Re: Rear Shoulder Harness Mod

[drew <drew@dyermaker.cs.uoguelph.ca>]

I have spent about a year on this one with my 84.5, as my son's booster
seat also requires shoulder belts.

Despite the fact that there are reportedly great similarities between the
front three point harness and the rear (as some European models were
equipped with rear 3 point belts) the retractor mechanism is mounted
differently from front to back, which means that the mechanism itself will
be different.  Because these retractors will only function properly in the
position which they were designed for, I had no desire to risk my
chidlrens safety by installing front belts in the rear.

I felt that factory was the best way to go, so I contacted our resident
German parts source Dirk, who queried VWAG for new belts (no longer
available) and searched the yards of the fatherland for me to no avail.

Fortunately another lister was able to come up with a solution.  After a
few months of searching, Andy Holmes was able to source a good used set of
UK 3 point belts, which do not use retractors, but instead use an
adjusting clip.

The belts actually came in the mail just this past week, and I haven't had
a chance to install them on the car, but they look like they will work
fine (even better than a retractor belt) with the booster seat.

If you're really looking to get shoulder belts in the back of your car,
your best bet is to try to source the factory belts from the Continent (3
point retractable) or from the UK (3 point with adjusting clip.)

I hope this helps.

Drew

On Thu, 26 Jul 2001 jgilmore@c-map.com wrote:

> Has anyone attempted to add a rear shoulder harness in an MKII?
> My daughter needs a new setup on her car seat that requires a shoulder
> harness
> and now see doesn't want to ride with me because my car doesn't have "big
> girl" seatbelts.
> 
> PS. Please don't laugh
> 
> Jeremiah
> 88 16v
> 
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Drew MacPherson, Network Analyst, University of Guelph

drew@dyermaker.cs.uoguelph.ca           |  visit the Massey-Harris page:
http://dyermaker.cs.uoguelph.ca/~drew   |  http://m-h.cs.uoguelph.ca


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