Seating Positions When Travelling

[Guest rusty]

Hi All,

 

I have captains chairs in the front of my Galaxy. Can I swivel the passenger seat backwards and legally drive like that.

 

Also can I turn the middle row - middle seat backward as well. This has a lapstrap.

 

Thanks

 

Russell

[Richmond]

In the front, it won't be possible to use the seat belt if you swivel the passenger seat, will it?

 

Not that it's any of my business, but why do you want to drive with the seats facing backwards?

[Guest rusty]

Hi Richmond

 

The kids enjoy it on long journeys.....

 

Re front seat. As the anchor point is on the seat and the strap looks as if it would come across and the same relative position, it looks at quick glance that the seat belt would work.

 

I would still face forwards though

 

regards

 

Russell

[Masked Marauder]

Rear or side facing seats are not legaly required to be fitted with seat-belts.

 

If a rear or sideways fitting seat is fitted with a seat-belt then it must be used when the vehicle is travelling in a forward direction.

[Richmond]

As the anchor point is on the seat

Doesn't that mean that the anchor point (by which I mean the thing into which the belt clips) will be on the wrong side?

 

Anyway, it sounds as if it doesn't matter if Mr Marauder is right.

[Guest rusty]

Hi Richmond,

 

Quote - " Doesn't that mean that the anchor point (by which I mean the thing into which the belt clips) will be on the wrong side? " (How do you quote properly by the way - I'm sure I've seen a button)

 

No it means I'm stupid (and now embarrassed ) because of course the anchor point would be on the wrong side

 

Red Russell

[Richmond]

(How do you quote properly by the way - I'm sure I've seen a button)

There's a button top right of each entry marked '"Quote' - click on it and Bob's your uncle. You can edit quotes if you wish.

[Guest Crimz00]

Non of you lot seem to get the point!

 

You should always have your seats facing forward, and therefore always have all passangers wearing seatbelts. Could you ever forgive yourself if some one, especially a child, was to be seriously injured or DIE as a result of what would be your negligence?

 

SEAT BELTS ARE LAW FOR A REASON!!!!!

[Masked Marauder]

Why is it when someone feels the need to push a road safety point is it they always bring a child into it?

 

And in any case, there are cars that come with rear-facing seats as standard. And it is a FACT that rear facing seats are safer in a forwards accident. And rear facing seats need no seatbelts, and that's the law.

 

Your not a nanny are you Crimz00? Because on here we are all adults and come to our on decisions about things.

[GSMGuy]

Hmm... MM I was gonna say something, what with it being quite an agressive 2nd post... But ya beat me to it!!

 

Mike

[johnb80]

It's a funny old world, rear facing seats are by far the safest seats and indeed the requirements for 3 point seatbelt very much reduced. It just seems that the majority of the public don't understand or don't like the idea of travelling backwards, hence why busses, aircraft, most trains etc all have forward facing seats. I was lucky enough to be in a rear facing seat during a mishap with a train, the forces involved were unbeleivable, people in forward facing seats were going all over the place, their injuries were serious. Apart from very minor whiplash I was fine and helped people from the train and had no further problems after 3 days or so.

Not sure how the law stands under construction and use, I think from memory though the Gal manual states that all seats should face forward when in motion, there are other implications with the airbas, especiall the side impact ones in the seats if fitted, you'd blow the driver away and not protect the passenger.

 

Regards - John

[Masked Marauder]

Hmm... MM I was gonna say something, what with it being quite an agressive 2nd post... But ya beat me to it!!

 

Mike

lol, after I read his post and put my reply up, I read another post where he suggests he tested his GPS unit at an indicated speed of 100mph.

 

Just as well there were no kids involved there then.... ;) :angry: :angry:

[Guest blatters]

I'll not mention the kids then............

 

I think Ford say that you shouldn't travel with the seats turned around. But I have also read in other literature that seated in a rear facing seat is better in terms of impact and deceleration on the body.

 

But the same article also said that, the reason this is not installed in most passenger transport is because if you get hit by a flying object that's you finished. E.g. someones rucksack placed on the rear seat flies through the air at 60mph and hits the front passenger in their rear facing seat. Probably about 3ton on impact (just a rough guess so please don't split hairs if you've got an excel spreadsheet that has the formula in it!). I think that could be pretty grim for the passenger (and the sandwiches in the rucksack).

 

The side airbag seems a valid point too for the driver.

 

I have seen some of those Mercedes big people carrier (Vito?) with rear facing seats fixed around a table, exec coaches have them (I used to be a coach driver) so it's possible. But I don't think I would want to try my luck with PC Plod as I think I'd lose the argument.

 

Regards. Blatters :)

[delboyt]

bad idea to drive with seat facing rearward's

also

i always thaught that if there was a seat belt provided you had to ues it

wether front or rear passenger's.

 

better to use them as you have paid for them &

it's safer for all.

 

maybe a good idea to phone your insuranc company to see what they think if you don't use belts when they are provided as this

may be a problen if you ever need to make a clam

got forbid you don't need to o fcoarse

[Richmond]

I know that as a general proposition rear facing seats tend to be safer in crashes than front facing ones (I believe that RAF passenger planes have rear facing seats - no doubt someone will tell me I'm wrong), but this presumably supposes that they have been designed to be used facing the rear. I'm not sure that you can assume that using the seats in the Galaxy in this way will be safer.

 

I think that I would always want to wear a safety belt in a car whichever way I was facing.

 

By the way, in general I don't care which way people choose to have their seats facing or whether they choose to use safety belts.

[Masked Marauder]

I believe that RAF passenger planes have rear facing seats - no doubt someone will tell me I'm wrong

Nah, your right, they don't do anything special though, just turn them round.

 

It is a bit strange on takeoff and landing though as the angle of attack of the aircraft makes you lean forwards!

[MrT]

A rear facing seat without a belt would be more dangerous if someone rear ended you on a motorway.

[Guest mick]

It is a bit strange on takeoff and landing though as the angle of attack of the aircraft makes you lean forwards!

It was the acceleration for the take-off that got me....was used to being pushed back into the seat rather than shoved against the belt.

 

The new(ish) Espace has seats combining the belts and anchor points as one complete unit, but I still seem to recall that the sales blurb said not use these facing backwards when in motion.

[Masked Marauder]

A rear facing seat without a belt would be more dangerous if someone rear ended you on a motorway.

Hmmm, that would depend on a few other things. If you are facing forwards and get a heavy tail-end then you can get very seriously injured, indeed killed, as the whiplash forces can snap your neck.

 

But getting back to the belts and seats. All vehicles that are mass produced must be crash-tested, this is expensive. You can imagine the cost if they had to do all the tests with every possible seating configuration with the seats facing backwars too.

 

Also, the locking on the seats where they clip into the floor, the front ones, could they come undone if the seat was facing backwards?

 

The anchors are clearly strong enough to take the full loading of a forwards crash as the centre lap belt would be useless otherwise.

 

But as I said, some time ago now, seatbelts are not a legal requirement on a rear or sideways facing seat.

[ridway]

I know which way I always sit when travelling on a train. I too took experience from my military days, rear facing seats on aircraft (you felt so much more secure, especially when landing) and I think I know which way I'd rather face in a head on collision as a passenger in a Gal. The question it has raised for me however is the design of the seat anchors and recline mechanism. When reversed I suspect they may not be capable of remaining fixed to the ground during a collision. This could be Ford's reasoning for not using them in this configuration. Can you imagine a passenger or several passengers and their seats travelling forward at 50 mph in a head on, doesn't bear thinking about. Those sharp anchor clamps make me cring when you slam down the seats to lock them in position. Think of those clonking you on the back of the head attached to a 100 kg mass at 2 mph would be fatal :) :)

 

Rich

[djacks42]

Seats are tested using impact-simualtions - not crash testing as such. The seat assemblies themselves are homologated with 50%ile dummies in forward and rearward 20g/30ms sled tests, although the acceptance criteria is applied to fwd direction only. The belt anchorage points are signed off seperately in static pull tests - again forward direction, as are whiplash tests.

 

Also, if you turn the frt passenger seat around, I don't think you can see the nearside mirror!

[Masked Marauder]

Seats are tested using impact-simualtions - not crash testing as such. The seat assemblies themselves are homologated with 50%ile dummies in forward and rearward 20g/30ms sled tests,

I used the term "crash test" for simplicity only. My father-in-law designs aircraft seats and they use the same facilities to test them in the same way. He designed the new 9g impact seats on the Boeing 777.

 

And having seen the film of some of their tests is scary. Next time your in a charter flight aircraft, feel the bottom of the seat in front, the bit your shins will strike in the event of a rapid deceleration incident. If the plane crashes and catches fire, you won't get out because you will have two broken legs.

 

Newly designed seats don't have the bar, but there is no legislation to retro-fit them.