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MG ZR ZS ZT Technical - Fifth 3-point seatbelt in a 5-door ZS?

Well, the thread title says it all. Does anyone know how easy it is to fit a fifth 3-point seatbelt in a 5-door ZS? I see from the spec that, unlike the 4 door, the 5-door has a waist strap only for the central rear passenger.

Answers on a postcard...
David Bainbridge

I think the problem is that in the hatchback you have got nothing to anchor it to, unless you are able to attatch it to the boot floor. I am unaware of the safety aspects of that approach though, if the seat pulled forward the belt would be useless.
Richard

i,ve been in different cars and noticed a few hatches with diagonal center seatbelts, i think one was the renault clio? the fixing point was on the roof, very distracting when looking in the rear view mirror when driving.
rob

Doesn't the ZR have a centre 3 point belt in the back - and that's a hatchback.
JLD

The plot thickens - yes some hatches DO have a central 3-point. I didn't look at the ZR, but I will

I had a look at a 4 and 5 door ZS in Mantles yesterday and the hatch has a blanked out bit where the middle belt would feed through (same on a Rover 45, not surprisingly). When I asked, they said that Rover would not agree to fit a belt there, but were a bit vague why. I asked why Rover put a blank there but wouldn't fit a belt and answer came there none.

They said that 'some specialist companies' would do it for me. So down the road to B&G, who said, not unreasonably, that they might fit one if they knew why Rover were unwilling to! So they're looking into it for me...

Sorry if no one else cares about this, but I do! Anyway, thanks for the comments so far.
David Bainbridge

Are you sure it's a blank? The plate on the top of the seat I thought was for ataching the center belt vertically when not in use. It might be me being an idiot though.
Richard

Ooh, don't know. The guy at Mantles said that it was where you could fit a three point if you wanted to - but Rover wouldn't. Now how much sense does that make?
David Bainbridge

Cant quite visulize what you mean
But the seat alone would not be enough of an anchor point? In the event of an accident you are likely to be thrown forward taking seat with you?

Kelvin
Kelvin

The blank goes where the seat belt escutcheon (!correct?) would go in the top of the seat. I assume that the belt feed through to an anchor point on the floor, or something....?#

As you can tell, I am extremely knowledgable about all this.
David Bainbridge

And by the way, there ARE other features of the ZS120 that interest me other than the seat belt escutcheons!
David Bainbridge

Seat achorages and rigidity will not meet crash test requirments. Modification in placing an achoring system across the back which incorporates new anchor points for the belt, at a height that can provide the correct degree of restraint in various impact situations, can be done. This is going to be as extensive as that sentence was long!

Anyone who considers doing this modification should also be aware of serious personal liability that comes with the mods. If they were unfortunate enough to be involved in an incident where personal injury to a passenger was involved, then unless the modification was declared to the insurance company and they agreed the risk then personal injury claims would end up in your lap, and any company who was involved in fitting it. Unless this companies work has been tested and received Type approval or equivalent.

This litigation society we live in makes any mod that has any safety related issue a real minefield and one big reason why companies refuse to get involved.

Rog
Roger Parker

Just for information, my SEAT Leon (Hatchback) has the middle 3-point belt attached inside the top of the rear seat back, it exits the seat next to the centre head restraint. the unit is just below the trim at the top of the seat, so there must be designed stregth in the seat back....its a split seat back too..

Neil
Neil Turner

Thanks for all the advice folks!

I think it'll be a case of getting a 4 door with 5 bona fide harnesses rather than pissing about.

I've compared the two, and frankly, although the figures don't suggest it, the boot in the 4-door looks just as big as the 5-door. So the two reasons for buying the 5 door (cheaper and larger boot) are not, I think, going to be sufficient to make me risk dodgily welding a half-arsed extra seatbelt in!

Adding an aftermarket airfilter and having it break is one thing, but a seatbelt's a bit different....
David Bainbridge

> I've compared the two, and frankly, although the
> figures don't suggest it, the boot in the 4-door
> looks just as big as the 5-door

I traded a 5-door Honda Civic (same shell as R45) for the 4-door ZS180. The boot floor is actually significantly bigger in the 4-door - suitcase will lie flat with the pushchair in the ZS, where it had to be parallel to the back of the rear seats in the Honda, all of which means I can get a lot more stuff into the ZS' boot. Of course, it doesn't have the flexibility of a removable rear parcel shelf or fully folding seats - the 4-door seat backs fold but the squab stays in place, but, for me, it was the more practical option.

Plus there's that extra body rigidity ;-)

S.
Steve H

The trouble with boot sizes is you never know if they quote upto window line or total in a Hatchback. With Parcel shelf in place i'm sure you'll find the Hatchback has about 14cu/ft and the Saloon 18cu/ft....unfortunatly I don't know what the new terms are in metric...:-)

Neil
Neil Turner

This thread was discussed between 05/03/2002 and 19/03/2002

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