Middle seat belt question

[Jama665]

Hi, I'm in a bit of a dilemma.

Child number 3 is on the way. I really don't want to sell my car. But really need a 3 point seatbelt in the middle instead of the lap strap.

So I thought I would ask can a proper seat belt be fitted in the back.

 

[BahnStormer77]

Can you not find a way to secure the baby seat properly using the lap belt?

I'm pretty sure it it possible, but please be VERY careful with this though - I've seen a friend get it VERY wrong and he essentially drove his daughter 10 miles up a 70mph A road in a car seat that would have just flipped upside down had he stopped suddenly! (fortunately he didn't!)

As an alternative, maybe try to find one of those MaxiCosi bases that will fit in the centre and then REALLY secure that, so it's easier to pop the cot-seat in and out without having the stress about wether it's secure each time...

I'm interested to know if the retrofit is possible too - I've got a quattro, which as standard came with only a lapbelt in the middle.

 

[TwinCamMan]

Before you even go down that route, check to see if you have enough room to fit a third child seat in the middle of the back seat. My wife has one of the new Superbs and it's next to impossible to get three child seats into the back of the car at the same time, so much so that we're going to have to change the car. This rear seat setup it the same across the VW/Audi range. The middle seat is only 270mm wide due to the seatbelt clasps.

 

[Jama665]

Yea it fits as the oldest who's 4 is in a booster type seat. I checked that out a few days ago. I just don't feel comfortable just using a lap strap.

 

[quattrojames]

My 03 Avant has a 3 point belt in the middle, so it's possible. It's built into the seat back though, so you'd have to replace this I think to do it properly. But as mentioned, depending on what child seats you have you might struggle to fit three abreast.

 

[hades-]

as above
you need to find a seat back with it already fitted
then its a very easy swap

 

[Jama665]

Ok so its available then. What's the chances of finding one to fit a saloon in beige leather lol.

Is it because its an avant that the 3 point belts fitted. If so may look for an avant. Seeing as I'm sold on being an Audi owner from now on.

 

[hades-]

have you got fixed or split back ?
you could find 1 and have the leather refitted to the new back

 

[Jama665]

Fixed. So no idea how that's going to work. Wondering if its possible to retro fit one.

 

[BahnStormer77]

I still reckon it'll be a LOT cleaner to use the existing chassis mount points for the isofix bars to mount a custom-built isofix bar that spans across the back of the car and provide isofix mount points for a centre seat too...

It only solves your problem for a few years, but you'll have plenty of time to think about it and try to source a newseat, etc... I think the fixed rear seats with 3 point belts were fairly common, but just not for quattro's...

 

[quattrojames]

What's the rationale between fwd's having centre three point belts but not quattro's?

EDIT there has been an isofix bar posted previously, from memory it fitted the mounts on the two outer seats but gave three seat fittings across the back. I'll have a look for it tomorrow when I'm on the PC. I realise it won't fully answer your problem if one of them is using a booster, but it might throw up another solution.

 

[Jama665]

Yea that would be a great help. It's such a pain. Love my Audi. Ha ha how sad does that sound.

 

[BahnStormer77]

What's the rationale between fwd's having centre three point belts but not quattro's?

EDIT there has been an isofix bar posted previously, from memory it fitted the mounts on the two outer seats but gave three seat fittings across the back. I'll have a look for it tomorrow when I'm on the PC. I realise it won't fully answer your problem if one of them is using a booster, but it might throw up another solution.

James - agreed, it won't a LONG term fix, but it will give him an option for adding isofix chuld seats securely for the next few years, by which time, he might be on an A6 or A8 (have you SEEN the price of those 2nd hand A8's?!?! 3.0TDI on equivalent age/mileage it's cheaper than an A6 avant and they're usually fully tricked out - lots with Xenons+TV+DAB+B&O sound... and the 4.2TDI's are the same price (but then u get stung for £450 a year in tax!)...

 

[quattrojames]

Yea that would be a great help. It's such a pain. Love my Audi. Ha ha how sad does that sound.

I've just spent about half an hour searching, both on here and google. Nothing. I'm sure I didn't imagine it