Extra seat in a car - possible?

Fly_Baby

skiddlydiddly wrote: »

Ever seen what happens to a boot when the car gets rear ended?Its the crumple zone and I wouldn't want to be a passenger in that.You won't find any extra seat anywhere from a manufacturer that wants to stay in business and not be responsible for killing its passengers.
Look at how seats are mounted, every car is different and they have to be able to stand up to the forces of massive decelleration without moving.You can't get that from a one size fits all product.

Thanks, good to know.

Fly_Baby

Kilty wrote: »

It was a 7 seater with seats designed to fit in the car, meet required safety standards and be removable. Standard practise for 7 seaters.

They're not some bolt-on universal thing :rotfl:

Out of interest what kind of car do you have at the moment?

A Mazda.

The car I was talking about was not an estate or a minivan - just a regular-sized car.

PS. It may have been a naive question but there is no need to laugh so hard. I am sure there are many things you have no idea about.

JimmyTheWig

Yes, on our Sharan, for example, all 5 back seats are independently removable. You could take out the back 2 and store them in the garage and have a 5 seater with lots of boot space for most of the year, then put the extra seats in when your parents come.

But you can't do that on a car that hasn't been designed for it. Nothing to do with brand, but everything to do with model.

Given that it would mean getting a new car then I'd suggest using a taxi for the times you need the extra room.

pendulum

Good idea if you ask me! I thought about buying one a long time ago to twin tank with veggie oil. I seem to remember reading you could convert a 5-seater to a 7-seater by buying the conversion kit from dealer but could be wrong. So the OPs question wasn't totally stupid, as in some rare cases you may be able to do what he asked if you have the right car...

Kilty_2

pendulum wrote: »

Good idea if you ask me! I thought about buying one a long time ago to twin tank with veggie oil. I seem to remember reading you could convert a 5-seater to a 7-seater by buying the conversion kit from dealer but could be wrong. So the OPs question wasn't totally stupid, as in some rare cases you may be able to do what he asked.

Good idea until it's rear ended, that is.

(what car is that?)

djheath

I remember in the 80's riding around in the extra seats in the boots of Volvo estates. Was great fun, staring at the cars driving behind.

I also remember simply riding in the boots of cars when I was a nipper where there was no room, with no regard for safety. As the youngest I got the boot! I enjoyed it!! :d

I suppose you cant really do that now!! :d

Ebe_Scrooge

Kilty wrote: »

Good idea until it's rear ended, that is.

(what car is that?)

Shouldn't be a problem if you're talking about a genuine manufacturer's kit that's purpose-designed. Many years ago a friend of mine had a Volvo estate with removable rear seats. The point being, the whole car will have been designed with this in mind, things like safety, seat belts, crumple zones etc., will have been designed to take account of this. Quite a different prospect to just nailing a deck-chair to the floor :-)

Kilty_2

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

Quite a different prospect to just nailing a deck-chair to the floor :-)

:rotfl::D

Still, the rear end of most cars deform quite badly in a crash - I'd worry about the prospect of sitting there watching the tailgate become part of your face in a smash

Fly_Baby

OK, thank you.

Seriously, I didn't ask if I can drive to Mars in my car but I sure am glad that you had some fun with my thread. Hope next time some of you cannot turn the washing machine on or change a nappy your missus will find it hilarious too.

Ebe_Scrooge

Kilty wrote: »

:rotfl::D

Still, the rear end of most cars deform quite badly in a crash - I'd worry about the prospect of sitting there watching the tailgate become part of your face in a smash

Now that's a very interesting point. I've heard a lot of bad things about Zafiras, in particular, being deadly for the rear-most passengers in a rear-end shunt. The thing is, I can't believe they would be allowed on the roads - type-approval and crash-test regulations, that sort of thing - if they didn't meet some minimum safety regulations. And I would hope that those minimum regulations state that passengers must be able to survive at least a low-speed crash.

I don't know, I don't know enough about the regulations to say for definite, but I just would have thought that proper manufacturer-fitted rear seats would be as safe as any other seat in the car ?