rear seat belt through camper cupboards

Post by **g.chalmers** » 10 May 2012, 19:25

Hi,
I'm looking for advice - I have a Holdsworth-converted panel van (no seatbelt mounting points fitted) which came with lap belts in the back - With kids to carry, I need 3 point harnesses in the back. The passenger's side was easy enough to add a 3 point belt, but the driver's side (RHD) has the cupboards in the way. My options would seem to lie between fitting a mount with an attachment which emerges through the cupboard, or fitting a rear rock and roll bed with integral seat belts and appropriate mounting (expensive and difficult to source).

Does anyone have any experience of fitting a belt through the cupboards? The floor and central mounts are already there for the lap belt.

Many thanks

GC

Post by **leonard** » 10 May 2012, 19:32

hi i have a devon and the seatbelt is fixed in cupboard, it comes out at the bottom of the door

Post by **1_eyed_jim** » 10 May 2012, 19:50

I also have this problem and need a solution ASAP

Post by **Bigell** » 30 Jun 2013, 22:18

Hello there!

"The passenger's side was easy enough to add a 3 point belt",

Or so you say!

I a just about to buy a Holdsworth Villa conversion T25 which has no seat or lap belts in the rear. we have a baby and he has a seatnwe need to secure. How did you do you installation so easily, and where can I go for help?

Thank you.

Post by **clift_d** » 30 Jun 2013, 23:57

Quick tip - if you put in your location it helps people respond.

It is possible to fit two three point belts from opposite side to the cupboard, and it is possible to retrofit to fit anchor points. There's a fair bit of info in other threads about three point belts, but on our Westy we found we were able to run both seatbelts from the sliding door side, so didn't need to mess with the cupboard. One belt we were able to fit ourselves using the Brickwerks kit with the retractor fitted behind the lining panel so it was out of the way of the bed.

The other belt, furthest from the door was fitted by a London company: Seat Belt Service. If you've no mounting points at all I should imagine they would be able put them in - this image on their site shows a two belt installation on the sliding door side which doesn't use the standard VW mounting points, so might be the sort of thing you'll need to do.

Post by **Pwag20** » 01 Jul 2013, 21:30

Seat belt service did mine. I'm in Kent so outside of the M25 area in which they operate so had to pay a £40 call out charge in addition to the cost to fit the belts. I would recommend them

Post by **ninja.turtle007** » 01 Jul 2013, 21:35

I used Seat Belt Service for my second 3 point. I would have used them for both had I know about them at the time.

Post by **discipleofsketch** » 02 Jul 2013, 08:27

leonard wrote:hi i have a devon and the seatbelt is fixed in cupboard, it comes out at the bottom of the door

Interested to see how this works, surely the belt needs to be higher so it goes over the seat? Or am I thinking of a different cupboard? Any chance of a photo?

Post by **AdrianC** » 02 Jul 2013, 12:50

If it were an issue for me, then I'd go for the seat-with-integral-belts option, tbh.

If the belts are bearing on the cupboard in any way, then if there's a collision, the cupboard becomes a big part of what's holding the occupant in. If the cupboard collapses or comes loose under that extra stress, then not only is the occupant now unbelted, but there's also a cupboard (or part of one) flying around. That's only going to end up being a bit messy.

Post by **stuartgpalmer** » 24 Mar 2014, 11:53

After scratching my head on this one for a while I cam up with a solution to fit seat belts through the cupboard for both out Autosleeper Trident and our Autohomes Kamper, both which have rear offside cupboards.

Pics of the Kamper are attached. The welding was done by Ian at South West VWs and uses the metalwork inside the cupboard which was fitted with the original Autohomes conversion.

The job on the Autosleeper is all new welding as there was no metalwork in the cupboards of those models. A diagonal metal strut goes between the belt fixing and is bolted to the side of the van with two chunky bolts. I can post pics if anyone wants to see.

Both of these have the non-retractable three point belts fitted. While these aren't ideal aesthetically, safety is my main concern and I saw this as a reasonable compromise.

photo-1.jpg

photo-2.jpg

photo-3.jpg

Post by **glewis** » 18 Apr 2022, 20:19

Hi - I know your post was a while ago but if you have any additional pics then that would be very helpful! Thanks

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