Bongo Fury

Hi

Are factory seats that have been cut down for a side conversion safer than rock and roll seat/bed? I have a 4 yr old and my biggest priority is the safety of the van. Any tips would be welcome! Thanks

Without knowing anything about them how could anybody possibly say!
If we knew how they were cut-down you could make an engineering estimate of the strength,
but without actually carrying out load testing know one can be certain.

There are some rock and roll beds that have been tested I believe.

As Geoff says it depends.
However, if a Bongo seat has been done properly (the safety bit is in the welding of the seat frame after cutting down) then I would say yes it is. After all it was designed and presumably tested at some stage prior to the Bongo going into production.
It also has the seat belt mounting points on it.
We had this in our Bongo and the welding on the frame was excellent.
The other thing to check is that one of the rails will have to be moved inboard. This needs to be done properly as well with plates under the floor to spread the load.
I don't know where you are but if you want to have a look I have one in the shed for sale if you're interested.

AS above
Being an engineer who can weld I have seen some shocking welding over the years.
I feel as long as its welded correctly and none of the structural design has been altered it would be better than the majority of Rock and Rolls as most of the ones I have seen have not been officially tested

briwy wrote:As Geoff says it depends.
However, if a Bongo seat has been done properly (the safety bit is in the welding of the seat frame after cutting down) then I would say yes it is. After all it was designed and presumably tested at some stage prior to the Bongo going into production.
It also has the seat belt mounting points on it.
We had this in our Bongo and the welding on the frame was excellent.
The other thing to check is that one of the rails will have to be moved inboard. This needs to be done properly as well with plates under the floor to spread the load.
I don't know where you are but if you want to have a look I have one in the shed for sale if you're interested.

Thanks for your reply briwy. Yes please let me have details of your van for sale if it's 1999 onwards as we'd also like to have twin airbags.

winchman wrote:AS above
Being an engineer who can weld I have seen some shocking welding over the years.
I feel as long as its welded correctly and none of the structural design has been altered it would be better than the majority of Rock and Rolls as most of the ones I have seen have not been officially tested

Thanks winchman.