Firstly, apologies. I know seatbelt topics are regularly discussed and I promise I have read through every subject that I can find and have gained a lot of information but I still have issues that I'm hoping someone can put my mind at rest with as safety is our top priorty. Will be as brief and precise as possible
MH = Ford Kentucky Camp Estro 4 (rear lounge layout) 6 berth
Passengers = 2 adults, 10yr, 8yr, 5yr, 3 yr
Seatbelts currently fitted = 2 x 3 point forward facing and 1 x lap belt rear facing in front dinette. 2 x forward facing lapbelts in rear lounge
The 3 point belts are designated passenger seats, the 3 lapbelts look like they have been retro fitted
MOT = all seatbelts in vehicle passed MOT
First problem with is our major concern:
2 x forward facing lapbelts in rear go through the rear boot and into the floor. When you open the boot, you can see the 3 anchor points in the floor and the belts going down to the anchor points.
If a car were to hit us in the rear with anyone sitting in those 2 positions, even at low speed, how would the passengers survive? Surely the seatbelts would tighten around them and cause serious, if not fatal injury?
At the moment we have made 3 of the children use the belts in the front. The 2 older ones use the forward facing 3 point belts, the 3yr old is in a Britax Rennaisance which can be used with a lapbelt so she is in this in the rear facing lapbelt in the front dinette.
Our 5 yr old currently goes in the back in another britax rennaisance on a lap belt and because the belt goes around the back of the seat and not her body we feel she is safer than a passenger would be using the lapbelt but this is not ideal. The rennaisance is only supposed to take up to a 4 yr old but our 5yr old is within the weight limit and height for the seat but we need to find an alternative solution asap
We have looked into fitting another rear facing lapbelt in the dinette area so that we can have all 4 of them up the front with us, but the gas cupboard is under that part of the seat and although we could use the existing anchor for 1 side of a lap belt, we can't see anyway of fitting the other side in
If anyone has any suggestions/ideas whatsoever we would be very grateful.
The children's safety is our priority, and whereas we realise that MH's are not safe to travel in like cars are, we want to make them as safe as possible.
Another question: I know that lap belts are known to be dangerous for children in a forward facing seat, often causing serious spinal injuries in a crash due to them being thrust forward, but are passengers ok in a lap belt in a rear facing seat providing they have sufficient head support behind them?
Forward facing lapbelts are nasty and, I believe, prone to almost cut people in half so how they're mounted is probably not your biggest problem there....
Rear-facing lapbelts, however, are supposed to be fine since in the event of an impact the forward momentum is directed into the seat back not the seatbelt as in forward facing, that's why baby seats are rear facing because it's much safer. Presumably a 3-point rear facing would be even better but I think the lap belt is fine.
In terms of anchoring the second up-front lapbelt I think you'd need to find a specialist for that, is it possible to move the gas cannister at all or maybe use a smaller cannister to creat some space?
I agree with the above, hit the nail on the head wrt seat belt directions and safety.
If safety is your priority then move the gas cylinder. Talk to your local MH dealer and discuss the options, or contact a specialist on the subject. Depends on how much you stick by what you say, its not that difficult moving he gas cylinder etc.
With regards to moving the gas cannister, the problem is that the gas cupboard is accessible from the outside, via a locker door, and the housing is under the seat. If this were removed then there would be a great big gap and an unused door. I can't see anywhere else on the van where we could relocate it to to be honest.
Is there a potential safety issue with the children being sat above the gas bottles? That's another thing that worries me. How tough are those bottles in the event of a collision?
We already had www.seatbeltservice.co.uk look at it (at the dealer's whilst we weren't there) and the fitter said he could do it but the dealers wouldn't let it be done on their property due to insurance so we said we would arrange a later date, nothing was fixed we said we would confirm, but then we had a bit of a row with the seatbelt company (long story) on the phone so I'm reluctant to use them. They wanted £138 to put a lapbelt in which, considering you can buy a lap belt for under £15 seems and awful lot of labour, but still safety is my first priority obviously
no issues with a child being sat on top of the cylinder so to speak, those bottles are very safe, they have to pass very rigourous safety tests.
one thing to bear in mind is that if someone else puts the seatbelt/lapbelt in they are responsible and accountable should it fail or cause injury in the event of an accident.
As mentioned previously, if safety is your over riding concern then one un-used door is of no consiquence.
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Topic: Seat belt help/safety issues
