Sports bucket and Full bucket seats with children
Sports bucket and Full bucket seats with children
Author
Discussion

Jimbo_vx

Original Poster:

328 posts

253 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
I know Porsche says no to child restraint systems. That sounds like its not tested for seats with their own restraint systems.

What about booster seats with back. Mine are 8 and 5 years old and are in booster seats with backs now which use the car's own seat belt.

Are they ok with buckets or not?

I can't seem to find a definitive answer and the issue seems to be around the in seat airbag deployment?

Oz83

716 posts

156 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
Have you checked that you can turn the passenger airbags off?

On my GT4 there is no airbag switch. Apparently on cars where buckets are specced from the factory, the airbag switch is not fitted (although all the warning stickers on the sun visor etc are present). I asked at the OPC about retrofitting the airbag switch but they obviously weren't too keen.

Shame as my 4 year old keeps asking to go for a ride.



arcamalpha

1,112 posts

181 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
Perhaps an ignorant question, but whatMs wrong with an air bag for a forward facing child?

churchie2856

486 posts

207 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
Disabling the airbag is required when using a rear facing seat (typically for very young children or babies). This is because the front of the seat is very close to the air bag as it deploys and can have serious implications.

Once the child is in a forward facing seat, even with a booster, I see no reason to disable the passenger airbag - its a safety device that works in conjunction with a seat belt as bodies are thrown forward.

The challenge might be getting a group 3 car seat to fit the seat. Try a few. I used to put a towel between the child seat and the passenger seat to stop it scuffing the leather.

Oz83

716 posts

156 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
arcamalpha said:
Perhaps an ignorant question, but whatMs wrong with an air bag for a forward facing child?
I assumed that because the child's head and torso would be much lower than an adults, that the front airbag could cause serious injury. Please correct me if I'm wrong, it's just something in my head that I must have read a long time ago.

Porsche say that you must not run any type of booster seat or child seat with the fixed bucket seats. I tried my daughters seat in the car and it fits well. It's a forward facing child seat that uses the original seat belt. Obviously I'm not going to drive like a nob with my little girl in the car, but it would be useful to take her to nursery or along to the shop with me. However the last thing I'd want to happen is for a low impact bump causing the passenger airbags to go off resulting in some kind of injury to my daughter.

There must be a reason why Porsche don't fit the airbag switch. Of course my assumption about the airbag might be completely unfounded, so I should probably do some research.

Edited by Oz83 on Monday 2nd March 20:17

churchie2856

486 posts

207 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
I think Porsche’s official group 3 seat likely does not fit in the bucket seat, nor do they offer Isofix in the bucket and my guess their group 3 uses this as part of the mounting (rather than rely solely on the seat belt).

In my opinion, I think you’ll be fine with any quality forward facing child seat as long as it fits the bucket seat and the child. Slide it back on the runners too; check all is nice n tight and don’t drive like a tt.

Go and try a few in Halfords.

jimmy p

987 posts

183 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
I used a booster seat in my 987 spyder with buckets. It fitted fine.

Cheib

24,580 posts

192 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
churchie2856 said:
Disabling the airbag is required when using a rear facing seat (typically for very young children or babies). This is because the front of the seat is very close to the air bag as it deploys and can have serious implications.

Once the child is in a forward facing seat, even with a booster, I see no reason to disable the passenger airbag - its a safety device that works in conjunction with a seat belt as bodies are thrown forward.

The challenge might be getting a group 3 car seat to fit the seat. Try a few. I used to put a towel between the child seat and the passenger seat to stop it scuffing the leather.
I think you need to do some reading...Airbags designed for adults can injure children if they’re sitting in the front passenger seat. So there’s actually a very good reason to disable the front airbag.

I think the problem vis a vis buckets is that booster seats are not designed for them and buckets aren’t designed for booster seats...so the booster seat wont sit right. Probably a danger the child is too high as the booster will sit on the bolsters and not on the seat base,

short-shift

346 posts

196 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
I'm a bit rusty on this now but, from (hazy) memory there is a Techquipment accessory kit (for dealer fit only) for the passenger-side airbag switch. Again, from memory, the switch is key operated.

As has been said above, it is very important to disable the passenger airbag whenever there is a risk of an 'out of position occupant' and this includes small children (and rear facing child seats).

I think that Porsche Cars North America has just changed its advice for allowing child seats in buckets - they used not to be permitted at all but they are now. I can't remember where I read this but it was likely Rennlist if you want to have a look.

I must have my notes on all of this somewhere; shout if you'd like me to see if I can find it.

James

Edited by short-shift on Monday 2nd March 22:45

churchie2856

486 posts

207 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
I stand corrected ...

Reading the manual (718) it says "Always switch off the passenger airbag before using a child restraint system on the passenger seat". This applies regardless of seat design. Talks about the airbag being designed for persons of a minimum size.

It also states adjust the passenger seat so that there is solid contact contact between the passenger seat and the child seat - likely this is not possible to achieve with the fixed and full-buckets.


Spyder75

194 posts

79 months

Monday 2nd March 2020
quotequote all
On my RS with 918 buckets I got the dealer to retrofit the airbag deactivation. It’s a tequipment part listed for the car. Have my little fella in the with his seat no problems.

Oz83

716 posts

156 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
quotequote all
Spyder75 said:
On my RS with 918 buckets I got the dealer to retrofit the airbag deactivation. It’s a tequipment part listed for the car. Have my little fella in the with his seat no problems.
You don't happen to have the part # do you? :-)

Spyder75

194 posts

79 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
quotequote all
Oz83 said:
You don't happen to have the part # do you? :-)
Not to hand but I found it on the tequipment site, listed for my car.

braddo

11,879 posts

205 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
quotequote all
Cheib said:
I think you need to do some reading...Airbags designed for adults can injure children if they’re sitting in the front passenger seat. So there’s actually a very good reason to disable the front airbag.
It's not that clear cut - in a serious impact that triggers airbags a potential injury to a child from the airbag could easily be less than injury from having no airbag at all. A terrible thought to consider either way...

To the OP, having the passenger seat slid all the way back mitigates (partially) against potential airbag injury for the child. If you have a child seat that fits well in the seat, I would go for it (disclaimer: personal opinion biggrin ).

churchie2856

486 posts

207 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2020
quotequote all
The link to (981) Techquipment page for airbag deactivation is:

https://content3.eu.porsche.com/prod/pag/tequipmen...

Part no: 991 044 800 71

The page states: "Note: The passenger airbag must be deactivating when carrying children weighing up to 27 kg."