Car seat brackets advice

[AdamMann]

Hi guys.

I am replacing the seats in my camper van (Toyota liteace noah). Now I have managed to get the seats out and have bought a set of almost new Ford Fiesta seats, which fit into the space nicely BUT I have to make some brackets to get them to fit into the fittings properly.

I have made a template and will be cutting some thin plywood to make sure the fit properly and have the right holes, measurements etc.

Now my question is what do I make them out of ?
Now 5mm steel would be the obvious choice but what about other materials like sheet nylon, aluminium, wood etc

Taking into account that these are the front seats and not the rear ones and having to make sure the van will pass it’s MOT etc.

Any advise would be great full and taken into consideration

[M4cruiser]

Hello

Are the seat belt buckles on the seat itself?

In which case it needs to be substantial metal, not plastic etc, because the seat fixings are part of the seat belt.

[AdamMann]

Hi. I believe (but will check) that the new seats have the seatbelt clips already on them as they were part of the frame from the old car.

I will need to replace the actual belts but they are separate to the seats.

[PaulKemp]

You need mounts of a similar material from the car the seats came from.
Inna crash high G forces are seen, the seat belt actually gives a bit to reduce the g felt by the occupier.
Are you bolting the seats to the original seat mounts in the car via your new brackets? If not you will need load spreading plates under the floor.
A good reference is the kit car IVA manual
It has pictures