I'm sure this question has been up before, but I can't trace anywhere... however, are harnesses in the front legal ? There seems to be a question mark over them (for MOT purposes) which is why people leave their seatbelts in.

Please help ! :P

 

In theory, if they are E marked they are road legal. Additionally, if they are FIA dated (label with "FIA 2006" or similar on them) they would probably have to be in date to get past a keen eyed MOT inspector if they were the only belts in the car. If they are fitted in conjunction with the OEM belts, like mine, then no problem.

Remember, every WRC driven on road sections has harnesses only and is legal.

If you are fitting them to a car with OEM rather than one piece race seats, you need to ensure the point where the harness goes through the back of the seat is not higher than the shoulders of the shortest person that drives the car - OEM reclining seats are not designed to take harness loads bearing down on the top of the backrest and could result in the back of the seat collapsing in an accident - which means the harnesses could then find some slack and put your head through the windscreen........

Also, the reason why me and most other people leave the OEM belts in with the harnesses is because harnesses are a pain for everyday use on the road!



[Edited by Dave T-S - 5/29/2002 9:25:18 PM]

 

Dave, thanks for this reply, very helpful.

If I go down this route, it would be in conjunction with full race seats (assuming I can find some to get my fat 'arris in !).

I used to have harnesses in an old car (oh go on then, it was a Capri !!!) although it never went through an MOT and I know standards are a lot stricter these days !!

Where have you fitted the harnesses in the back - through the split in the back seat and eye bolts to the boot floor ????

 

Mine are four point and are fitted to the existing OEM belt mounts at the rear. If fitting them in conjunction with the OEM belts you need to source some extra long eye bolts - the standard ones are not long enough. Also you have to be *very* careful with the centre two that you do not use too long ones - there is something at the back of the threaded body mount they can bottom into, and it is in the area of the fuel tank!

 

Dave, that's part of what worries me about doing this !!!

Why oh why are things never simple !

Any thoughts on the easiest way of doing this without risk of explosions

 

Yup, you measure the depth of the hole including the belt/harness brackets, then use appropriate length eye bolts, shimming them with flat washers if necessary, to clear the bottom of the hole by 3mm or so.