T5 Multivan Conversion to 8 Seater

[ozgti]

Does anyone have a part number for that head rest bolster thing on the convertible t6 seats?

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[The_Hawk]

The single rotating captains' chairs when fitted with an Australian child seat (which always has top tether) may only be used in the forward facing position. However, if the seat is one that has the factory integrated child booster then the young person may travel in forward or rear facing position. Makes sense.

I find that odd too. I full grown adult is fine reward facing, but a child in a child seat is not?? Surely, even with child seat the combo is less weight than an adult?

Maybe it's about the child seats themselves not being rated for rearward travel?? So this just reflect that as a reminder?

We have run them rear facing, although only a handful of times when we had extras in the van and they wanted to talk. It's also partly because a child seat reward facing blocks a whole lot of the access to the sliding door making it impractical.

I wish we had the integrated booster seats as my flock of midgets are short so could really benefit from the extra height in the seat... even at 12 and 15!

[Sunny43.5]

It would be because chid seat manufacturers test them for forward facing only , obviously baby capsules which are facing backwards are designed that way for safety . If you watch test results you can see if the seat is placed backwards then in a collision it will get flung upwards causing serious injury . I have said it so many times before what price do you place on your childs life , if you change any seat without first getting ALL the information from an Engineer or the manufacturers then don,t do it . Most child seats are held by either ISO fittings or the most common one which is a seat belt and top tether strap .

[syncro91]

I find that odd too....

Maybe it's about the child seats themselves not being rated for rearward travel??

Yes that is it - as Sunny43.5 correctly notes they are only tested forward facing. The Top Tether acts as a restraint in a forward direction collision. Correctly installed, it will hold the child seat firmly to the OEM seat - the strap holding the seat as the forward force acts upon it. If reversed the strap would not perform it's function.

The curiosity is, that one would expect the seat backrest, when reversed / facing backward, would hold the child seat very well irrespective of the top tether. But given most Australian child seats retain the design that pre-dates the approval of ISOFIX, relying also on the inertia seat belt, this may prove problematic.

Given the very small number of seats that are able to be reversed, and no requirement for aftermarket car seats to be designed for this relatively rare use case, no testing or data is likely available to confirm our theories

And yes, the Multivan integrated child booster seats are just fantastic.