Rear facing seats - is this a daft idea?

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MiddleAgedDirtBag

MiddleAgedDirtBag

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Hi there, former Stage 1 driver here (I didn't need to pay for the fuel thankfully!). Now have a young family and thinking about maybe getting a Series as a second car, for getting out in the local countryside etc. Don't have one yet though I've been closely following all manner of eBay auctions...

Thing is, like many people I think I'd find the 88 easier to live with than the 109. We already have a seven seat people carrier so I don't need the Series equivalent. But with two kids the seating in the 88 is... workable perhaps, but not ideal.

Looked at some of the prices for forward-facing rear seats from the likes of Exmoor Trim. Nice, but ouch :eek: Also not clear if they fit a Series.

Then I had a minor brainwave. Why not mount one or two rear-facing seats at the front of the load area behind the front seats? They could be a couple of the flip-up ones that you normally see mounted sideways, which would give back most of the load area when not in use. They're much cheaper especially second hand. And intuitively the whole thing feels safer than sideways-facing seats. The main downside would be watching the world go by in reverse, which the kids might actually quite like. Could be super fun with a soft top.

I did a bit of Googling around and can't find any examples of such a setup. I doubt I'm the only person to have thought of this. So what am I missing, if anything, that makes it a bad idea?

Bear in mind I don't currently have a vehicle and I'm just going from what I remember. It's quite possible there's an obvious physical reason for not doing this that I can't check by just going out to the garage, so be kind please :D

[edit]
Further idea: maybe a two-person fold up bench seat would also work... dimensions look appropriate and it'd fit with the "look" of a Series.
[/edit]
 
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My first thought is crash protection in a series is simply crap, soft top even worse, if you had proper roll bar (like your rally car) then yes its a great idea, safe and fun, seats would need to have head rests in case of a frontal impact.
 
I don't think you could fit two rear facing seats because of the raised bits that go over the wheels and extend for the length of the load space. I'm not too sure on the rules regarding rear seat belts, my 1977 109 doesn't have them but they became compulsory later on. For vehicles exempt from rear seat belts, if you fit seats where there were none originally, I think you may need them and in any case it would be a good idea, especially for carrying children. So, rear seat belt mounts would need careful consideration, mot testers would look closely at that.

Col
 
Yes, very good idea to fit rear facing seats. The wheel boxes/arches would make leg room tricky, but for younger kids having a rear facing bench seat would be fine as they could sit in the middle with lots of room.

A decent seat belt system, anchored to the chassis, would be wise.

Rear facing seats are the safest.
 
You'd want some kind of head restraint for rear facing seats or even a minor bump would be painful at best. Also you don't want rear passengers headbutting front passengers!
On a more practical note, I'm not sure i could survive traveling backwards, in a lumpy bumpy series!! Certainly not without a sick bag
 
Once travelled in a forces VC10, all the seats were rear facing, as that is apparently the safest, so yes, go for it but as others have said you would need headrests.

And maybe sickbags!
Anyone breaking a VC10 anywhere?;););)
Come with a handy pouch for sickbags!
 
Thanks for the replies. Sounds like something worth investigating more then. I did a bit more reading and I think rear facing seats would be legal from a DfT/DVLA perspective if they had either a) three point belts or b) lap belts with car seats that have their own restraints, or c) ISOfix (haha, yeah right :p) and again their own restraints. Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and haven't had that officially confirmed by anyone.

Forgot about the forces; yes they do often have rear-facing seats for safety reasons. Though not always - I travelled on a couple of prop-driven troop transports in my time which were rear-facing, but some of the jets were forward facing if I recall correctly - perhaps the VIPs didn't like flying round backwards!

Good points about head restraint. Also about the Series not being the most crashworthy vehicle. This would be very much a weekend wagon for bimbling around the fells, occasional trips to the tip, shops etc. It's going to be driven relatively slowly, cautiously, and not for huge numbers of miles. I have one route in mind that's about a 50mi round trip on A/B roads; maybe we'd do a bit more than that but not regularly. I used to do hundreds of miles in the Stage 1, but then again I was younger and sillier! The primary family car is still going to be the people carrier. Part of the appeal of a Series over, say, a Defender is that I get to relive some of that character. But part of it is also at this age almost any Series can sit in the garage during the week/winter months without costing a great deal in fixed costs. It's supposed to be a fun car, a bit of a luxury item. Irony: the lack of any luxury at all because it's a Series Land Rover :D

Perhaps if/when I get a vehicle I'll lash something up rear-facing and see if people's stomachs/inner ears can cope with it first. At least you can hose the back out if it's all a bit too stomach-churn-inducing.
 
Those Ebay seats look a good idea. They look like lap belts, some minibuses have inertia belts built in, just make sure seat is securely bolted down.
As a thought, could you fit the rearmost seats from Discovery ? They fold-up pretty neatly. let us know how you get on.
 
The Saab 95 estate had a third row of seats that popped up out of the boot floor, on some models. They were rear facing. We used to sit in them, mate and I and pop the hatchback and "machine gun" the car behind. Sometimes had a funny effect. We used to call them the rear gunnner seats. Never made us sick come to think of it!
Should have been a bit more grown up seeing as how we were 19 or so at the time!:):):)
 
MiddleAgedDirtBag said:
Thanks for the replies. Sounds like something worth investigating more then. I did a bit more reading and I think rear facing seats would be legal from a DfT/DVLA perspective if they had either a) three point belts or b) lap belts with car seats that have their own restraints, or c) ISOfix (haha, yeah right :p) and again their own restraints. Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and haven't had that officially confirmed by anyone.

Forgot about the forces; yes they do often have rear-facing seats for safety reasons. Though not always - I travelled on a couple of prop-driven troop transports in my time which were rear-facing, but some of the jets were forward facing if I recall correctly - perhaps the VIPs didn't like flying round backwards!

Good points about head restraint. Also about the Series not being the most crashworthy vehicle. This would be very much a weekend wagon for bimbling around the fells, occasional trips to the tip, shops etc. It's going to be driven relatively slowly, cautiously, and not for huge numbers of miles. I have one route in mind that's about a 50mi round trip on A/B roads; maybe we'd do a bit more than that but not regularly. I used to do hundreds of miles in the Stage 1, but then again I was younger and sillier! The primary family car is still going to be the people carrier. Part of the appeal of a Series over, say, a Defender is that I get to relive some of that character. But part of it is also at this age almost any Series can sit in the garage during the week/winter months without costing a great deal in fixed costs. It's supposed to be a fun car, a bit of a luxury item. Irony: the lack of any luxury at all because it's a Series Land Rover :D

Perhaps if/when I get a vehicle I'll lash something up rear-facing and see if people's stomachs/inner ears can cope with it first. At least you can hose the back out if it's all a bit too stomach-churn-inducing.
Click to expand...
Custom-made roll-over bars make great places to put the upper mounts on three point harnesses. Kit car guys have known this for a long time now! do make sure they are high enough though!
 
MiddleAgedDirtBag said:
Thanks for the replies. Sounds like something worth investigating more then. I did a bit more reading and I think rear facing seats would be legal from a DfT/DVLA perspective if they had either a) three point belts or b) lap belts with car seats that have their own restraints, or c) ISOfix (haha, yeah right :p) and again their own restraints. Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and haven't had that officially confirmed by anyone.

Forgot about the forces; yes they do often have rear-facing seats for safety reasons. Though not always - I travelled on a couple of prop-driven troop transports in my time which were rear-facing, but some of the jets were forward facing if I recall correctly - perhaps the VIPs didn't like flying round backwards!

Good points about head restraint. Also about the Series not being the most crashworthy vehicle. This would be very much a weekend wagon for bimbling around the fells, occasional trips to the tip, shops etc. It's going to be driven relatively slowly, cautiously, and not for huge numbers of miles. I have one route in mind that's about a 50mi round trip on A/B roads; maybe we'd do a bit more than that but not regularly. I used to do hundreds of miles in the Stage 1, but then again I was younger and sillier! The primary family car is still going to be the people carrier. Part of the appeal of a Series over, say, a Defender is that I get to relive some of that character. But part of it is also at this age almost any Series can sit in the garage during the week/winter months without costing a great deal in fixed costs. It's supposed to be a fun car, a bit of a luxury item. Irony: the lack of any luxury at all because it's a Series Land Rover :D

Perhaps if/when I get a vehicle I'll lash something up rear-facing and see if people's stomachs/inner ears can cope with it first. At least you can hose the back out if it's all a bit too stomach-churn-inducing.
Click to expand...



You have to be really careful of car mods and land rovers, quite some years ago there was the guy in his (110 I think) with kids off roading, car crashed/slid fof the road into some water, kids died, three Iirc?

Big investiagtion, and they found loads of faults which to fair are pretty much std practice std practice with old cars and especially land rovers, one that sticks in my mind was car had different sized callipers on each side of the car, probably not responsible for the crash, but shows the level of detail the authoriities can go to if needed.
 
Agreed. It was a very tragic case and some of the incriminating (damning) evidece was found in things that had been posted online on discussion forums.
WRT to rear facing sets, my take on this is:
1 read the Goverment guidance, there is actually quite a lot and its helpfull:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...verting-a-van-to-carry-passengers-in-the-rear
2 Because its children check the separate regs for children.
https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules
3 If you fit seatbelts follow the guidance. This is different for side facing and rear facing.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/seat-belts-in-cars-and-dual-purpose-vehicles
4 Fit purpose designed vehicle seats, obviously the easy way is to get the LR rear seats
5 There's nothing inhearntly wrong with rear facing seats, the Mercedes and Volvo estate 3rd row were are?) rear facing. They got a very bad reputation in the US as child killers becuase many 60's estate wagons had a rear facing 3rd row and a wind down rear window so the children (no seatbelts) were ejected out the rear window in even minor rear end shunts.
The links I've posted are examples, there's more but it should get you started.
 
lynall said:
You have to be really careful of car mods and land rovers, quite some years ago there was the guy in his (110 I think) with kids off roading, car crashed/slid fof the road into some water, kids died, three Iirc?

Big investiagtion, and they found loads of faults which to fair are pretty much std practice std practice with old cars and especially land rovers, one that sticks in my mind was car had different sized callipers on each side of the car, probably not responsible for the crash, but shows the level of detail the authoriities can go to if needed.
Click to expand...
I remember that too.
Think he was a mod on lro?
Gresh user name, again, iirc.
 
looks hard to get out the back in a hurry. have to fold seats out of the way . then somebody has to swing spare wheel away then open tailgate.
 
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