Child seat anchor points for three

maybe here could help?

Thanks for the information and the link Bushie. I'm tossing up whether I want to get VicRoads involved.

And good on you Blue, all this engineers crap gives me the whoopsies. I mean and half drunk dingo would be able to see that what you have done is far superier than stock...

I did a simlar thing with ours, fitted it myself to the storage box. You could get stuffed if you thought I was going to put my childs life in the hands of somone who's perogative was to fit it the cheapest way possible in the least amount of time and charge me a bomb for the privilage.

And before all you insurance, legal, mumbo jumbo poo heads start harping on, if I was in an accident SO sevre that it ripped the 4 x 10mm bolts out of the chasis rails AND my child died AND I survived, insurance would be the least of my worries, even if they locked me up it would make no difference. At least I would be able to go to sleep knowing I did everything I could.

Hi Blue,

Not wanting to get into an engineering debate, but I can see why the installer knocked it back.

I gather from the pic that you have used the original two bolt holes and simply added the restraint anchor centrally on the SS bar, without adding a third bolt into the vehicle? The issue I see is that you have left the original anchors, plus the new anchor, so could potentially have 3 baby seats on two bolts.

This will place a greater load on the 2 original bolts, plus the leverage effect created by the central anchor (note: SS bar is more than sufficient for the task). While this is probably OK, you are relying on over-engineering of the original bolts to accomodate a third anchor point.

If you only ever attached two baby seats in any position, I see no problem at all. BUT, if you did install three baby seats, then you have only 2/3 of a bolt per seat, plus leverage effect from the middle anchor.

If you are confident enough that the original 2 bolts are over-engineered to the point they only need 2/3 of their strength, then you are fine. However, this is why the installer would not certify compliance, he did not want to make that call.

Jeff - your situation is different, you have additional bolts directly into the chassis, you will find this is significantly stronger than OME bolts and can certainly rest easy knowing your installation should be fine.

Cheers

Captain

PS. Yes, I am a bl00dy engineer!!!

Hi Captain,

I replaced the original bolts with grade 8 high tensile jobs. After seeing that a fella from Tassie had an all but identicle setup in a similar dual cab ute, with a certificate, I now rest pretty easy. Also, I feel confident that the first bloke I saw(who had seen a drawing of my intentions) thought it was a reasonable proposition and would probably have certified me had I seen him the next time.

You have got me thinking though, I may just do the rounds and see how varied the opinions of these "experts" really is... I have four reasonably local restraint checking stations nearby.

Blue

Exactly what I had planned. Like you I refuse to pay additional for bureaucratic bullsheet and would prefer to go for the option which is not so dear, Blue. Once again thank you for the piccy and the other information you supplied on MM. Let us know how you go with the various "expert" engineers.

I never touched the girl!

Don't you have to have sex for that sort of thing to happen?

Thank you for the reply Matt. What you suggest could be an alternative if I decide not to go with a setup similar to Blue's. I imagine it the entire tub and canopy would have to come off the ute to fix the fixing plate, though?

Hi Wombat,

You can install a backing plate from the "front", the same way its done for cargo barrier installations. A ~22mm hole is drilled to allow a 20mm length of flat bar to be inserted behind the wall (thru the hole). Its then fixed into place by two screws either side of the 22mm hole, into the flatbar. If you look at the instructions for a cargo barrier installation you will be able to see what I am describing, my description is not that good, sorry. But the point is you don't have to remove the tub and canopy.

Cheers

Captain

Nah mate...as Captain said there are heaps of ways to get them down the back where you want it. They certainly didnt remove my fuel tank etc to put my restaints in. Most likely drilled the hole fed them under and then srewed the retaining bolt in to hold in place and then drilled the two little pop rivet holes that keep the plate in place when the bolt is removed.

Very easy and very neat too, no big holes or large dissaembly!

Goodluck!

Matt.