Child Seat in a Coupe?

Dr-G · Post by **Dr-G** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 9:32 am

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but have been in contact with David Jones (Heuer) a few times who has always given excellent advice, and I know David is a frequent contributor to this forum. I've posted this question on other websites, but thought I'd give you guys a try:

Can someone tell me if it would be legal to fit a forward facing child's car seat in a '64 E-Type Coupe with lap belts on the passenger seat? I can't see why not because there are no airbags or anything like that, and the lap belt would not allow the seat to move forward in a frontal impact. I'm wondering what would happen in the event of a rear impact - would the seat back collapse I wonder? The car is fully rebuilt, structurally sound and has brand new lap belts.

The childs seat has an integral five point harness and has side imapct padding. The seat is about 1 year old and of course it complies with the latest safety standards.

I went on the 'Quick Fit' seatbelt website, and apparently lap belts are illegal on any car in Europe from 1963, even though it would be legal to have no belts at all - which seems strange. Can anyone shed any light on this?

BTW my car is on xkedata.com, 1E20047 if anyone is interested.
Thanks,

Garth.

Post by **Heuer** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 5:19 pm

Welcome to the Forum Garth

As far as I know there is no legal reason you cannot fit a child seat to the E-Type as legislation applies to new cars and is not retrospective. Not sure how the seats would cope in a rear impact but the IRS tunnel would prevent them going all the way back so I doubt there would be a problem. Lap belts are indeed illegal in Europe (with some justification) so you should fit lap & diagonal ones to both driver and passenger side ASAP especially as you car will have the correct mounting points fitted. They were banned because research showed the belts caused injury by causing the body to fold in two with head being forced onto the dash/steering wheel or the body submarining into the footwell.

Quickfit SBS do some great belts, you can colour code the webbing and have a chrome leaper on the buckles. Worth doing I would say and you can then fit the child seat with a degree of confidence.

Bill Molloy · Post by **Bill Molloy** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:09 pm

Lap belts are indeed illegal in Europe (with some justification)

I'm restoring a 50's car and it has lap belts. Does that mean I have to replace them with 3 point belts to get it through an MOT ?

Post by **1954Etype** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 6:29 pm

Bill Molloy wrote:
Lap belts are indeed illegal in Europe (with some justification)
I'm restoring a 50's car and it has lap belts. Does that mean I have to replace them with 3 point belts to get it through an MOT ?

I think you will find that if you have belts fitted they must be in good condition - lap or 3 point makes no difference to the MOT. If you remove them, however, you won't fail either as cars pre 196? were not fitted as standard equipment. Best off confirming all this with the MOT station you are going to use.

Post by **Heuer** » Wed May 20, 2009 4:33 pm

Garth

Happened to be talking to someone about seat belts and child restraints. Seems you would need to have Isofix fittings professionally installed to attach a modern child's seat. You could fit a rear facing child seat in the front passenger seat providing it is fitted with three point seat belts in good condition. You must inform your insurance company if you are going to have Isofix fittings installed and it would be wise to inform them if you are going to use a rear facing child seat in the front.

I came across this but not sure if this was an official Jaguar offering ? Angus Moss:

Post by **1954Etype** » Wed May 20, 2009 6:45 pm

Heuer wrote:Garth

Happened to be talking to someone about seat belts and child restraints. Seems you would need to have Isofix fittings professionally installed to attach a modern child's seat. You could fit a rear facing child seat in the front passenger seat providing it is fitted with three point seat belts in good condition. You must inform your insurance company if you are going to have Isofix fittings installed and it would be wise to inform them if you are going to use a rear facing child seat in the front.

I came across this but not sure if this was an official Jaguar offering:

David, that is my picture! Story behind it is I got a call from a gent who had owned an E Type since new and still had it. Was I interested in writing an article on him and the car. Minutes later I was on his doorstep with pad and camera. The seat was indeed fitted by the factory on his request (don't think it was an optional extra).

Post by **Heuer** » Wed May 20, 2009 9:17 pm

Angus

All power to Google Images! Fascinating stuff which presumably shows us Jaguar were prepared to do anything the customer wanted. Can't be many 1963/4 child seats around. When I was a kid my dad just told me to "get in", front or back, it did not matter. Anyway ? to Angus for the photo and my post duly amended

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