Hi

My Sister is having problems with the rear seatbelts on her car being too short to go around her baby seat I think you used to be able to buy something to extend seatbelts but I don't think they are available anymore from Halfords

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

Paul

 

Paul,

The official advice would be: Get a different baby seat.

Extending the belt would, I imagine, involve extra links which are extra points of failure...

Sorry that this isn't a cheap option. You can "bodge" it (even if it isn't a real bodge), or you can do it right. I guess the extenders have been taken off the market for a reason?

 

the scooby's seatbelt ONLY just makes it around the baby seat of the misses sister.... wouldnt have a clue what to do if it didnt, like chairk says cant see extra links being a legal option? or even safe option

 

I can see that

Bodging a child seat into a car should never happen so I may look into installing a longer seat belt from another car. I can't see any reason why I can't do that, that'd be safe wouldn't it?

Thanks

 

Another good reason for buying a Scoob - you can't fit baby seats in them properly, therefore no kids.

 

wouldnt have thought it'd be a problem doing that from a similar sized car or even bigger car maybe? cant see it having any impact on anything such as MOT as the seat belt would still be there get down the scrap yard and have a gander

 

There is a company that makes replacement inertia reel seatbelts with longer lengths but unfortunately I can't remember their name.

I think they are intended for "fat" drivers but can't see why it should be a problem for a child seat.

A search of the BBS might produce something. I'm sure I saw the company name on here.

Mark

 

I wonder if a belt from say an Omega would be longer I will have a look next time I'm near a scrap yard

 

Get one off an American car, their all fat bastids!

 

my friends child seat wont fit in the back of his ls200 either might be a jap thing

 

Not necessarily, my sisters child seat won't go in the back of my Sierra for this reason.

 

You might find the front seat belt from the same model of car is longer! The fronts have to travel further normally (top of shoulder to nearly the floor, on a higher seat - you get the idea)

Try fitting the front into the rear and see if it fits and whether it's longer.

 

paul,

i had major problems when I first had to put the rear belts in my old my02 around a rear facing graco seat, the belt's were just long enough but the trick was to pull the belt out till its fullest extent before threading it around the seat, once I did that I cracked it!

cheers

Gary

 

Mate had this issue when he went looking for baby seats. Thankfully, the place he bought it from offered a fitting service, and so they advised him towards a different model of babyseat that fitted his seatbelt - in the end a Jane carseat which is pretty much rated No.1 travel system by many.

Oh, and by the way, this was to fit in the back of my old Mercedes E-Class saloon that I sold him, and you'd think if any nation (bar the USA) had big passengers, it'd be the Germans.

So, if you are lucky enough to have not used the babyseat yet, try taking it back to where you got it, and getting some advice on other babyseats. Seems a lot easier than having to go to the trouble of changing a seat belt - which I'd imagine could work out more costly than a different model of babyseat!

Best advice I can give? Find a decent independent babyseat retailer in the vicinity, and NOT Mothercare/Halfords etc.

 

baby car seat is bigger than a fat blokes belly!

anyone as fat as a car seat is not getting from their sofa to the car!

 

I thought that, I don't think she's tried it in her scoob yet but I think it's going to be the same story there too The car in question is another jap car though

Now that's a good idea

 

Do you really want to be mucking around with seat belt mountings and swapping them around???

Child. Life. Important.

 

I believe that the belt is some 8"s or so short of the buckle It must be a really short belt on them

 

I think the seat has been used because it fits in the front fine TBH she should have checked it first

I can't see any safety issues with changing the seat belt as long as you use a proper seat belt in very good condition but that's why I'm asking. If anyone can give me a good factual reason why this would be unsafe then I won't even consider it

I refused to mess around with peoples safety no matter who they are or how old they are

 

paul, I can't think of any reason not to change the seat belt for a longer one providing the mounting points are identical (I dunno if there's standard bolt size or anything like that).

 

I believe that the bolts are the same size and the mountings should be the same, if I'm wrong and they are different then I won't touch it and she'll have to buy another seat/car

 

I recently bought a babay seat and I was told by sales that they are legally obliged to check the seat fits into the car properly. I then had to sign a form saying it was all explained to me etc.
I asked if they would sell it to me without fitting, they would , but I needed to sign a wavier (sp?) saying I have accepted the seat without fitting etc.

So, can your sister not just take the seat back, the outlet were legally obliged to check it fitted. Get the money back and buy a new seat that does fit

 

That is a good idea too. I wonder if they just tried it in her boyfriends car I will give her a call later

 

Any joy Paul?