Bongo Fury

Hi - we are just looking to buy our first Bongo and would like either a mid conversion or a full side. We have two children 3 and 4 and wondered if anyone had any information re safety rating of the rear seats in a full side conversion?

Any tips or help very welcome.

You will often find in a full side conversion that the rear nearside belt is left as standard and the female buckle bit is welded or bolted to the frame of the rock and roll bed which in turn is bolted through the floor so this is very sturdy. On the offside [ driver's ] rear this is more problematic as the wardrobe is often in the way.
On my Elite conversion there is a steel bar on inside of wardrobe and the main belt attaches to it , but to a casual observer it looks like it is fixed to the wardrobe. The bar is bolted through floor and roof. Personally i'm not as confident of this arrangement as roof is thin but for children i would think there is not a lot of pressure straining on it. The newer Elite [ and a lot of others ] now anchor top of belts to rock/roll bed but make sure if this arrangement is used that the bed back is high enough otherewise the belt will go across the neck.

If bongo is registered correctly as motor caravan then rear seat belts aren't required by law but particularly with kids you dont want to take chances. I dont know of any conversions where seats are crash tested , maybe someone else can advise.

Unfortunately the only true answer is that you may or may not know the answer until it is too late.

A bit like "How safe is a Nuclear Fall Out Shelter?"

IIRC, Rib seats are crash tested, with prices to prove it!

However, a crash tested seat means nothing if its held down with a couple of self tappers.

Added to that, it appears that the Rib seats are pretty high, and wouldn't fit a Bongo well.

Safety varies greatly as illustrated in this thread http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... eat+safety

click on the link tallbongo has provided and look for post by madmile [ Ed of Celtic motorhomes ]. This describes a lot of what i was saying but in more detail and Ed is a very experienced and well respected converter. His beds sound as safe as you're goung to get and he does some terrific conversions, search on here for Madmile or Celtic motorhomes or visit his website. Many bongo owners have used him and he has an excellent reputation. I don't think he will sell bed only but you are wanting a conversion anyhow so have a look.

Hi again.

Thanks for your help. I think I've just scared myself out of a full side conversion. Am I right in thinking that with a mid or rear conversion the original seats are kept in place so therefore these will have been crash tested?

mountainmummy wrote:Hi again.

Thanks for your help. I think I've just scared myself out of a full side conversion. Am I right in thinking that with a mid or rear conversion the original seats are kept in place so therefore these will have been crash tested?

It varies from conversion to conversion, but in principal yes. The other thing I would advise is to take your child seats along with you when you are looking at the vans, since any cut down or narrower seats may prove difficult to fit both seats side by side. (my apologies if that sounds blindingly obvious)

Hi - thanks for your help

Will make sure we take the car seats!

We're going to visit Campers Scotland so hopefully this will enable us to get a better idea of what we need. Just wish we'd done this sooner so we could have made use of the unusually good weather we've had!

mountainmummy wrote:Hi again.

Thanks for your help. I think I've just scared myself out of a full side conversion. Am I right in thinking that with a mid or rear conversion the original seats are kept in place so therefore these will have been crash tested?

If the seats are original and the belts have not been messed about with you should still have the full Mazda safety testing.

If someone has "modified" anything your guess is as good as mine.

And that "modification" will need to be revealed to your insurer.

have a search for threads about the conversion that I did for 'DYDO' -she was my Bongo before I emigrated. I ha a narrow mid conversion that was custom made and didn't mean changing the back seats at all Safe as houses (or bongos).

This is exactly why we had a rear conversion installed, with the seats still facing forwards:



You then keep the original middle seats and belts (and the uneven bed ).

(Note the sneaky gate leg extension to the bench seats for the little 'uns )

Darron