300sl R107 - child seat options

300sl R107 - child seat options

Author
Discussion

jdw1234

Original Poster:

6,021 posts

214 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
I have searched at length, but this topic is quite confusing.

I have a 1989 r107 300sl. It has the rear seat option.

I have a 2 year old daughter. I would like to take her out in it (she saw it in the garage and got very excited pulling at the door handle).

What are the options for kid seats?

1). I think I can use a front facing in the front seat. Is this correct?
2). Does anyone know of a seat that can be used in the back? (no Isofix and just lap belts).




acme

2,971 posts

197 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
At 2 she'd need more than a booster a full kid seat I'd assume, I might be wrong but I'd assume the seat back is to upright?

If you don't get a definitive answer on here I can ask on the Merc club forum. Though I've never seen an article in the Gazette club magazine, mainly because they seem to appeal to much older blokes from my experience.

jdw1234

Original Poster:

6,021 posts

214 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
Cheers mate.

I'll ask on there (I just joined at your recommendation!)

I thought R107s were generally owned by stylish, cool, young guys not old men!!

Hehehe

911Thrasher

2,573 posts

198 months

Tuesday 20th January 2015
quotequote all
very interested in that as well...would be a superb ride in the summer, and my wife will mega happy to use her SL again instead of the RRover Classic (our little one is 1yr old).

Let me know fi you find out.

acme

2,971 posts

197 months

Tuesday 20th January 2015
quotequote all
jdw1234 said:
Cheers mate.

I'll ask on there (I just joined at your recommendation!)

I thought R107s were generally owned by stylish, cool, young guys not old men!!

Hehehe
Glad you're joining, forgotten I'd recommended it! I've had a couple of issues of late and the forum section on the club site has been really helpful.

Haha, I'm by far the youngest of any owner I've met!

acme

2,971 posts

197 months

Tuesday 20th January 2015
quotequote all
911Thrasher said:
very interested in that as well...would be a superb ride in the summer, and my wife will mega happy to use her SL again instead of the RRover Classic (our little one is 1yr old).

Let me know fi you find out.
Funnily enough I was going to mention that you might be able to assist, knowing that you had one!



idiotgap

2,112 posts

132 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
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I think I'm still young!

I replied to JDW's post on the http://www.mercedes-benz-club.co.uk site, but for the benefit of anyone else. I remembered I'd put some pics up there last year of one of our child seats http://www.mercedes-benz-club.co.uk/members/forum2...
The link probably won't work unless you are a member there unfortunately, but if you have a 107 you might be.

acme

2,971 posts

197 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
quotequote all
Sorry should've quantified re the age thing it's just my observation from talking to owners over the past four years. I think 107's have traditionally been owned by people who liked them when they were the current model but for whatever reason didn't have one. Now they've got the money/grown up kids etc can do it. I suspect blokes of my generation would hardly remember them at the time, but they now look like a classic car (or at least more so) so suspect they'll start to appeal to a younger generation.

I think they're becoming popular in London. We were in Soho a couple of weekends ago & there were two parked on the road!

BobTurner

392 posts

209 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
quotequote all
jdw1234 said:
I have searched at length, but this topic is quite confusing.

I have a 1989 r107 300sl. It has the rear seat option.

I have a 2 year old daughter. I would like to take her out in it (she saw it in the garage and got very excited pulling at the door handle).

What are the options for kid seats?

1). I think I can use a front facing in the front seat. Is this correct?
2). Does anyone know of a seat that can be used in the back? (no Isofix and just lap belts).
1). Yes, that'll be fine, just have the seat back as far as possible.
2). Can't see it working. My mother had a 4 point harness installed for my little sister, which seemed to work well - sister would have been older than two, though, when she started using it - 4 or 5, and this was early/ mid '90s.

The seats in the back of my SLC are very different and I can confirm that maxi cosi''s finest front and rear facing seats work well in the front and back - much to the amusement of the (old) boys in the MB club, who, for the record, are a delightful bunch of chaps smile


idiotgap

2,112 posts

132 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
quotequote all
I think they've always been popular in that there London. I see them about in Canary Wharf now from time to time and I remember seeing them parked on the street a lot over night back when I lived in various parts of Kensington, Chelsea, Pimlico around 1993 to 2000.

Back on topic... here is a photo I took of my one of my sons last year when he was 2 (not sure why he's sneering like that!). You can fit a child seat in the back with a child in it and still drive fine. I'm 6ft.



BobTurner - I'm really interested in finding out about the harness idea... as my kids get a little bigger I'd like them to sit lower down away from the window line fearing the boosters lift them too much out of the cabin. Do you have any details on what was fitted?

Edited by idiotgap on Thursday 22 January 23:08

BobTurner

392 posts

209 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
quotequote all
Gap, car is still in the family so will take some pictures next time I see it. It used the existing lap belt and looped up to a mounting point in the hood compartment - not sure who fitted it, may have been Derrick Wells (garage in Suffolk) - might be worth speaking to them.

r129sl

9,518 posts

202 months

Sunday 25th January 2015
quotequote all
I run a 129 which has the same seating arrangements (i.e. lap belts in the rear). My children are presently 18months and nearly 4.I have researched this to death and these are my conclusions.

1. Until the child can sit unaided by a child seat, he cannot go in the rear. My boy was about 3.5yrs old before I was satisfied he was OK in the back but even then I don't go out of my way to put him there.

2. Younger children have to go on the appropriate child seat (front or rear facing, whatever takes your fancy) in the front passenger seat. There is no need to put the seat all the way back unless there is a passenger airbag fitted which has not been deactivated. This is never going to be apply on a 107. The seat should still be a decent distance back for obvious reasons. Apart from anything else, you want to be able to talk to the child, so his seat is going to have to be a bit behind yours.

3. The rear seats are ill-suited to taking a child seat of any nature. First, child seats are surprisingly large and there just is not much room for one. Second, the child seat will not "sit" right on the contoured rear seat base. Third, the child seat puts the child too high up when used in the rear. I did not conclude that the lap belt was inadequate if used correctly. If anything, I can get a child seat mounted more securely using a lap belt than I can using a three-point inertia reel belt.

4. There is no legal requirement to use a child seat in the rear. This is because (1) the factory seats are homologated as child seats for the purposes of the legislation and (2) the use of a child seat would be more dangerous than going without, a situation which is subject to a specific exemption in the legislation. In any event, the child seat legislation has never been enforced: not once has there been even an attempted prosecution so far as I am aware.

5. The design rationale of the lap belt arrangement is that the rear of the front seat back provides upper body restraint for rear seat passengers. This is unattractive but so.

6. There are harness and three-point belt adaptations available from the highly respected Quick Fit SBS company. The upper mounting point is the rear shock top mount. Some cutting of non-structural metal is required.

So, you have to use the front passenger seat until they're old enough to go in the back.


911Thrasher

2,573 posts

198 months

Monday 26th January 2015
quotequote all
this isn't good news frown

can't wait until he's 4yrs old to enjoy the old girl.

idiotgap

2,112 posts

132 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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I don't think all is necessarily lost.

In my opinion the R129 has less space due to different design and more bulky front seats and more sculpted rear seats.

I believe my sons travelled safely in an R107 from just a few weeks old, in the front and the back. My car was modified by quickfitsbs to have 3 point belts in the rear which make rear placement possible. You can also remove the base cushions to get a lower placement.

acme

2,971 posts

197 months

Monday 26th January 2015
quotequote all
Re fitting three point seatbelts, I know above mentions its non structural the work that needs to be done and I'm sure that's right, but be very careful. I say that because and I know it's very different but 107's never came with an electric roof option, those that have had it fitted have done so at serious risk by weakening the seatbelt fastenings, as I understand it. This has been discussed at length within the Merc club. As I say I know it's different but be careful, what was once acceptable is now recognised as potentially very dangerous.

idiotgap

2,112 posts

132 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
Agreed, I leave this stuff to the experts at quickfitsbs (no connection but repeat customer).

I'm a member of the club and an active forum participant under a different username to idiotgap more closely related to my real name. I read the discussions on the cutting done for the hydraulic roof installations at the time and remember they were deemed quite invasive having removed structural material.

My 107 is in for it's MOT and service today, otherwise I'd have a look and see how they're mounted. Might do later on if the hammering my wallet takes doesn't render me unconscious!

acme

2,971 posts

197 months

Tuesday 27th January 2015
quotequote all
Glad my post was taken in the way it was meantsmile

Good luck with the MOT

911Thrasher

2,573 posts

198 months

Friday 15th January 2016
quotequote all
By the way I found one that fits toddler, bought it, tried it (with the hard top on) and it's a go!
Britax Prince

Note: picture to follow

jdw1234

Original Poster:

6,021 posts

214 months

Tuesday 19th January 2016
quotequote all
In the back seat? Cool!

I have just been using one in the front seat when just the 2 of us go to soft play/swimming etc. Would be great to fit whole family in and use it more!


idiotgap

2,112 posts

132 months

Tuesday 19th January 2016
quotequote all
I eagerly await the pic.

We've not used our 107 that much this year as I realised looking at the insurance renewal. Only done about 400 miles. Must get it out there a bit more!

Still committed to keeping it, even though as a family of 5 with small children (6,4,2) we can't all fit in at once.