Babies and Toddlers in SL's: Car Seats, Harness etc

[Dringo]

I realise this question has been asked and partly answered a few times, and I am aware of QuickFit in Stanmore (and a couple of others) who are specialists in fitting rear seat harnesses for such cars.... BUT...

I have just bought a Xmas present for myself (1994 SL320), and initially thought the rear seats and lapbelts would suffice for my 2 yr old daughter... technically and legally I think I am OK to do that, but it looks to me that it would be faily simple to fit a couple of shoulder harnesses to some rear points and make the lapbelt into a 4-point? I think I had a quote for about 450 quid to do it though! Anybody done anything as an alternative - doesn't have to be certified...just ideas.

I also considered the carseat option, but there is no way one will fit in the back there and still have any leg dangling space.

I don't have the MB seat detector in the front, so would have to fit a resistor to disable it, and don't want to tamper with the system (plus I think this is really only for rear facing car seats anyway, which we moved from a while back).

Is an airbag OK in the front if the child is in a forward facing position, like sitting in a booster seat with the SL 3-point belt??

What do other SL owners do with toddlers is the basic question???

Regds,

 

[Guy]

Is an airbag OK in the front if the child is in a forward facing position, like sitting in a booster seat with the SL 3-point belt??

The problem with front passenger airbags only arises when you are using a rear facing baby seat on the front seat. This is because the rear facing seat puts your baby's head very close to the dashboard. If the airbag inflates the impact could cause serious head or neck injuries to your baby.
The same problem does not occur with forward facing seats and so you can use them in the front with an airbag if you need to. If you do it is a good idea to push the car seat back as far as it will go.

 

[Malcolm Brown]

I can't speak specifically for the R129 SL, but I do have 4-point belts in my R107 SL.

There are 2 substantial eye-bolts through the bottom of the soft-top well, and the shoulder straps clip to these. The straps have a loop at each end to slip over the lap-strap, and an anchor through which the belt can slide to get an even length on both sides. The anchors clip to the eye-bolts - out of sight under the soft-top well lid. The maker's name on the label is Carstyle Safety Products Ltd, tel 01234 352243, but that could be out of date.

Here are some pix. Sorry about the quality, but they should give you an idea. Can't show fixings in the car because hard-top is on.

 

[Dringo]

Thanks.
I'm going to take a trip to Quickfit and see the car seat they have on offer (a Graco one I think). We tried the little rascal, I mean daughter, with just the lapbelt and the problem is more one of tipping from left to right and hitting head on the side of the car etc! So an actual car seat should provide the side protection as well.

Good news is she loved the car and wouldn't get out! Shame about mum :roll:

Since I just acquired my SL320, with all this winter UK rain and ice, I haven't even taken the hard top off yet to check for bolt fixing points. And, no, I didn't even check the soft top when I bought it! Seller seemed honest (he was an estate agent )

 

[MarkSL]

I cant help with the seatbelt situation for toddlers as my kids have grown somewhat now

The good news is that my 10 yr old daughter still fits in the back of my SL quite nicely - My 13 yr old son however is a different proposition ! - if he were sitting in the back and the roll bar came up - he would certainly get a headache !


Hope you enjoy the car - and I hope the soft top is fine come spring

They do have problems with both the windows splitting and the hydraulic mechanisms not functioning correctly - there is a lot of pipework solenoids and valves to go wrong in that system!!

My bosses soft top split across all three rear windows as he was getting ready to put the Hard top on for winter. - So he will have a nice bill coming when the fine weather arrives!
We actually noticed it 1/2 hour before we were due to fit the hardtop.

Mark

 

[Malcolm Brown]

Yes, 107s suffer the split windows too - but mainly the side ones. I saw elsewhere a post by someone who got all 3 of his replaced with modern UV resistant material for £100. So I've got the soft-top removed with a view to doing the same.