Floor mounting a 4 point harness?

Ali_2k · 11-19-2007, 04:25 PM

Awright lads, hope youve all been keeping busy.. now an interesting question..

ive got a mini.. original ofc

but ive fitted some nice hand stitched (to the current trim) recaro's, and tbh the standard belts just dont cut it.

Thing is, i want to keep the rear seats cos its suprisingly roomy and dont wanna fill it up with a rollcage to attatch harnesses

So, would anyone know if its road legal to fix new harness points underneath the seats (to a chassis point ofc), so they are still able to be moved forward/tilted?

pics to follow
-2k

inh · 11-19-2007, 05:13 PM

I THINK so, but IMO it's a bad idea. If you want harnesses, you should do it right..

I want harnesses in my car, so it gets a rollbar.. And after seeing some photos of a car after it flipped 9 times with said rollbar, i want it even more..

DarquePervert · 11-19-2007, 05:26 PM

I don't know about legality.
It's a bad idea all around.

Ali_2k · 11-19-2007, 06:01 PM

hmm, get your points. heres a couple of pics just so theres no confusion:

heres a side profile of the seat

now this is what i mean, the seat is tilted forward so i could get an ok picture, now theres a solid crossbeam wich is where the seat rack is mounted so its deffo a possibility:

another idea could be training it to the bottom of the rear seat... meh thinking out loud

-2k

steelbluesleepr · 06-23-2008, 12:43 PM

that will crush your spine if you're in a crash. the shoulder straps on the harness should extend back from the holes in the seats less than 40 degrees down from horizontal. sorry but if you have harnesses, your back seat is going to be useless. it might be legal to do it the way you have it now, but to put it quite bluntly, utterly stupid.

Maheriano · 06-23-2008, 02:30 PM

steelbluesleepr is right but I'll expand on why. Newton's (I believe) third law of motion is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So when your seat pulls forward in a collision, the belt is going to be pulling up on the floor with great force. That means the opposite reaction is going to be the floor pulling DOWN on the belt with the same force. So imagine you sitting in the seat and someone behind you ripping down on the harness as hard as they can, it'll turn your spine into an accordion. The belt won't be pulling backwards to keep you in your seat, it'll pull down, crushing your spine towards the floor. This is why harnesses are mounted BEHIND the driver and not below them. If you do this, it'll be safer not to wear the harness at all. You're dead either way.