Child Seat Options - 5up

Ajspicer · Jul 16, 2015

We are expecting our second child in September and whilst this will not present a problem for the majority of time in terms of accommodating us in the Cali, if my Mum wants to come out for the day or a weekend away it will = 5up!

I have had a quote for a 5th seat rail to be retro fitted at a cost of approx £550 + the cost of a seat but there must be another simple option to get two child seats and 3 adults in, even if it means making a customised floor mount of some description that spans the two existing seat runners/rails in our Cali.

I have thought about fabricating a metal frame that spans the two rails and then the child seat fits to that with isofix, the frame could be held to the rails using the hold down bolts found on the Cali Beach multiflex board.

Any other ideas or solutions would be much appreciated as approx £1000 for a 5th seat setup that has to be stored when not in use is a bit of a pain considering it will only be used a couple of times a year.

Many thanks in anticipation of some clever ideas!

Andrew.

WelshGas · Jul 16, 2015

I think you would have a problem selling that to your insurance company.
I would have thought you have 2 legal/insurable possibilities.
1. 3 rd rail and a 5 th seat.
2. Change the front passenger seat for a double bench. You can even get a swivel mount for it. Commonly found on T5's and is a VW accessory, so crash tested.

Ajspicer · Jul 16, 2015

We had a swivel double bench in our old California-ish conversion, the seat is pretty uncomfortable when travelling any kind of distance and I think we would really miss the opportunity to be able to walk through, something we have grown to love.

Given further consideration to insurance etc, I guess the standard 5th seat may be the only option, or hide one of the kids in the fridge!

Ajspicer · Jul 17, 2015

I spent the evening last night thinking about cheaper alternatives and think I might have a plan using a T5 front double bench seat in the back of the Cali on the existing 2 runners, using multiflex board locking pins or similar. This would provide the extra seat required with lots of storage below the seat. There are countless ones available on ebay for very reasonable money. With an Inka cover to match the others it will not look out of place.

If this proves to be successful I will post updates in due course.

Andrew.

david white · Jul 17, 2015

It is humans in the rear so the only option for me would be to sell the van and get a replacement with the 3rd rail. Drastic but not worth the risk of retrofitting new rails that have not been crash tested

Ajspicer · Jul 17, 2015

david white said:
It is humans in the rear so the only option for me would be to sell the van and get a replacement with the 3rd rail. Drastic but not worth the risk of retrofitting new rails that have not been crash tested

The 3rd rail retro fit option would be fitted with the factory reinforcement kit supplied by VW so this is a like for like modification and would be exactly the same as a factory Cali with the 3 rails.

andyinluton · Jul 17, 2015

Andrew a front double bench fitted in the back would only have one seat belt as when fitted in the front, one belt is fitted to the door pillar.

Ajspicer · Jul 17, 2015

andyinluton said:
Andrew a front double bench fitted in the back would only have one seat belt as when fitted in the front, one belt is fitted to the door pillar.

One seat belt is all we need, we can use the other half of the seat for bags etc and the storage space below to offset the lost floor space.

andyinluton · Jul 17, 2015

This is exactly what I'm looking for, unfortunately I'm assuming a t4 Westfalia uses a different rail system apart from that there are none for sale anywhere. It spans the two rails just needs the right fixings on the feet.

Claudiopinto · Jul 17, 2015

already spent some time on the option of a 5th seater on my 4motion. Havn´t found any real good option for me... but for me ignoring legal issues, I think it's best to convert the 2 seat belt's in the rear bench into a 3 seat belt option.
When my baby was going on isofix, i could put here into isofix in the middle and then got both her brothers sat at each side and got connected to the existing 2 seat belts. Got 2 extension belt's for easier connection and was a solution for some time.

Ajspicer · Jul 17, 2015

Claudiopinto said:
already spent some time on the option of a 5th seater on my 4motion. Havn´t found any real good option for me... but for me ignoring legal issues, I think it's best to convert the 2 seat belt's in the rear bench into a 3 seat belt option.
When my baby was going on isofix, i could put here into isofix in the middle and then got both her brothers sat at each side and got connected to the existing 2 seat belts. Got 2 extension belt's for easier connection and was a solution for some time.

That sounds very interesting, so are you saying you can fit an isofix seat to the rear bench seat and still have the two seat belts free for two other passengers? is there any way you could send me a picture of your setup please?

Thank you

Ajspicer · Jul 17, 2015

Ajspicer said:
That sounds very interesting, so are you saying you can fit an isofix seat to the rear bench seat and still have the two seat belts free for two other passengers? is there any way you could send me a picture of your setup please?

Thank you

I have just found an image on Facebook of two people sitting either side of an isofix child seat in the rear of a California. Looks like my problem could be solved for the price of a new child seat

gregspam · Jul 18, 2015

Ajspicer said:
I have just found an image on Facebook of two people sitting either side of an isofix child seat in the rear of a California. Looks like my problem could be solved for the price of a new child seat

Be good to see a picture of this, curious if I can squeeze a child seat in the middle between two adults on the regular belts.

Ajspicer · Jul 18, 2015

Photo via the below web link.....

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1917422222526&set=o.22086694421&type=1&theater

AndyFromTheBrac · Jul 20, 2015

we had a similar challenge trying to accommodate everyone - 5th seat is the obsv winner, but expensive retro fit as you say. Nice seeing that 3-up picture, though not sure how that would fly with your insurance co? spanning the 2 sets of Isofix - we did find a company (Uberbus) who could fit the 2-seat kombi-style seat into the middle, but this was a conversion using reimo rails (I think) not sure if it would just fit into the existing Cali rails?
http://www.uberbus.co.uk/news/6-sea...p-me-duck#!webgallery_prettyPhoto_199[199]/8/

Ajspicer · Jul 20, 2015

Thanks to everyone who has inputted into this post, I tried an Isofix base and seat on the weekend and there was plenty of room either side for Mum and our other little one. This option will see us well for the foreseeable future albeit a little cosy.

I also checked our V5 and it stated that our Cali has 5 seats so all good there should we ever get stopped by the police etc.

Thanks again.

Andrew.