Please Be Seated: How to Mount a Seat

At no time should the belt adjusting hardware contact the metal seat. It must be on either inside, or preferably outside, the seat. Such contact can cause improper adjustments as well as the infamous "dumping" where a belt is stacked against one side of the hardware. Dumping could cause shearing against a hardware edge.

The shoulder belts must not depend on the seat hole for their vertical location. There should be a seat mount bar or chassis bar behind the seat that locates the height of the belts coming off the driver's shoulders. The bar should allow belt angles of about 10 degrees down behind the seat.

Most of us are familiar with the five-point harness; it has a single, front anti-submarine strap attaching below the seat. This isn't bad. I've used one for years, and my voice is still in the same range it has been in since I survived puberty. The purpose of the strap is not to keep you from sliding forward, but to keep the lap belt from riding up and then letting you slide forward.

The six-point harness has a double strap, if this makes you feel better. The best part--it's easier to mount than a five-point setup. The double straps attach to the lap belt mounts. Then they wrap under the seat and go up through the front hole in the seat.

Conclusions

Take time to properly position a seat; use a mounting that attaches in three places to the rollcage; pick a seat that fits properly; use the correct brackets; and finally, use care in selecting belt mounting points.