Seat belts and rear facing seats

[Rosemundy]

Hello.
Our '97 Bongo was converted to a camper last year with a rear kitchen unit and the middle set of seats reversed - to make make more of a lounge area, which works well.

An issue highlighted when just going through its MOT was that there are no seat belts now for this rear facing set of seats - so for now its officially a two-seater.

Can I ask if anyone has any experience of retro-fitting seat belts (3 point or lap belts) to rear facing seats in the middle of the Bongo?

We are also going to have the seats re-foamed/covered to make them flatter and more comfortable to sleep on. Whereas a garage I've spoken to are ok with this, they are more cautious about the seat belt task.

Thanks
Rosemundy

[wonkanoby]

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... mit=Search

[Simon Jones]

My rear facing seat with no belts has been passing the MOT since 2008 so unless the rules have changed, there should be no problem resulting in an advisory or reason for rejection. You could fit inertia or lap belts but they are not (currently) required as the seat back will prevent the occupants from flying forward in the event of front impact. If you were hit from the rear, that would be a different matter.

This is example of retro-fitted belts fitted directly to the seat:

[janie]

hi. The mot doesnt check whether seat belts are present only that they work(ie. Fasten) if they are there. I have 3 rear facing lap belts and pass the mot every year, no problem.

[Gasy]

Don't think there is a requirement for rear facing seat belts ( might be wrong )
I did get pulled for having kids in the back of me landy ( side seats and the officer made me move them to the front seats with proper belts and me Mrs had to sit in back of a 90
Until he had gone
Think he was having a bad day

[Rosemundy]

OK - Thanks everyone for the replies and links. It's stil as clear as mud but in the end I need it to be safe on the very odd occassion when we carry family in the back.
The MOT station seemed very clear on that if it didn't have belts for the rear seats it could only be registered as a 2 seater - therefore if I dd have an accident with someone in the rear the law / insurance would not be on my side.

There may be simple alternatives but I do like the look of the North Star swivel seat - which would give us the best of both worlds - allowing us to keep the 3 pint belts while its facing forwards: (http://www.northstarconversions.co.uk/8.html)

[Simon Jones]

Unless you carry rear passengers on a regular basis, £450 is a fair whack to pay for the convenience of a swivel seat. Cheaper, but a lot more effort would be to undo 4 bolts and flip the seat round on the rare occasion you need it.

The Northstar swivel seat conversion will not have been crash tested (unlike the Mazda fixed seat) so you could also have problems with insurance should something fail in the event of emergency braking or an accident. That's not in any way doubting the quality and integrity of their workmanship but it's a point to be mindful of with any form of seat conversion or rock and roll bed.

[janie]

Hi again,

In this country you do not officially require seatbelts in rear facing seats....however, like yourself I felt uncomfortable driving people without. So, I have 3 lap belts (which make it legal in Europe as well - you have to have a seat belt in all seats there). As far as the MOT was concerned seatbelts were irrelevant so long as they work if they're fitted. But - and it's a fairly big but, in my opinion is that you are insured for the number of seat belted seats you have not the number of actual seats. I checked this with the camping and caravan club whose website specifically asked 'how many forward facing seat belted seats?' They said it didn't matter if they faced so long as they had seat belts. So. (and sorry if this has been a bit wordy), I can legally carry 6 people, rather than 3.

Jane

[Rosemundy]

OK - I'll take a look at the bolts and the ease / diffculty in turning it round every so often. We also needed the seats to be flattened - one company quoted me £600 for this alone.
So - I'll take in all the insight and have a think.
Thanks

[thevanarchist]

I only have two lapbelts (I have actually removed all 3 point belts entirely in the back) on the reversed middle seats of my rear conversion. It was recently changed by DVLA to a Motor Caravan no problem, and more to the point when the V5 came back saying it was still an 8 seater I sent it back with a covering letter and photos and DVLA has reclassified it as a 4 seater. So I really don't know where your MoT guy got his 2 seater notion from.

[Simon Jones]

Getting the seat flattened was one of the best things we did. I seem to recall it cost the wrong side of £500 but it was done properly by a specialist upholster in Poole (Kevin Baggs). We also got him to do all the other cushions in the same material.



When we bought our new van, it came with the seat already done (also by Kevin) so at least we didn't have to pay out again.

[cmm303]

Simon, what are they like for travelling?
In the photo are your front seats tipped forward and the footrest gap filled?

[Simon Jones]

To be honest, I've never travelled on the seat. When on site, we often sit in the van at night and it's perfectly fine (especially when lounging along it). Probably it would be more comfortable with the original contours for sitting on while traveling but having messed around with inflatable mattresses and the like, we went for the flattest option for sleeping on.

That photo was taken in the old van and we have re-jigged the cushion layout since then, but we push the front seats to the front, tip them forward, flip the foot rest over and then have a cushion on top.

We got new front cushions made that are larger so are a better fit on the footrests that form the bottom end of the bed.

[cmm303]

Thanks Simon.
Definitely food for thought there. We have always fully reclined the front seats and never considered tipping them forward and filling the gap!
Good point about comfort. Our bench seat is also mainly used for camping (sleeping and sitting) and for travelling, has only been used on short journeys.