Turn a 5 seat car into a 6 seat car......

[Hungrymc]

Hello all, I've seen an interesting type of child seat but I just can't get my head around how it can be legal. Apparently, you can fit it to a 5 seat car and legally carry 6 people. Very clever if so, but I thought the number of occupants was a fundamental part of a cars type approval? Maybe this counts as the car being sufficiently modified to superseded that....?

https://multimac.co.uk/4_child_car_seat

[Charlie Croker mk2]

I would have thought there would be insurance implications with this IE you insure a 5 Seater car an then you modify it to a 6 seater with the risk in large claim .

[Hungrymc]

Charlie Croker mk2 said:

I would have thought there would be insurance implications with this IE you insure a 5 Seater car an then you modify it to a 6 seater with the risk in large claim .

I know what you mean. The manufacturer say they have insurance approval but that you should notify the insurer.... but I would have thought insurers wouldn't be happy with increasing the number of passengers - far more likely they'd be happy with the 3 seat version in the back of a 5 seat car.

They also state its approved to ECE 44-04 but as far as I can tell, that's a sled test and doesn't consider the car figment.

I still struggle with there not being some vehicle type approval issue.

[elanfan]

Insurers WILL almost certainly have an issue with that. When I worked for them they did everything they could not to insure minibuses. Nothing to do with any sort of safety issue but purely down to the potential size of a claim they could get for personal injury. Worst case scenario up to 14/15 people with serious injuries = massive claim from one accident. Car max of 5 persons = smaller claim. Adding a further occupant might well breach type approval rules but I don't think insurers could avoid a claim as the claimants would all be third parties (to the driver) but if they knew about it would as minimum load the premium but more likely ask you to insure elsewhere.

[Hungrymc]

I agree on insurance, it feels a bit iffy so you'd expect them to run a mile. But that's only the case for the 4 seat version, I'm sure the 3 and 2 seat versions are more inline with normal child seats in terms of risk. Maybe the difference in a 3 seat is needing to be clear how the seat (which looks pretty substantial and carries the mass of 3 kids instead of one) is attached and stays attached in crash - but that's the 3 seat.

I'm still struggling with how the 4 seat version can be used legally in a 5 seat car. If I bolt an extra seat belt in, it doesn't suddenly make my car legal to carry extra passengers does it?

[njw1]

When I read the thread title I was expecting something like this.......