Quote Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies View Post
Just be a little careful with any of these modified designs.

Firstly a member of the RR Club of NSW had 2 children die when restrained in an after market adaption to their 1987 RRc (when they were new). The restraints were affixed to the floor in the rear cargo area and during a crash and roll over event the catches for the seats failed and the children became un-restrained causing fatal injuries. The seat catches are not designed to hold the weight of even a small child's body.

Secondly, if you look under the car at the rear floor in most RRC's you will see that the floor is aluminium and only pop riveted in place, the original rear seat belt anchorages actually have an additional tie under the floor down to the chassis.

The preferable method of anchorage is to fit one of the anchorage bars that are designed to tie between the "C" pillars on both sides of the vehicle. You get them from authorised seat belt fitting stations.

Diana
That's an awful thing to happen.

I've got a similar situation with car seats in my two RRC's. I am a professional engineer and I've looked at many options. Including designing and retrofitting ISOfix mounts through the floor to the seat-belt mounting points on the chassis.

Firstly never attach a strap up over the back of the seat and to the floor. All this will do is fold the seat downwards/forwards in a frontal collision.

In the end I'm buying car seats which work with the belts in my vehicles. I currently have an american designed car seat and it's a complete piece of crap.
Of four vehicles I have (three euro, one Japanese) it fits properly in none of them.

For capsules I used a european designed capsule and mounting base. The base locks into the seatbelt with a clamp and has a forward leg which props off the floor.
These are very secure.

For seats I have ordered a Recaro. These have a similar clamp system to the capsule mentioned above so the seat-belt can be winched tight and clamped to not move.
For younger children the seat belt passes through the seat and the child has their own harness.
For older children (booster seat arrangement) the seat belt passes over the seat and the child.

I realise the Au car seat regulations are different. I am not in Australia.
I can see absolutely no benefit and indeed several dangers from tethering. Especially when done incorrectly.

It has been suggested that the only purpose of these tethers is to prevent an empty infants seat without seat-belt fastened from becoming a projectile. I beleive those making heavy duty tether mounts are misguided. You need to ensure the seat and child is secured through the main seat-belt.