Child Seat

[Jellsta]

Hi Guys after some info if any one knows, I want to know what the options are for fitting a child seat to the front passenger seat of my 2009 T5 panel van. only have the 2 seats noting in the rear. Thanks

[Sunny43.5]

First most important thing does your van have a passengers side air bag , I doubt it but it would not be advisable if it does have one to place a child seat in that position . Next DO not let anyone tell you to just bolt the top tether strap to the floor behind the seat , there are some specialist fittings available through several places in Brisbane All Van Mod's or Auto Extras Brisbane | Custom Vehicle Modifications & Accessories - AutoExtras .

[Jellsta]

Thanks Sunny had not really though to those 2 important things to be mindful of.

[Sunny43.5]

I used to fit child restraints for vans etc for many years until I sold out my business in 2000 , lots of times we saw people who would use either the wrong anchor points to attach the tether straps or just use the floor behind the seat . The main problem is the backrest of those seats in a T5 were not load tested and can fail in a small accident causing the child seat to be thrown forward . Those companies listed will be able to show you the safest way , and remember your child's life is more valuable than scrimping on safety . I used to get so angry with parents who would show up with the wrong fittings holding the kids seat in and tell me that it was ONLY for the kids as if the child's life was not that important .

[Umai Naa!!]

Having just been through all of this, you will need a booster seat that does not have any form of tethering. Your child will also need to meet the minimum sitting height indicated on the seat itself.

If they're too small, you'll need to fit a CRAB bar behind the front seats which will have an anchor point fitted to it.

[Sunny43.5]

Exactly right Umai C.R.A.B. bar would be okay but as there would not be a suitable point to mount the outer bolting point on the side with a sliding door it may not work . The other option maybe to mount the CRAB bar up high above the side door so it mounts onto a fixed solid metal area , the other option is a Tech Post its is a single position pole with an anchor point on the top the base part bolts to the floor and then has a vertical pole up to the back of the seat and a 45 degree bracing part to make it safe . This would be the best as you can remove the pole easily leaving the base in place if the load space is needed for a large load . This link shows the Tech Safe Post Tech safe post Single anchorage-Range Rover, 4WD's, Vans, fold downs.

[Jellsta]

The use of this tether strap is new to me as i have just moved here from the UK where you do not use these straps, are the cargo start down points mounted to the floor not sufficient to use to connect the strap to Sunny? or is there anywhere else in the rear that the strap can be mounted too? really want to get this right as you can imagine.

[Umai Naa!!]

You cannot legally use the top tether in the front without having the CRAB bar installed.

Cargo tie-downs are a big no-no.

[Sunny43.5]

Umai is right the top tether has to be attached to a CRAB bar or Tech Safe Post , it has been a contentious issue for many years . Australia introduced the top the strap system to restrain the children and the capsules etc many years ago . Other parts of the world have different systems as the Aussie authorities seemed to believe our system was the best , whilst not conclusive many other countries say that the top tether was not the safest as it placed undue tension on the children in an accident . The new ISO system came out just as I finished that part of my work but it is primarily for child seats with built in seat belts systems .
The top tether must not place undue strain on the top of a car seat that has not been tested . I used to have my own testing equipment for testing seats etc. and believe me the load in a 60 kmh accident could cause some severe damage to a seat back not designed for the load . In the case of a child tether strap from memory the test load is 750 kg force that will place down pressure and forward pressure on the seat back . The tie downs on the floor are usually only for luggage and have weight limits which vary between car makers . Some of those tie downs are mild steel loops which are open at the middle and are encased inside the metal plate that is bolted to the floor , in an accident the loop can just open up at the join and fail . Another big factor is the cargo loops would have to be dead centre behind the seat anyway but not more than a certain distance below the top of the seat hence the CRAB bars or Tech Post are for that purpose . When I travelled in the US some years back late nineties our two year old was in an American seat and it was very different to our system as it did not have the top tether probably like the UK I would imagine . The seat had built in restraints as part of the design . This may help https://www.productsafety.gov.au/con.../itemId/973975 ISO fix info here Isofix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This the sort of information we used to use for testing Vehicle Standard (Australian Design Rule 34/02 - Child Restraint Anchorages and Child Restraint Anchor Fittings) 2012 scroll down and you can see the parameters that are required its a bloody nightmare to interpret , sometimes we used to pay an engineer to assist with testing to make sure we got the test right .