TheSamba.com :: View topic - shoulder harness in the back seat of vanogan

Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:45 am

We just got a childs carseat that requires a shoulder harness.
Has anyone adapted the back seat belts(1987 vanogan), and if so, could you explain how and where :?:
Puzzled Grandmother

Thu Oct 16, 2008 11:22 am

We just installed the 3 point seat belts from GoWesty in our 89 Westy. They work great - however, they don't rachet down so they might not hold a child seat in tight enough. Sam is in a booster now and they work well for him. I wish they racheted but they are tight and they lock quickly so I feel pretty good about them.

Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:03 pm

The Go Westy rear seat shoulder belt works great. Since it doesn't have a locking mechanism though, you'll need another piece that probably came with your child seat.

See, newer cars have shoulder belts that, if you fully extend, then retract them, lock in place. Older cars didn't have this (like my '92 Volvo 240), so you had to do one of several things.

In many cars, there is an anchor point in the rear deck that you can use with a lap belt. But if the lap belt doesn't lock, you still need that second piece.

There really isn't a rear deck in a vanagon (though you can mount an anchor point in the body, down where the seatbelts mount); so you use that mysterious second piece.

Somewhere with/on your child seat, you should find a flat metal piece that looks a bit like a double-T stuck together.

What you do is install the child seat, running the shoulder belt through the appropriate channels.

Then, pull the belt as tight as you can on the entry side ~ where the shoulder belt and lap belt meet to go through the car seat and connect to the female buckle on the other side.

Then, keeping those belts as tight as you can, you thread the double-T piece onto the lap AND shoulder belts, which keeps them together, and tight. The metal piece keeps the shoulder belt from expanding through the child seat and loosening up.

having said all that, it's my strong recommendation that you get professional help, so that you feel comfortable with the installation. Usually the local police station will be happy to help, but if you go to this web page:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_installing-a-car-seat_9458.bc

and scroll down, you'll find a NHTSA list of child seat installation locations by zip code.

I had the store where I bought my baby seat do the first installation, and insisted that they show me how everything worked, and what to do under different circumstances. They were happy to do so, and I'll bet the same would be true for you.

Best,

Lanval

Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:04 pm

not sure how old your grandkids are, but for our four year old we decided to keep with the harness style seats and got this seat...

http://www.amazon.com/Britax-Frontier-Booster-Seat...amp;sr=8-1

it's can handle kids up to 80lbs with the 5pt harness and up to 100lbs when used as a booster. it's not cheap, but the Britax seats are the best and have a pretty good resale. the 5pt harness holds so much better than a shoulder belt, and allows us to put our daughter in the middle row of our GL.

should belts can be had, the kits from gowesty should work fine, but at $116 a pop i think the car seat is a better buy since it can be used in any car, resold for a decent amount and i think the 5pt harness is safer.

Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:19 pm

here is a write-up I did on rear seatbelts

http://www.kayakwesty.com/seatbelt.html

Thu Oct 16, 2008 3:38 pm

great write up securing your kid seats to your van very cheap and VERY effective. I've been a climber for a long time and his figures are right on the money!
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=309271&highlight=climbing

scroll down to climberjohn's write-up

Thu Oct 16, 2008 9:13 pm

Captain,

That's a nice link ~ for a child seat it's a good way to go.

I'll add as a general comment (not addressing anyone specific here) that I'm always a bit puzzled by the comments about the cost of the GoWesty shoulder belt... it's only $120; surely your child's safety is worth that investment?

It's an easy fix for the booster seat, though I'll add that with a child seat I'd be more tempted to fab set anchor points. I had them in my late model Mitsu Outlander, and man it was easy AND solid.

Best,

Lanval