Club 80-90 Forums

Hi
I am looking to try and fit rear headrests/ highback seat to make it safer for my children. but am not sure of best route to take.
I own a 1989 T25 Autosleeper. I have the original fitted rear seats. The rear seats in the autosleeper conversions are not the metal rock & roll bed, but are basically two hinged pieces of plyboard, one forming the base and the other which bolt in place using a normal 'drawbolt'. and manually folded flat to make the bed base. I suppose back in the day these and lapbelts were deemed adequate.

I had three point seat belts fitted a couple of years ago, and my 8 and 10 year old have been travelling in high back child seats. The elder is now fast approaching the height that means this is no longer suitable and will need to sit on the standard seat. the problem is that with no headrests, his head and neck will now be above the seat back.

I am sure I am by far not the only person with children who travel in the back and who are too tall for the standard seat to give head support.

Have any of you made alterations to this type of seat to either add headrests or raise the height of the seat to allow head support in the event of an accident? Also have any of you upgraded the 'bolt' system for something that probably woudn't sheer the self tapping screws in the event of an accident?

My initial thought for the headrests was to attach some headrests from a scrap vehicle, ( I have seen a post of someone welding headrests to a metal rock & roll bed ). Or secondly, forming a new piece of plyboard but making it about 8 inches higher and replacing the original plyboard seat back, then adding some upholstered foam to form a headrest above the original upholstered seat back. ( with a bit of additional jig-sawing of the base front edge it would still all fold flat for the bed)

Also, does anyone know if, on making an alteration to the seat by changing the back for a taller one to incorporate a headrest, it would then become an insurance issue or would have to meet certain seat test specifications, even though it is still going to be a safer option than the original 'draw bolted' seat with no head protection. I am with Adrian Flux who are quite accommodating of modifications, and I will approach them, but I was wondering if anyone has already come across this issue?

It would be a shame to have to consider selling on our much loved camper if we can find a solution to allow us to continue to travel with the safety of our children in mind. ( I know we can try and drive safely, but no matter how safe we all try and drive, we are all still reliant on the people coming the other way doing the same!! ).

I would welcome any advice or previous experiences in this subject.


Many thanks

Ian

Without changing seat, what about making your own bolt-on headrest made from strong ply and padded face to it? It could be made removeable when camped.

Thanks 'Covkid' for taking the time to reply. That would be another possible option. I am trying to think of it from all angles, and will look at the logistics of your option, which shouldn't be too much of a problem. We are no longer going away over the next few weeks now due to not being able to get time off work, so I have got a few weeks grace before I have to get down to it! I will probably therefore wait a while before making a final decision just incase there are any more replies from people with ideas such as yourself, or ones that have made similar modifications themselves or know about the insurance issues surrounding such modifications.

Many thanks again

Ian

Hi would front seat headrests do the job ? would probably need " u " shaped brackets or tube screwed to the back of the seat to accept the headrest bars. Just sold a pair myself,sorry but will be some on here, cheers.

FWIW, the plywood rear seat/bed would never have passed any sort of crash regs anyway, because of the motorhome costruction and use loopholes that existed back then.
Only the Westy came with rear headrests fittings afaik
A welded tubular steel perimiter/ladder frame around 40mm square with suitable holes to accept the headrest inserts is probably the only way to make it safer, short of fitting a Westy rear bench and those don't grow on trees.

Hi,
This is what I did, works well but you have to take the head rests out to fold the bed down.
Hope thsi helps https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=113387

If you were to make the backrest longer you would not be able to put it in the down position because of the fridge I think.

Hi all. Many thanks for your replies. It is a tricky one , hence my initial enquiry to see if anyone could help.
In response;
Paperhouselad- this is an option I was contemplating as I can now possibly get hold of some headrests. Taking them out wouldn't be too onerous either. It is just working out the best place to attach the bracket so that it won't effect the ' lay flat' aspect of the bed.
Silverbullet- I too agree that the legislations/ loopholes were different back then, and that is why I am conscious that if I now make alterations/ modifications they would have to be in line with current legislation, which bolted ply board probably wouldn't meet?!
Petethefeet- your post link was the one I had seen, it does look the best option, and I would have to source a metal rock and roll bed, which I will look into.
JeffJ- you are right, the fridge would be in the way by a few inches. I had worked out that it would be possible, but would have to form the front edge of the base to allow it slide past the fridge' it would probably mean extending he length of the hinged 'pull out' upright boar that support the bed when it is laid flat. This alteration and extension of the ply for the backrest leads me back to my concern over legislation requirements of modification to still include plyboard though.

Again , many thanks for taking the time to respond, it has all given me a bit more 'food for thought'!
Ian