shoulder belt for front-middle bench seat?

Our 2012 Ram 3500 does NOT have a shoulder belt in the front-middle seat.

On our last Ford pickup, we bought a five point harness seatbelt from a company that sold racing gear. Installed easily (and was probably the safest seatbelt in the truck). Not overly comfortable to wear, but a better option than a lap belt.

The only truck that has a shoulder belt in the front middle is the 2011 and newer fords. I too have 4 kids and used a 2008 F-350 and a 2010 Ram 3500 to tow our fifth wheel. I put my eldest in the front with us and he used the lap belt that those trucks were equipped with. I never had a problem with it nor did I have any issues with it. A lap belt is better then no belt.
If feel that if you or your wife are uncomfortable with that set up, a large SUV is the only option. For us it was a non issue so I used a truck. We only used the truck as a family when hauling the trailer about 3-5000 Kms per year. The rest of the time we use our mini van as our family mover.
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My 2013 Super Duty SC is rated on the door sticker as a 6 passenger. I haven't had it long, so had to go look. Yes, it does have shoulder belts, and head restraints for all six passengers!

mtofell1 wrote:
So, I find myself with a wife and 4 kids and a truck with 5 seats (and a travel trailer to tow). I've been looking at doing a conversion of the front console to a jump seat but am surprised that they don't have shoulder belts. In looking at new trucks w/bench seats it seems it's still just lap belts.

Am I correct that no trucks w/bench seats have shoulder belts? I can't fine one if they do exist. I'm not sure if I want to ride with one of my kids only in a lap belt for the front seat. I still have to look into the airbag thing too.

The 40/20/40 bench in my '05 Ram has only the lap belt for the center front seat. Never use that seat, console is always down (unless the dog is riding with us). Only 3 across lap/shoulder restraints I've seen is in the newer model crew cab PU's.............and my wife's 2000 Camry. ;)

Learjet wrote:
My Ford (see sig) has a shoulder harness on all 6 seats. No roll bar as someone said. :S

Interesting.... thanks. I bet within the next few years all of the trucks will start to include it. And, yeah, the belts are mostly included in the seats these days so no more anchoring to the roof or side pilars.

I'm surprised mainly because our mini-van and wife's previous SUV both had three shoulder belts across the backseat. I just assumed there would be 3 shoulder belts in the FRONT seat since it's so much more dangerous.

And, yep.... as somebody asked, gotta have a truck for work. We have a minivan to haul the little ones around 95% of the time. Problem is it just can't move the 8000# TT :)

My Ford (see sig) has a shoulder harness on all 6 seats. No roll bar as someone said. :S

You have to have an overhead bar to anchor it to, ie: roll bar.

I have never seen a pickup truck with shoulder harnesses for 6 people. Unless you have to have a truck, I would look at a Surburan type vehicle with the three rows of seats, giving you room for 8. Or go with a passenger van and you can go up to 15 pax.

A few months back, someone on eBay had a custom three seat crew cab for sale. It was built on a 650 chassis.

It is possible to engineer it, however the makers wont offer it as it adds bulk, weight, and $$$. I have the centre seat, converts from an armrest to a seat... I cannot bring myself to put one of my children in it. I am not worried about injuries from an airbag, as far as I know, my radio and climate controls do not have one ;)