Adding seat belts- Is it possible?

[Kidoo]

I have 3 seat belts provided under the couch but no other place. So that leaves me with only 5 people capacity. I would like to know if any of you ever added a belt like at the kitchen table seats. I think I saw some belt there before on a RV.

The belt are just bolted to the floor I think.

[Kidoo]

I agree that the seat belts in a MH are probably not as good as the one up front. Mine are attached to the extension and there is no shoulder belt, so I guess someone would be quite shaken in an accident.

The factory belts are just bolted to the floor and probably with a piece of heavy metal. All I have to do is the same as the factory and it will be as much compliant, no more no less i guess.

[willald]

I added a seat belt to the recliner chair directly behind the passenger seat up front, as we wanted my daughter to be able to sit in it when traveling.

I too, found that most places you ask about installing seat belts, will refuse to do so for liability reasons. Sooo, I just ordered a simple lap belt and installed, attached it to the seat frame. The RV dealer we bought the MH from did agree to install extra mounts, to mount the chair more solidly to the floor. That was all they'd do.

No, what I did ain't DOT compliant, and it won't hold a passenger in during a 4g negative rollover incident, haha. Truth is, though, almost no seat in a MH is truly DOT compliant in terms of safety, except the driver and passenger. But, what I did does provide some safety for a passenger sitting in that chair when on the road. It will hold them in place in the event of sudden maneuvers, stops, etc. Been using it this way for 3 years now, it works great.

Anyway, not sure if this helped much or not.

[Deano56]

my chair by the entry door has seat belts going to the bolts that hold the base down to the floor, the base is held to the floor with 1/2" lags, not all that sturdy

[subtroll]

The bolts to use are called "furniture bolts". They have a larger lower profile head than stove bolts and are available at McMaster-Carr and similar. I replaced a J-coach with a double Lazyboy recliner (metal frame) and also added seat belts. That area of my slide has a heavy metal substructure.

[Kidoo]

It is a matter of laws and for safety. The law here says every passenger must have a belt. We just got back from a 3000 miles trip and my sister sat in the back without a belt, this was her call, but belt where available. If I bring more people, I want a belt available for everyone.

I guess I could check how it is bolted under the couch and do the same. As I see, there are some factory installed at the boot on some RV. The belt on my RV are bolted from factory in the slide out.

[Pirate1]

Seat belts are only as good as the anchor they are attached too. The sofa belts on mine were only put in with cheap lag bolts into wood. Useless.

[Rick_Jay]

I can recommend SeatbeltPros.com, though my need was a bit different than yours.

Our rig came from the factory with 12 belted positions: driver, passenger, 3 on each of two sofas and 4 on the dinette. Makes for lots of seating options for the kids on long trips.

Anyway, I also installed three belts across our bed so that when the kids were sleeping back there they would not roll out of bed should I have to brake hard.

SeatbeltPros.com has all of the hardware you need, plus a wide variety of colors and lengths. Measure where you'll be installing them. You'll probably need the longest belts they have available, but measure first to be sure.

As others have said, it's very unlikely to find anyone willing to do the installation due to liability concerns.

As someone else pointed out, regardless of the laws, I think it makes good sense to have everyone belted while travelling down the road. Some people state that belts you install "don't meet federal safety laws blah blah blah". I view seatbelts in a motorhome like seatbelts in an airplane. They help keep you planted for unexpected movements, but if you're in a major crash where the very structure of the vehicle is failing, it probably won't matter much.

Good Luck,

~Rick

[RedJeep]

I believe that some seat belts are better than no seat belts to keep the little kritters in place if you get bumped in to.

I had an old CJ5 Jeep. No rear seat. I bolted a rear seat and seat belts in. My kids survived thousands of miles and an occasional run-in with a sand dune. If I were going to add seat belts to a motorhome I would explore the floor composition/construction very well to determine if you could mount seat belts securely. You may have to add a backer-plate if you are going through thin gauge metal and plywood. The larger the back-plate the stronger it will be.

Good luck!

[Dale_Traveling]

My coach has belts in the booth and sofa both installed in slides. There's a heavy metal frame under the booth front facing seat (takes up space in the storage compartment) that is bolted to the floor of the slide. The bolts are 1/2" diameter with carriage style smooth round heads that are visible under the slide when it is extended.

There might be some concern about attaching seat belts to a slide with potential stability in an accident but if an accident is bad enough that the coach breaks up and the slide takes flight it won't matter much where you were sitting.

Always good to stay seated and belted in when moving. Had Bogart the 40 pound All American RV Dog fly off the couch and bounce off the dashboard once because of a quick stop. He wasn't happy the rest of the drive. Great brakes on the F53 chassis.

[gemert]

JimM68 wrote:
What state requires people in an class A motorhome (other than in the front seats) to be belted?

Not aware of any but that doesn't mean that I would not like a way to keep my kids from being thrown to the front of the coach in a relatively minor accident.

[JimM68]

What state requires people in an class A motorhome (other than in the front seats) to be belted?

[gemert]

I only have two in front seats. So far everyone I have asked to install has refused due to perceived liability for them. Good luck, I will eventually do it myself.