of families that do this also have the other half bring the car. I don't really understand, you may as well get a caravan.
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Perhaps if you don't have the +E on your license and can't tow a caravan?
 
This is an interesting question it is difficult to add more belted seats and as others have said it requires some heavy meter work. I had a 2+0 Lotus Evora, to add 2 seatbelts to the rear is a major strip down to add them to make it a 2+2 so I doubt anyone has gone to the expense of doing so. The easy bit is to remove the rear parcleshelf and add the seats. But why would you want too, if your curious have a look at the Tiff Nedell video at about 2.5 mins in and they are really only suitable for smallish people.

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