Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2015 14:07:50 -0600
Reply-To: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Rear seat comfort on a Vanagon Westy? Head restraints
In-Reply-To: <00c401d052c8$71a240a0$54e6c1e0$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
On your own car, you could probably implement anything you wanted to that
did not break state vehicle laws, but you couldn't sell it to anyone that
way, I suspect, and you certainly couldn't sell it to others as a solution
with cost-prohibitive crash testing.
Jim
On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 2:03 PM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com>
wrote:
> That would require NHTSA approval (crash testing). No conversion company
> would go there, so it would have to be engineered into the production van.
> The EVC (Winnebago) does have a tiny and practically useless under seat
> storage bin that I think the restraints will fit into, but I don't
> remember.
> One of the many reasons I've come back to the Vanagon Westy.
>
> Stuart
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OlRivrRat [mailto:OlRivrRat@comcast.net]
> Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 11:35 AM
> To: Stuart MacMillan
> Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Rear seat comfort on a Vanagon Westy? Head restraints
>
> How about a Mechanism that is AttachedTo & SuspendedFrom the
> TheRoof
> (StorageCabinet Bottom) that could be Hinged Up
>
> OutOfTheWay WhenNotNeeded & SwungDown & Attached to the SeatBack when
> Passengers are Present ~
>
>
> ORR ~ DeanB
>
>
> On 27 Feb , 2015, at 11:51 AM, Stuart MacMillan wrote:
>
> > The EVC's are removable. There is no way to accommodate a head restraint
> and a fold down bed, unless the restraints retract into the seat back, and
> that would be an expensive proposition.
> >
> > Stuart
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of
> Dave Mcneely
> > Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 9:26 AM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: Re: Rear seat comfort on a Vanagon Westy? Head restraints
> >
> > Seems that there should be a seat configuration that included head rests
> that would work as a bed. I have little familiarity with the Eurovan. How
> are those rear seats set up in the camper? Do they have integral head
> rests, or removable ones?
> >
> > mcneely
> >
> > ---- Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >> Back then they were only required on the front seats along with shoulder
> belts. Passenger Vanagons didn't get the rear head rests until 88 or 89,
> along with should belts back there. The Vanagon even the non-camper is
> considered a multi-purpose passenger vehicle so it did escape a number of
> safety requirements. In general VW did wait as long as possible to put
> safety features on the busses including not getting the j-bead wheels until
> 1971.
> >>
> >> Dennis
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of Stuart MacMillan
> >> Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2015 8:21 PM
> >> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> >> Subject: Re: Rear seat comfort on a Vanagon Westy?
> >>
> >> That's fine for the van, but the head restraint keeps you from breaking
> your neck in a severe rear-ender. 30 mph can be severe if you are waiting
> at a stoplight. It's also another reason to make sure the seat bottom
> latch
> is in good working order so the seat doesn't fold down with a passenger in
> it. It's a very beefy mechanism for that reason.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> VW must have used a camper van loophole for the Westy back seat, because
> head restraints have been required on passenger cars since 1969.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Stuart
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> From: John Rodgers [mailto:jrodgers113@gmail.com]
> >> Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2015 12:16 PM
> >> To: Stuart MacMillan
> >> Cc: Vanagon mailing list; Dennis Haynes
> >> Subject: Re: Rear seat comfort on a Vanagon Westy?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> A good Dennis Haynes trailer hitch proves some protection in case of
> being rear-ended. Not totally, but some. The hitch has a cross bar that
> mounts to the frame of the Vanagon with three large bolts on each side,
> very
> stout. The whole thing will absorb a lot of energy before buckling in the
> event of an accident. Might be enough to reduce the energy of an impact
> somewhat before it enters into the body work itself, so repair would be
> possible, whereas otherwise it would be improbable. Mine has saved my Van a
> couple of times.
> >>
> >> On Feb 25, 2015 10:59 AM, "Stuart MacMillan" <stuartmacm@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> In addition to adding shoulder belts (like Go Westy's) I'm adding head
> restraints this way:
> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=303299
> <
> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=303299&highlight=vwbusshop
> > &highlight=vwbusshop
> >>
> >> I got a couple of trashed seats for $50 for the head restraints and
> plastic tubes.
> >>
> >> The '80s were a different time. Today, with so many distracted drivers,
> rear end collisions are on the increase.
> >>
> >> Stuart
> >
> > --
> > David McNeely
>
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