Decided to remove the rear seat and needed a new one that would work for my needs. I built the cover from 1/2" furniture grade ply and made a cover for the boot at the same time. The carpet doesn't match, but looked better than the grey that I found. It's not as bad in real life as the pics make it seem. The carpet matches the new rear seat. It doesn't come out in the pics, but it's a very close match. Here's some shots of the cover:








And the final pic, the new child friendly rear seat! Recaro Young Sport.


The seat bolts down to the cover and the "Latch System" holds the rear at the factory mounting points. There is also another mount that connects to my rear strut bar that's not shown in the pics.

Dad will be getting his matching front seats next month!

Let me know what you think.

 

Nice job on the rear seat delete and a good idea to use the factory latch system for the child seat. It looks like a very good solution for a front impact.

However, I can't tell if the floor that the seat is bolted to is also bolted to the frame of the car. I would be concerned that a rear impact might cause the floor that the seat is bolted to to come loose and the whole seat and floor contraption would rotate backwards, moving the child's head toward the Hummer coming in through the boot.

If the floor is bolted to the frame of the MINI, then I think it is a very good solution and certainly makes the most use of the MINI's space for carrying a child. Very cool that you would go through so much trouble to ensure your kid has a safe and fun ride!!!

 

Wow what a great way to stop your kid from kicking the rear seat backs! I would agree with Yucca about the safety concern. Of course, as parents, we are VERY careful about anything to do with our kids, so I'm sure you've got that worked out.

Good job!

Richard

 

I tried to ensure that the cover is secured to the frame. It is held down by (8) 1/4" socket head bolts into blind rivet nuts mounted in the frame. Hopefully I won't have to test the setup in a real life scenario.

 

That's really, really fun. How much of a hassle is it to remove the carseat if you want the storage space? Also, remember that, unless you plan to get rid of the car in a year or two, eventually the kids will want more of a booster seat rather than a full car seat - does that have the ability to use the standard seat belts after you remove the infant harness? Looks like your seat is much like the one my son used, both as a child seat and later as a booster, until he was ready for a simple booster only (no back).

Nice job!

 

Haha, I LOVE the Recaro seat. Priceless.

-Cody

 

That is the coolest thing I have seen all day. I am serious! If I had a kid that needed a carseat, I'd do that same thing.

That kicks ***! Rock on man, rock on.

 

i would be interested to compensate you for a copy of the template.

 

1/2" ply is quite heavy, no?

 

Very cool design. Though I'm sure you took extra precautions, do you have any idea what the legality of having a child seat mounted like this?

 

ImagoX: Removing it is quick, 3 bolts, the latch clips, and the rear tether, probably 5 minutes, tops. This also converts to a booster. I plan on adding another harness bolted to the frame, similar to ones for the front seats, when she gets older.

Xalfa: 1/2" ply is a little heavy but I needed the strength (without going to exotics)to mount the seat. I can always remove the seat and covers if I go to the track.

SB: Mounting the seat in a forward position is not a legal issue, just a recommendation from the manufacturers. As for bolting it to the platform, when used in a seat, the only thing that supports it are the seeat back and the "Latch" points. Mine is bolted in 3 positions and uses the "Latch" system.
We have a Britax in the wife's car and it's only supported by the seat back and the latch connections.

 

I agree with the qwert, that is the coolest thing I've seen, too. You should have done a "how-to" with pics! Quick question, though. Is the latch system part of the car body, or did you have to detach part of the seat and bolt it down to keep the metal loops for the latch belt?

 

The latch system is part of the body. The access points in the rear seats are pass throughs to the mounting points that are bolted to the frame.

 

just make sure you have some large, thick washers on the other side of the ply to prevent the seat bolts from ripping through....

 

A metal plate under there would also significantly increase the strength of the seat base mount.

This is such a great idea and I especially like that the little tyke will be able to see the road ahead. . .

 

Thanks, nparker.

We are expecting soon, end of September, and I'm going to show this to my wife.

 

Nice setup... And I love the Recaro seat!

 

http://public.fotki.com/beardog/my_car/subs_004.html

 

Although this was a very creative and nicely built concept, I doubt that it's legal for securing your child in a vehicle. Not only that, the severe G's that are experienced in an accident have the possibility of ripping your child seat out of it's anchors.

I have to say that this is a risky idea to protect your children, especially when it is to save 10# of weight and make a new "mod" for the Mini.

I build rear seat deletes as a business and this is never a design I would entertain for the safety factory. BMW crash tests their cars to see the effects of their equipment and search out design flaws.