Rear seat removal

Gumpo · Veteran Member

Rear seat removal

Bicyclecamper · Guru

No it doesn't but depending on which state your in, you may have to put your seats back for registration, here in NSW, that would be the case.

Gumpo · Veteran Member

Thanks for that . Was misled then. I failed to see how it would alter the structural integrity of the vehicle if you bolted a fabricated component to the seat mounting foundation. I am in Qld so its probably a jail able offence cheers

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

It is not (necessarily) a structural question.
Every vehicle has a specified number of seating positions. By removing some, it does not then comply with the registration conditions.
Cheers,
Peter

yobarr · Guru

Gumpo wrote:
Thanks for that . Was misled then. I failed to see how it would alter the structural integrity of the vehicle if you bolted a fabricated component to the seat mounting foundation. I am in Qld so its probably a jail able offence cheers

My understanding is that they may be temporarily removed ,so,if challenged,explain that you have simply taken them out for a short time.But I have been told that to have seats permanently removed you need an engineer's inspection.Cheers

dabbler · Guru

Qld will accept a "temporary" rear seat removal and replacement if it can be restored. That usually means leaving the seat belts in place.

Gumpo · Veteran Member

Hey thanks all for the input much appreciated. Yes it will only be temporary and the seat belts remain. I can be confident now and go ahead and design something. Cheers all

Possum3 · Guru

Technically; if rear seats are removed the vehicle is no longer compliant, very few coppers will start issuing "Canaries" unless they are given lip, but they can. If fitting items other than manufactured Drawers or Fridge slides you must ensure that the fitments do not create a hazard in the case of an accident - consider fitting a cargo barrier.
If you are intending to remove seats permanently getting an Engineer's Certification would be the prudent thing to do.

-- Edited by Possum3 on Sunday 28th of November 2021 10:44:22 PM

Cupie · Guru

I temporarily removed the third row of seats from my GQ Patrol when I brought it in 1998. It's been in the shed ever since. (BTW the guy who had the tug before me stored the rear seats in his garage - forgot to give me the head rests! Buggar.).

When setting out on a vanning trip I usually take out the second row as well.

Is it Legal? Who cares? Not me.

This subject has been canvassed many times in the past with the usual range of conflicting 'expert' views.

IMHO it's a bit like those who tie down stuff on their roof racks with rope. Some say that that's illegal & reckon that tie down straps must be used and they go on to say that for kayaks, both front & rear straps must be used. Interesting that you see lots of busted ratchet straps on the highways, but rarely much rope.

peatop · Senior Member

Cupie wrote:
I temporarily removed the third row of seats from my GQ Patrol when I brought it in 1998. It's been in the shed ever since. (BTW the guy who had the tug before me stored the rear seats in his garage - forgot to give me the head rests! Buggar.).
When setting out on a vanning trip I usually take out the second row as well.

Is it Legal? Who cares? Not me.
This subject has been canvassed many times in the past with the usual range of conflicting 'expert' views.

IMHO it's a bit like those who tie down stuff on their roof racks with rope. Some say that that's illegal & reckon that tie down straps must be used and they go on to say that for kayaks, both front & rear straps must be used. Interesting that you see lots of busted ratchet straps on the highways, but rarely much rope.

Like Possum said most coppers wont bother you about these issues, if you get pulled over for a RW inspection you will get done, speaking from the ropes V straps this is somewhat an individual circumstance thing IMO, you should not use ropes or ratchet straps to tie a Kayak down cam lock straps are the go to (I'm a kayaker) I have found on some occasions that ropes work best in certain situations. My guess the reason you don't see much broken rope on Hwy's is it's barley used these days but in the past it was everywhere. I have all 3 types of fixings and also another similar to a cam lock that works the same as the old chain dogs.

Cupie · Guru

peatop wrote:
Cupie wrote:
I temporarily removed the third row of seats from my GQ Patrol when I brought it in 1998. It's been in the shed ever since. (BTW the guy who had the tug before me stored the rear seats in his garage - forgot to give me the head rests! Buggar.).
When setting out on a vanning trip I usually take out the second row as well.

Is it Legal? Who cares? Not me.
This subject has been canvassed many times in the past with the usual range of conflicting 'expert' views.

IMHO it's a bit like those who tie down stuff on their roof racks with rope. Some say that that's illegal & reckon that tie down straps must be used and they go on to say that for kayaks, both front & rear straps must be used. Interesting that you see lots of busted ratchet straps on the highways, but rarely much rope.
Like Possum said most coppers wont bother you about these issues, if you get pulled over for a RW inspection you will get done, speaking from the ropes V straps this is somewhat an individual circumstance thing IMO, you should not use ropes or ratchet straps to tie a Kayak down cam lock straps are the go to (I'm a kayaker) I have found on some occasions that ropes work best in certain situations. My guess the reason you don't see much broken rope on Hwy's is it's barley used these days but in the past it was everywhere. I have all 3 types of fixings and also another similar to a cam lock that works the same as the old chain dogs.

Of course you are right about using cam lock straps with kayaks. Don't want to overtighten & distort or possibly even damage the kayak hull, do we. A bit like loading them the wrong way up when not using cradles. I have always used cam straps, but I didn't make that clear in my off topic comment.

norto · Member

I remove the rear seats from my Colorado every time i go travelling......stuff me there is some ridiculous legislation

Plain Truth · Guru

Our previous vehicle was a Toyota 80 series,Made a set of drawers that fitted behind middle seat.On long trips took out the middle seat and made a false floor.

It worked real good,changed over to a Prado so altered the setup to suit.Amazing how much extra storage it gives you.Never had any problems with the police.

Mike Harding · Guru

I've owned three 4WDs in the past 20 years and travelled over much of Australia, I removed the rear seats from all three vehicles. I have been stopped by police a number of times (usually RBTs) and never had a mention of the lack of seats.

My current vehicle (Holden Trailblazer) has occupant/seat belt detection sensors in the rear seats but fortunately they default to "no occupant" mode when disconnected - which is poor design, they should be failsafe.

peatop · Senior Member

Mike Harding wrote:
I've owned three 4WDs in the past 20 years and travelled over much of Australia, I removed the rear seats from all three vehicles. I have been stopped by police a number of times (usually RBTs) and never had a mention of the lack of seats.
My current vehicle (Holden Trailblazer) has occupant/seat belt detection sensors in the rear seats but fortunately they default to "no occupant" mode when disconnected - which is poor design, they should be failsafe.

A little off subject but my son carries a case of bottled water in his back seat and it sets off the seat belt alarm so he has it buckled up for safety wink I recently wanted to register my 6x4 trailer and rang the RTA Vic about making modifications to extend the draw bar they promptly informed me that any modification needs to be done by a engineering workshop however if I build a trailer from scratch then there are no issues as long as it's design meets the guidelines set out in blah blah blah, one of my trades is boilermaker but I'm not allowed to modify my trailer unless I'm at work lol some rules just don't make sense no matter how you look at them yawn