True or False ?

[issatree]

Hi All,
So as I look for another vehicle, I talked to a Salesman, while looking at a 4 Wheel Drive. Commented on the tail back, & said,
" It could be OK if I took the back seats out ".
He said " Not a good idea, because if you crossed over the border, & the Boys In Blue get you, it will be $500, for Altering the Construction of the Car".

What say all of You ??.

[Homeleigh]

If you are talking about Vic rubbish.

[RETIRED]

Not true, unless you put other seats (not OE) in.

[artme]

If in doubt get onto the relevant authorities and ask them.

Police, Transport departments should be able to answer the questions.

[Optimark]

There is some truth in it, just depends upon what you take out, where you take it out, and what, if anything you put in their place.

Mercedes did have some issues with different states when they introduced their A class automobile, as in the A160 unit. The manufacturer for different carrying situations, designed those automobiles with removable seats.

In Europe when we hired one of these (A170 Diesel), all seats except the driver seat could be removed. In Australia you couldn’t take the front passenger seat out, In Germany we could. I remember (I think) the answer was that in at least one state they couldn’t get around legislation, for whatever reason.

I do know that the space cab ute we have was supplied without the little dinky seats behind the two up front, yet the later model (one year after ours) came with the little dinky seats fitted, as they are fitted in Thailand, where the ute is manufactured. If you remove these dinky seats that are fitted to the later model ute, then you have changed the passenger carrying capacity and ADR’s are infringed upon. Some states don’t worry, some may.

One of our neighbours has had his rear seats in his Toyota land cruiser (wagon type) removed, but he had to remove the seat belts and their anchors, not the anchor point bolts, then get a re-certification done to change the people carrying capacity to three people on the front bench seat. This is in Victoria and was about 4 years ago. He carries the certification with him, which he was advised to do by some authority he contacted.

Laws regarding vehicles, where carrying people are concerned, are interesting. My motorcycle has a removable rear passenger seat, if I remove the rear passenger seat; I am legally required to remove the rear passenger foot pegs. Once again, this is for Victoria.

From what I understand, if the automobile is designed to have a variable people carrying capacity as presented by the manufacturer, then seat removal is probably all right in all states and territories. If the seat is a fixed seat, then it may be a bit of an issue somewhere.

Certainly a case of doing your homework correctly by contacting the relevant authorities if you do intend to remove permanent original seat(s)

Mick.

[snowyskiesau]

I know that adding seats can be a problem even if the vehicle is designated to have them

I have a 3 seater Mercedes van that at one time, I thought I'd like to fit the optional second row of seats.
While the seats are available, unless they're ordered with the vehicle, the seat mount points are not fitted - the holes are in place but no captive nut welded on.

The cost of doing this, or more properly the cost of compliance and engineering paperwork, made it unaffordable.