Baby Seats - please help

[Amber Robinson]

Has anyone out there in Canada successfully installed a newborn baby seat in the back seat of their vanagon? I have a 1977 camper van and am expecting in June. I was told that noone would install the bolt that I need to anchor the seat due to liability issues. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated :) Thanks!!

[Zorba The Geek]

Hi Amber,

Can't help you with the mechanics who have lawyers looking over their shoulders, but I know that later model Vanagons at least have a pre-existing mounting location for a three way belt retrofit. Can't help with a "77 Camper though. When my kids were young all that was required was to secure the infant car seats with a lap belt. I understand times have changed and things are more complicated now. I have a great picture of my mother in the middle of the rear seat in my bus with a kid in a car seat on either side. Reading your request brought back these and many other happy young family bus memories. Good luck with your search.

Tony

[Kathleen Hines]

He used our lap belt to secure the base for the baby car seats with 5 point harness that click in serperate base. ours came a buggy and base , The base was always in bus and you just click seat in and out. and the seat then just clciks in your buggy when you get out :)
either a 3 in 1 or a quatro
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From infanthood into toddlerhood, this is the only stroller you will ever need to purchase. Graco Quattro Tour Travel System comes with three coordinating pieces: the stroller with a strong aluminum frame, a SnugRide32 infant car seat, and an adjustable base which remains in your car. Together, the system allows you to move your baby in seconds from the car to the stroller and back again. This completely eliminates the hassle of removing the baby from the seat!

[otto]

We have a 1989 Vanagon camper.
Currently we have a 5-point laptbelt type seat beside the closet that is held in with the lapbelt as well as the line which goes over the seat and down the back to hook into where the lapbelt bolt is. Simple. Simpler when you see it than try and read/understand it.
On the outside side of the bench, I added a lapbelt which I took out of a wrecked VW passenger van. NOTE: the lapbelts from the passenger vans work perfectly because it's all the same frame... open up the panel and, voila, there's the space for the parts/bolts.
One thing I noted was this: if you need to have an anchor bolt to tie in the top part of the baby seat... then look at a lapbelt setup in a similar year passenger van. The same place that the lapbelt top portion bolts into the frame... well... there's the same bolt hole just waiting in the camper version. Then just use that for the anchor.
Sorry if I don't explain too well... but it's so easy once you see a passenger van with a lapbelt... then you look in the same area on your westy... pop off a bit of the panel ... and you'll see the bolt hole just waiting.

Good luck!

[otto]

Update to my note: Seeing as you have a 1977 Bus... you are going to need to actually drill into the vehicle.
I was just checking on GoWesty.com ( http://gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=3218&category_id=&... ) and they say this about the 3-point seat belt system:

"Starting in 1989, all Vanagon passenger vans came standard with three-point retracting seat belts in both outboard rear seating locations. However, no pop-top Vanagon was ever offered in the U.S. with three-point belts for the rear seating locations. Strange, indeed.
.....
• In all Vanagons, the reel mounts into a factory-threaded hole (no drilling or welding required).
• In Buses, drilling into the vehicle is required."

I would suggest emailing or calling GoWesty. Very good resource. They may be able to point you in the right direction.

Luck!
otto

[whc03grady]

There are threaded holes already drilled in bay window buses (which the OP has, not a Vanagon, if the year is 1977). Some countries required 3-point seatbelts in back so VW just put the holes in all of them.