Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 13:39:44 -0500
Reply-To: mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: vanagon camper seating capacity
In-Reply-To: <2A61AF98-C553-4C99-99BE-D22A7D94E0A8@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Well Jay, I brave the roads just fine, but only with proper safety equipment, since I have good sense.
My daughter is two years older than you are. She believed when she was a kid that the car would not "go" unless everyone's seat belt was fastened. She was right -- I wouldn't make it go.
When I was a kid, people did not wear seat belts, and in fact, most cars did not have them. The first car with a seat belt that I saw was a 1955 Ford Victoria, the fancy, chromed up model. The belts were an expensive option, I was told, and that people wanted them so they could feel like they were flying an airplane.
But, times changed. I guarantee that if you are in an accident with another party at fault, and you are not wearing a belt, the at fault party's insurance company will successfully reduce their liability for your injury or death due your negligence in not wearing the belt.
David
---- Jay lefstein <jleftbrane@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> I know a few people who have added a seat belt in the rear seat for
> kids.... wow how do you people even get he courage up to brave the
> roads??
> i am only 33 and people hardly wore seat belts when i was a kid....
> way more people lived then died
> J
> On 13-May-10, at 10:42 AM, Jim Felder wrote:
>
> > I installed a middle seat and I can tell you that there is no room
> > for any
> > additional seating. That's a total of six without the three-place
> > front seat
> > option. Whoever is doing the driving/shifting would need to be real
> > good
> > friends with whoever was in the front middle. That's a lot of folks
> > in a
> > vanagon.
> >
> > As far as I know, there would be no way to put a third belt in the
> > rear
> > unless you just bootlegged one for a pre-teen or very small adult,
> > and even
> > that seems unsafe to me.
> >
> > This is of course a westy I'm talking about.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 12:32 PM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> ---- David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
> >>> At 10:56 AM 5/13/2010, Dave Mcneely wrote:
> >>>> Even with a jump seat, I don't know how you get five friends in the
> >>>> camper, plus a driver. the rear seat only seats two, jump seat
> >>>> one,
> >>>> passenger front seat one; that's 4. I'm putting in a jump seat,
> >>>> but
> >>>> that's to bring capacity up to five including driver.
> >>>
> >>> Dear Dave,
> >>> Rear seat is rated for three (three sets of belts),
> >>
> >> David, my camper (1991 Volkswagen Vanagon GL Campmobile) has only
> >> two sets
> >> of belts on the rear seat. The illustrations in the owner's manual
> >> only
> >> illustrate two sets of belts. In looking at 3-point after market
> >> belts
> >> offered by vendors like GoWesty and others, I see only left and right
> >> versions offered, no middle. The rear seat on the camper is
> >> smaller than
> >> that on non-camper versions of the Vanagon, because of the
> >> cabinetry. The
> >> kitchen equipment of course takes up space, and has weight, which
> >> reduces
> >> the carrying capacity otherwise of the vehicle.
> >>
> >> I believe that three quite small people could sit comfortably in
> >> the rear
> >> seat of my camper, but there is no belt for the middle person, and
> >> I would
> >> not have anyone sit there for that reason. If the vehicle
> >> originally came
> >> with a third belt there and the weight rating is ok, I may install
> >> one to
> >> offer that option, but it does not appear to me that there was ever
> >> one
> >> there.
> >>
> >> Do you have a camper with 3 rear seat belts?
> >>
> >> Thanks, David McNeely
> >>
--
David McNeely
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