Shoulder belt options for 2nd/3rd row bench seat?

"CyborgAdaLovelace" (cyborgadalovelace) 04/16/2016 at 22:21 • Filed to: seat belts, roadmaster

1

19

I have this lovely ‘94 Roadmaster Estate that I acquired a few months back. The goal here is to make this the family hauler (current family hauler is a ‘94 Grand Caravan with 206k on the clock and a transmission that will probably be crapping out soon). Here’s the issue: I have 3 children who will be turning 7, 4 and 4 this month. Currently, the 7-year-old is in a booster seat with a back. The twins are still in the toddler-type seats with 5-point harnesses, but they are outgrowing them. One of them can maybe last a little bit longer, but I’d prefer to switch them all out to booster seats soon.

So the Roadmaster has a bench in the 2nd row, shoulder belts on the outside, lap belt on the inside. The rear-facing 3rd row has 2 lap belts. Ignoring the fact that I spent most of my childhood riding in the 3rd row of an 80's Caprice Estate with only a lap belt and I’m still alive, I would like to have shoulder belts on all seats if possible.

The best option I’ve been able to find is this: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Mounting should be relatively straightforward, as I’d be drilling one additional hole for each seating position (and those holes would not be going into the gas tank as I initially feared, so there’s that).

Any thoughts? Any better options? Any reason why this is a dumb idea? Thanks!

slipperysallylikespenguins > CyborgAdaLovelace 04/16/2016 at 22:31

2

As someone who has a 95 Caprice Wagon I applaud you for having one as a family hauler. However I am also the sort who grew up in the back of a Volvo wagon and single cab trucks and am still alive. If you are that concerned about safety maybe look at buying something with the proper integrated seat belts and sensors and a dozen airbags.

AMC/Renauledge > CyborgAdaLovelace 04/16/2016 at 22:39

2

I know the GM full-size vans now have center occupant shoulder belts. I bet you could make those work.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > CyborgAdaLovelace 04/16/2016 at 22:57

3

Cage it and put in 6-point harnesses all around. Wrist tethers are also great for keeping kids out of mischief.

Kidding aside, those four-points look weird, and I’m not sure how effective they’d be, I can see a kid slipping through them pretty easily.

Most vehicles with benches now have three-point harnesses. It likely wouldn't be too difficult to adapt one from a sedan or mini-van. Some might even have the belts integrated in the seat, so you'd just need to swap the seat.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > CyborgAdaLovelace 04/16/2016 at 23:03

1

i grew up riding in the back of a ford taurus station wagon and im fine so dont worry about it

CyborgAdaLovelace > slipperysallylikespenguins 04/16/2016 at 23:12

0

I kind of feel like there might be a middle ground between no shoulder belts and buying a whole new vehicle. I don’t feel like the Roadmaster is somehow a deathtrap for anyone without a shoulder belt, but if I can add shoulder belts for a couple hundred bucks and a weekend, why wouldn’t I?

CyborgAdaLovelace > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 04/16/2016 at 23:17

1

Ha, I like the way you think!

One thing that maybe I should have clarified is that these would be used (at least initially) with full-back booster seats which have routing thingies for shoulder belts, so that would presumably help with keeping the everything in place and preventing slipping out. That being said, I don’t necessarily disagree with you, but I haven’t found an option that looks better.

A full seat swap is unlikely - the seat-backs fold down for extra cargo space and they’re anchored more to the sides of the car, so it’s not just a seat bolted to the floor.

CyborgAdaLovelace > AMC/Renauledge 04/16/2016 at 23:18

0

That’s a thought - I’ll look into it

CyborgAdaLovelace > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 04/16/2016 at 23:20

0

I’m not exactly losing sleep over it - I’m still here too. But it’s also not like shoulder belts don’t have a significant value, so if it’s feasible, I’d like to do it.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > CyborgAdaLovelace 04/16/2016 at 23:32

1

yea i just think the effort may not be worth it since the car isnt worth that much

slipperysallylikespenguins > CyborgAdaLovelace 04/16/2016 at 23:35

1

I was mostly exaggeraating. The B Body wagons feel like the safest thing GM built in the nineties when you are driving them though. I’m just not sure how well that 4 point harness you linked to would work on a young child. It would be nice if it had more pictures online. I also don’t like the idea of running bolts through the cargo floor. The upside though is that its cheap enough that it is worth a try and it says its federally approved.

Disclaimer: I do not have children and I do not like children, so my opinion on their safety if pretty much useless.

CyborgAdaLovelace > slipperysallylikespenguins 04/16/2016 at 23:45

0

Yeah, I’m not 100% sold on the harness that I linked to, it just seems like the best option that I’ve been able to find so far. As far as the bolting it to the floor, that’s basically how the factory belts are attached, so I don’t really see a problem there. At this point, I’m kind of feeling that I’ll order one for the 2nd row, see how it works, and if I’m happy, do the 3rd row. Worst case scenario, I go back to the factory lap belt and have a (another) hole in my car.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 04/17/2016 at 00:52

2

We layed on the floor of our Caravan in the 90s. Now I have a four year old God-child that needs a booster seat? Get fucking real, people!

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > slipperysallylikespenguins 04/17/2016 at 00:54

0

What are these “aired bags” you speak of?

slipperysallylikespenguins > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 04/17/2016 at 02:32

1

Airbag: An explosive device positioned to blow up towards the most sensitive parts of the human body. If you don’t have at least 10 surrounding you: you are fucked. Sometimes containing shrapnel, but just ignore that.

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 04/17/2016 at 09:46

5

It’s not about the car, it’s about his kids’ safety. That you can’t put a price on.

jkm7680 > CyborgAdaLovelace 04/17/2016 at 11:13

2

Mercedes still has third row seats in their wagons, so it’ll probably be fine if you have the right seat belts back there.

XJDano > CyborgAdaLovelace 04/17/2016 at 11:31

0

We are about to battle a similar issue with our 3 & 5 year old, wether to keep him in the toddler seat or booster and wether she needs the booster back.

I applaud you for using what you already have and making it work. We had to purchase an additional vehicle because we needed more back seats. ( Wife watches 4 month old niece & takes 7 year old nephew to school daily).

I would recommend looking into using existing mounting points for the rear back seat and adding a front 3 point harness similar or same to the side seats.

This depends on what side the slot part of the belt is on.

I wear a safety harness for work occasionally and there is a belt that goes across the chest that connects both sides, that is not in the harness you linked. I think that in a front accident the kid would pop arms right through and wouldn’t do much as the lap belt anyway. Unless the back part it right upon the child’s neck, but uncomfortable.

Another option would be using existing mounting points and fabricating a bar across the back and attaching the 3rd point in the middle along that bar. This is a bit much though.

The thing I’m trying to say is the more slack you have in the belt the more it’ll stretch when tested.

I would defiantly not be drilling holes for this unless you reinforce with 1/4" 6x6" steel plate. Just a bolt through the floor will rip out .

Did any of this make sense?

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford 04/17/2016 at 13:09

1

I get that but why spend a bunch of money on an old car instead put it towards a newer one with better crash safety

CyborgAdaLovelace > XJDano 04/18/2016 at 11:36

0

Thanks for your input, that’s given me some things to think about.

The reason I ended up with that 4-point style harness was that while I started off looking for a way to install a 3-point belt, the issue quickly becomes where to anchor that 3rd point. With the 4-point (yeah, technically still a 3-point), the final anchor point is at least centered, which seems better than how it would be offset with a conventional 3-point. With the folding seats, it has to anchor to the floor, then go up over the seatback, and back down, which seems a bad idea, unless I can install a guide on the seatback, which seems a bit sketchy, or mount a rail across, which doesn’t look like it would quite work because of the position of the C-pillar (just a little too far forward).

The floor actually rises between the 2nd and 3rd row because of the rear axle, so that’s where the lower points of all the seatbelts are installed. I haven’t quite gotten far enough under the car to see up from the bottom to see if/how it’s reinforced, but anything anchored to the floor would be more or less in line with the existing anchor points.

I initially came across that particular harness or something very similar on a Jeep forum. Some folks were using them with booster seats with backs, so the belt guides on the booster seat back seemed to be helping with keeping the straps where they need to be. I’m really not 100% sold on it, but it initially seemed like an okay solution.

I dunno, I’m just kind of thinking out loud at this point. I need to climb back in there and look at some things.