bucket seats and certs

[shaggz]

hey does anyone know for certain if fixed position bucket seats of a good brand(eg momo sparco etc) can be put into a two door car eg starlet or daihatsu detomaso, that has factory reclinable seats, if i was to put in fixed seats do i need a cert, as far as i can read on ltsa website, it just states seats must be of reputable brand or factory from another car and fit to unmodified seat rails, it doesnt refer to fixed or reclinable, but the guys at on road said they have to be reclinable. any info would be great

[HELBND]

afaik it only has to be reclineable if the rear seats, seatbelts, seatbelt anchorages etc are still in the car. if you want to be able to carry passengers in the back, then yes, you will need reclinables

[Caveman]

AFAIK you just need to register it as a two seater. All the rear seat mounts and seatbelt mounts need to be removed

[HELBND]

There is no need to re register, but everything has to be removed

http://nzhondas.com/phpBB2/registered-as-a-2-seater-vtu48417.html

When I emailed the LTSA about this they said...

I have been advised by our Vehicle Certification Unit (VCU) you can remove the seats if the removal is permanent. It is ok to remove any seat from a vehicle except the drivers seat and so long as the seatbelt for that seat is removed it won't affect the safety inspection (WOF) being issued.

[Distrb]

AFAIK you just need to register it as a two seater. All the rear seat mounts and seatbelt mounts need to be removed

How the heck do you register something as a 2 seater? coz i cannot for the life of me find anything on the rego forms about that under the vehicle type. Sounds like a complete load of heresay and urban myth if you ask me

Having done exactly this, HELBND is on the money. Rear seat passengers must be able to exit the vehicle in the event of an accident (and just generally anytime, but accident is most important)

If you want to use 2 fixed back seats, you can* devise a tilt type mechanisim (like they used to have in the old mini's etc... to allow the seat to be moved in such a way that passengers can exit the vehicle.

Otherwise, you have to have a minimum of 1 reclineable seat...

The only time you need to certify is when you are not using the oem seat anchorages (i.e. the 4 bolts your seat uses to bolt to the chassis) to mount your seat/custom bracket, or if you have moved the seatbelt stalk away from or modified its original anchoring point (i.e. if its been mounted to the seat from factory and you've had to modify the seat rails, or relocate it to a position on the chassis)

*you may be required to have this mod certified or at least checked so that is passable as being safe and well constructed

[pc]

AFAIK you just need to register it as a two seater. All the rear seat mounts and seatbelt mounts need to be removed

How the heck do you register something as a 2 seater? coz i cannot for the life of me find anything on the rego forms about that under the vehicle type. Sounds like a complete load of heresay and urban myth if you ask me

Yep... my thoughts exactly

Register as two seater = Dogs Bollocks.

[wde_bdy]

Register as two seater = Dogs Bollocks.

Not quite. You register as class NA which is good sevice vehicle, to meet the requirements the factory load carrying capacity must be 80kg(??? or was it 68kg, will confirm later) x number of seats x 2. For most passenger vehicles to meet this requires removal or disablement of rear seats, it also then allows all windows to the rear of the front seats to be tinted as dark as you like as long as you have two side mirrors.

Callum

[B1NZ]

If you want to use 2 fixed back seats, you can* devise a tilt type mechanisim (like they used to have in the old mini's etc... to allow the seat to be moved in such a way that passengers can exit the vehicle.

shouldnt be too hard, its called a Hinge

But the minis had 1/2 size seats, ie. no headrests so they could tilt right over, most seats these days would be too big to do that without hitting the roof?

[shaggz]

what if i had fixed position drivers seat and then reclinable front pasangers, does this get around the if i crash the rear people can get out problem
or is it best i phone ltsa tomorow and see what answers i get,

[Distrb]

what if i had fixed position drivers seat and then reclinable front pasangers, does this get around the if i crash the rear people can get out problem
or is it best i phone ltsa tomorow and see what answers i get,

yes it does

shouldnt be too hard, its called a Hinge

But the minis had 1/2 size seats, ie. no headrests so they could tilt right over, most seats these days would be too big to do that without hitting the roof?

Ka pai, a hinge you could use... but like you say the seats these days are too tall, so it needs to be more complex than just a simple hinge

[escortman]

u can have 1 fixed back in a 2 door the other has to be reclinable

[Loudtoy]

what if i had fixed position drivers seat and then reclinable front pasangers, does this get around the if i crash the rear people can get out problem
or is it best i phone ltsa tomorow and see what answers i get,

yes it does

shouldnt be too hard, its called a Hinge

But the minis had 1/2 size seats, ie. no headrests so they could tilt right over, most seats these days would be too big to do that without hitting the roof?

Ka pai, a hinge you could use... but like you say the seats these days are too tall, so it needs to be more complex than just a simple hinge

Didn't the ones in the mini's ock down in place and you had to press a leaver of some kind to stop them rolling forwards, just i have visions of standing on the stop pedal going down a steep hill and giving your passenger a concussion from hitting the dash with his forehead

Oh yeah and all the answers in this thread apart from the re-registering as a two seater thing a correct as far as i can make out

[johntramp]

just i have visions of standing on the stop pedal going down a steep hill and giving your passenger a concussion from hitting the dash with his forehead

iv seen that happen in a truck when the cabin wasn't bolted shut and the driver hit the brakes :lol:

[wde_bdy]

Didn't the ones in the mini's ock down in place and you had to press a leaver of some kind to stop them rolling forwards, just i have visions of standing on the stop pedal going down a steep hill and giving your passenger a concussion from hitting the dash with his forehead

They didn't lock down (well not earlier ones anyway) but the seatbelt should stop it flying forward anyway. Have seen MR2 seats fitted in a mini and adapted to be hinged, was a bit of fiddling around but they did tilt forwad enough to get in the back. Doubt it would work with the lower rooofline of a later model car.

Callum

[Leon]

the Aussie built Mini's had a locker on the back of the seat.

Bloody awful mechanism.

Very simple concept, and very typical of the Mini coming up with astonishing ideas to fix things (for 1959 anyway).

Put a fixed back bucket in your drivers side, and leave the standard seat in the passenger side. Simple solution.

[shaggz]

and to settle the mini set hinge, the aussie built mini's from 1977 had a lock on the hinge that was activiated by a little peddal in the rear, much as a normal two door car is now, but the earlier models the seat jst sat there, as for the euro models all i know is the highback seats(more commonly in the 1275's all had locks as well, i only know this because my first car was an ex'mini 7's car returned to the street and i studied them heaps before i brought it,

thanks everyone i think ill go fixed drivers then recline passangers

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

Steve, if youre planning on turning it into a circuit car, you cant use reclinable seats IIRC.

come check my AE92 out some time
youre overdue for a visit!

[evil_si]

i had 2 fixed back bucket seats in an ae92 for a few years, not certed, never failed a wof. and they way i did the rails, when extended fully forward you could easily get out from the back of the car.

[Lloyd]

LVV certification is not required provided that:

* the seat is either an OE seat from another vehicle or of a known and reputable aftermarket brand, and
- the seat is fitted to unmodified OE seat anchorages, and
- the anchorage or operation of seatbelts is not affected, and
- the relationship between seat, seat occupant, and location of seatbelt anchorages is not affected, and
- the vehicle is not fitted with airbags in that seating position

http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/public ... -v2-1a.pdf

[alastabesta]

How the heck do you register something as a 2 seater? coz i cannot for the life of me find anything on the rego forms about that under the vehicle type. Sounds like a complete load of heresay and urban myth if you ask me

a trip down to the compliance centre and they can do it for you they put my ae111 trueno as a 5 seater at one stage...