Thread: Child Restraints

Originally Posted by 5teve

i find this very strange that on the disco the child restraints are just a peice of 6mm bar in the back of the seats. The defender has shared anchor points for the seatbelts in the floor, therefore why cant a similar arrangement be used for the child restraints? If the belt anchor points are stong enough for adults then why arent they (or similar) suitable for child anchor points?

Thanks

Steve

One reason is that ADR specifies anchor points be no lower than 100mm from top back of the seat. I think this applies to aftermarket installations, since there is no guarantee of the strength of the seat-back when used as a pivot point for a child restraint strap.

Anchor points when provided by the manufacturer are all over the place, but I assume that they have to engineer them during manufacture.

i guess that makes sense..

I was just wondering (and its obviously not possible aftermarket due to ADR's) about piggybacking a bracket on the top of the seatbelt anchors to hook into with the child seat restraint..

oh well... just a thought

Steve

Hi Johno,

I don't recall the guys name, but a company called "Altapac" at Kotara, did a great job sourcing and installing the post. They found out all of the regulations and made the calls to source the parts. They where very helpful!

Possibly a dumb question, but was there no 'genuine' option for a child restraint in a defender? I have one in the county. It is even shown in the owners manual.
Or are they just made from unobtanium?

I bolted a strip of 8mm steel along the back of my 130 where the top and body of the cab join. My local licenced fitter had no hesitation in being satisfied with the strength. Cheap, feasable and seeming kosher. I can't imagine he would fit to something he thought would be a problem, although I can't vouch for it being a 'legal' option

my puma 130 is currently at altapac getting child restraints in....will post pic when I get it

If a cargo barrier is an approved design that can handle x amount of deceleration force, then can a cargo barrier be used as the anchor point?

My cargo barrier has a mesh top, but a solid aluminium chequerplate bottom mounted to the frame. Victorian engineers say I can put a bolt through the floor with a large washer (specified size, but I can't remember exact size now). So if I can bolt the restraint to the floor through thin alloy, then it must be infinitely safer to bolt it through the cargo barriers thicker plate, with the force now spread across that plate and against 4 or 6 mounting points.

Even if my cargo barrier were all mesh, I could use a wide plate to spread the force across the full length of the cargo barrier, but rely on the barriers mounting points.

I've seen the flimsy factory mountings on the back seats of Holden Zafiras, and I doubt that they would be half as secure as a cargo barrier.

Originally Posted by Michael2

If a cargo barrier is an approved design that can handle x amount of deceleration force, then can a cargo barrier be used as the anchor point?

My cargo barrier has a mesh top, but a solid aluminium chequerplate bottom mounted to the frame. Victorian engineers say I can put a bolt through the floor with a large washer (specified size, but I can't remember exact size now). So if I can bolt the restraint to the floor through thin alloy, then it must be infinitely safer to bolt it through the cargo barriers thicker plate, with the force now spread across that plate and against 4 or 6 mounting points.

Even if my cargo barrier were all mesh, I could use a wide plate to spread the force across the full length of the cargo barrier, but rely on the barriers mounting points.

I've seen the flimsy factory mountings on the back seats of Holden Zafiras, and I doubt that they would be half as secure as a cargo barrier.

Check my solution here Finally got a Defender. This has been approved by an engineer, despite the anchor point being more than 100mm below the top of the seat.