We adopted 6 more kids with three we still need to haul at home my hubby won't buy a van loves our 4wheel drive need to get seat in asap anyone done it if so how and do you have video or pictires thanks so much can't afford to take two cars or rent van for long trips

 

I think u are looking for a jump seat i think its called. Its like the ones in the back of jeeps and scouts. If u can weld u could make another 3rd row seat and weld plates to the bottom and do a plate underneath and u should be good.

 

Littlepassengerseats.com they have 4th row rear facing so getting in and out should be easy. I've been looking at getting one soon. There is alot of mixed opions on them being safe.

 

There's a lot of mixed opinions on Excursions and any other vehicle on the road be save period.


All I can say is if you're in an accident it doesn't matter what seats you have...kids not wearing their seatbelts is the number one reason for them getting hurt.


The Littlepassengerseats.com seats looked good to me, but I just can't justify the $1000 when I only have two kids and would use the extra seat for additional family and friends. I'll just tell them to drive themselves...LOL

 

The problem with them is cost need to see if we can use another seet out of any other vehical if others have done it just so hard to justify the cost when they are built to the same standards of any seat fo vehicle use just as you install them correctly should be same as what you have was looking to see if any one has done this

 

Littlepassengerseats.com

Run, as fast as you can from that company, and as a first responder I can say run as fast as you can from any homebrew solution for additional seating.

From their FAQ page:
"After some research we learned, to our surprise, that there are no requirements that we do any safety testing in order to market our seats."

True, shocking but true.

"we proceeded to do safety testing to ensure that they meet the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards."

...yet they refuse to provide either the methods they used to test, nor the results of those tests.

"An independent evaluation was completed by the California State Automobile Association (AAA of Northern California) before they allowed us to purchase advertising space in their monthly magazine."

...and they simply forget to indicate they were later ordered by AAA to stop using their name in advertisements.

"At the time of this writing we have sold in excess of 21,000 seats and have not heard of a single incident in which one of our seats has failed."

"have never heard of a single incident"?

How do they know?

"We have had several customers call to thank us for the safety of our seats after they had been involved in accidents in which the seat had kept their children safe."

...yet not one decided to provide a testimonial?

"A child booster seat is not necessary with the little passenger seat as they are designed for children so the shoulder belt fits them correctly, though we recommend that you have it inspected by highway law enforcement."

States like CA don't care about how the belt fits, it's the weight of the child...this info to someone who doesn't know the law can result in a serious fine.

And let's not forget...there is this thing in nearly all states that is basically "riding in a vehicle not designed for passengers". That's a ticket where you are caught with more passengers than the vehicle was designed (by the manufacturer, not the owner) to carry. If our rigs roll off the line designed for 7 passengers and you add seats, in some states that is a violation and you can be cited.

"The shoulder belt retractors mount on the rear of the seat frame and are installed by simply moving them from their shipping position (under the seat) and bolting them onto the designated location on the seat frame."

This line didn't come into their FAQ page until a bunch of us bombed their email account with the shortcomings - they used to just say "screw the seat mount into the body panel below the seat".

"http://www.littlepassengerseats.com/safety.html"

...they state the standards, but in the past they have refused to provide their test results when asked.

Base question to someone considering buying one of these:
What is your child's life worth?

Sure, even auto engineers get it wrong, but I'm sorry, I don't believe for one minute these things have the engineering and testing to protect anyone I know.

/End Rant

 

Here are some pics of their seats in Excursions

Robert... is there no way to safely mount these seats? The Excursion seats seem to be the one of the only seats they sell that have shoulder harnesses. I have always wanted more seating in ours

-The Great

 

It's not just about the mount.

Does it bolt directly to the frame? If it does, is the frame designed for that type of load at that point on the frame?

If any of the mount points mount using a backing plate (not through the frame), is the sheet metal surrounding the mount area designed to withstand that type of shear load?

Are the bolts they use (and any anchor plates) rates to load and quality checked?

Is the frame designed for loads on both axis? (front end/rear end + side impact?

Is the frame itself tested on both axis? Shock load and linear load?

Are the seat belts mounted to the seats to handle both axis loads?

Did the designers consider they are mounting that extra seat on top of 44 gal of fuel (for gasses)?

What if any crash tests were done, with what loads, under what conditions, what kind of injuries did the dummies suffer? What does a rollover do with a kid with their head that close to the headliner?

Did they consider the back of our rigs are fiberglass?

These seats MAY be fine, but the base question is this: Do you trust a company that uses clever wording in their site, but refuses to provide hard data? A company that ignores cease and dissist orders from AAA because they know how to skirt the law? Do the "designers" of this product have any automotive design experience? Are they engineers?

I personally would not trust the lives of anyone's kids to this seat without knowing these answers. You wouldn't buy a homebrew car to drive down a freeway at 70 that has your kids in it...you buy cars that have been crash tested and have quality controlled manufacturing processes in place, that can back up their claims with hard data.

Seeing what I've seen at accident scenes, if you were to ask me what to do if you need more seating, I'd advise you either:
1) Get a bigger vehicle or
2) Get a 2nd vehicle

Safety is not the area to cut corners, especially where kids are involved.

 

How many anchor points are on those seats and i dont think our seats are bolted to a frame and isnt the 3rd row above the gas tank too? Im not being rude or anything just asking a question.and if it has mult anchor points and a steel bracket underneath the car i dont see a prob. Some roll cages use the same idea and those are legal for the track

 

Our seats aren't bolted to the frame - but the sheet metal of the body is engineered to handle the threaded bolt welded on to the sheet metal...that's vastly different than just setting up a threaded base plate and then sandwiching the sheet metal between the seat mount and the threaded anchor point. That was my point regarding the proper engineering vs. just drilling a hole and hoping the sheet metal bends are engineered properly.

An example is found in the one photo...looks like they are using the cargo tie downs to mount. Question's I'd have:
Is that strip of steel made from sufficient thickness metal to not shear? That's a long run only anchored at the ends with what, 4-6" of span between where the seat leg bolts to it and the end anchor point? Flat steel...can that twist? How big are the holes in that metal strip? Is there enough metal left around the holes to keep the strength sufficient to handle shear forces?

Roll cages are designed by engineers to use strong anchor points...I had an old Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 W41 (set up for SCCA racing)...like this one...



...that had mount points where the front speakers go and more by the back seat area...was pretty cool to discover them when I was running wiring for the sound system I put in...but you could see the points were reinforced and engineered to accommodate the roll bars. Some of the instructions for various models of this seat call for simply drilling through the sheet metal and using a 2"x2" threaded base plate...read someone's post when their kids sat in the seat the metal 'popped' (obviously not bolted to a reinforced section of body metal).

The third row is roughly over the front side of the tank...but that 4th row seat is squarely over the tank.

But to use this is a personal choice...one I personally would discourage anyone from doing...it's not worth the risk to your passengers.

 

Buy a full size passenger van

 

x2

I'm not in favour also of an extra seat there. It's asking for trouble.

Nothing wrong with a full size van. But use winter tires if you are in a snow belt. Those 15 pax vans have their own stability issues.

 

^^^What they said. Plus, if hubby wants a 4x4 so bad, they do make 4x4 vans.

 

I will agree with the above statements. I would be looking at a full size van. You can have one converted to 4x4. This company is one I have seen a few times:

4x4 Vans : Quigley Motor Company, Inc. > Home

Not sure if you have a diesel or gas engine but I think you should be able to find the same thing in a full size van converted to 4x4. You won't lose any functionality of the X.

Plus that 4th seat doesn't looks comfortable at all. Those kids are going to keep growing and won't want to sit back there. I think a full size van would be a more long term approach. Just my 2 cents.

 

I don't know about strength but as a kid I rode in the back of a truck or in the back of a wagon without seatbelts. I came out ok and I am sure if you drive safe in a van or an Excursion you will be ok. The real problem is how you are planning on controlling 9 kids in one car? As a kid we knew two large families one with 16 the other with 23 kids. They both had an old school bus. Not the sexiest ride but so many kids congrats on the control not to slap them. When you can look for a larger car. Until then you can also add straps under the frame mounts. There are a dozen ways to support a bench with 2 kids weighing only 300 pounds max to withstand the impact forces in any accident.