Aftermarket seats and ICBC
 

hey guys, I need some insights in terms of aftermarket seats. I would like to trade my stock recaros for some aftermarket brides. The stock recaros has airbags, while the aftermarket ones does not. I want to know if they are legal and what does ICBC think of this, if I were to get into an accident *touch wood*. One more thing, would I need harness or I can use my seat belt?

http://www.bride-jp.com/kakudai/full/d_fs1gmf.gif

This is the seats I am looking at.

Thanks

Aftermarket seats without harness is kinda pointless... Why would you want to trade already good stock recaros on EVO X? =)

Alot of aftermarket seats are better than the stockers, hes going from a reclinable Recaro to a full blown fixed bucket. Im sure theres going to be a major difference with or without a harness.

and harness without a roll cage is kinda pointless... why would you want to strap urself in tightly in the event of a roll over?

Thank you, this is the kind of safety issues I am worried about. I don't want to end up hurting myself because of some stupid decisions I made in trading seats. So if I am hearing you guys right, if I were to get these seats, is that I would need a harness, and if I do get a harness, I should get roll cage? Any insight in terms of messing around with something that contains an airbag?

Because that person is willing to pay me for them. ;)

well they arent really saying you should get rollcage because you get those seats but more or so its pointless to have buckseat without harness and those two without a rollcage.

but I'm sure you get hassled for harnesses if you do get pulled over by a cop. and also if you get 5pt harness you get into a collision you are pretty much fucking yourself over, considering your whole body is tied down to the seat but when someone hits you, only thing going forward is your head... so you just gave yourself a spine snap lol

edit: yes you can use your stock seatbelt, a lot of people do

looks like you can't re-use your OEM seatbelt with the Bride
Aftermarket Harness is illegal.
asking for VI
Also watch out for fake Bride

Keep the Recaros I say
correct me if I'm wrong on harness, please.

no u got it wrong, u can have a bucket seat, so far i havnt heard anyone that's running a bucket seat getting VIed for it.

the point that i was trying to make was (regarding to the other poster who mentioned something about a harness) if u run a harness without a cage, ur strapping urself tightly into the seat and in the evet of a roll over where the roof collapse because there was no cage, u wont be able to duck and dodge the collapsing roof, where as if u had a 3pt harness(oem seatbelt) u have the freedom to move arnd.

and to add, most aftermarket seats uses seatbase/sliders that will have a tab to bolt the oem seat belt mechanism back into the car, so u can retain ur oem seatbelt.

Jacky, don't do it. Not worth all the hassles and money you'll be spending. Why do you plan to do anyway?

OEM parts.. always more valuable compare to aftermarket.
thats how i see it.. :/

I am just playing with the idea, since that person is willing to pay and cover the shipping cost, but as of right now, I see no benefit to go full bucket and at the same time compromise my safety as well as my insurance. Thanks guys, I will be sticking to my stock comfy recaros :)

Yea, the only time I've thought of going aftermarket seats was when I didn't want to give rides to fat people.

Since your OEM seats have airbags in them, would you disable your whole airbag system in your car if you take it out? I know some cars are like this.

recaro's are the best seats...keep them.

stop modding your evo!!! you'll just make me jealous!

guys i think he's mainly asking if ICBC would void his insurance claim in an accident where his airbags don't deploy because he has aftermarket seats. it stands to reason that they may see it as deliberately disabling a safety device.

lol jacky.. good luck scoring any sexual favors at all in your car with non-reclineable brides.

he's not kidding.

But... these are reclinables and Zeta III should be FIA approved.

Absolutely not worth the risk, IMO.

Airbags can be worked around. You have to install "airbag simulators" which are just resistors of the correct value to "fool" the airbag computer the side seat bags are still present. This will make the rest of your airbag system operate normally without warning lights. Good luck finding a shop to do this because of liability, but it's not illegal (oddly enough) for you to do this on your own to your own vehicle.

ICBC is actually more forgiving of mods than people think. You could install a stereo wrong, and have an electrical fire that burns your car to the ground and ICBC will cover it (though you'll be at fault).

However, this really applies to claims regarding the actual vehicle itself (like damage from collisions), not to claims that might be made regarding you (like personal injury). These are the ones that costs ICBC big $$$.

It is almost certain that your car will be significantly less safe with an aftermarket seat than the factory seat. I don't care if the seat is FIA approved or super duper strong. The fact is the safety of your vehicle is a combination of the seats, seat belts, airbags and the physical relationship they all have to each other. In other words, they are designed to work as a system.

When manufacturers do crash tests they try out various combinations of seats and positions. They have found that even a small change to the seat cushion can have a large impact on how your body moves in an accident and how much additional force it's subjected to.

Now imagine a side impact crash. Your vehicle is designed to use a combination of the side structure, the seats and the side airbag to reduce injuries. You've now changed two major components (the seat and the side airbag). To think that this will have no affect on what kind of injuries you will suffer from a side impact is just plain ignorant.


Taking all this into account, if you had an accident with serious injuries you can expect a fight from ICBC. Not only that, but if your buddy was riding with you and was crippled for life, do you think he's going to say "oh well, at least we looked good crashing" or is he going to sue you?

^ +10000

...aaaaaaand I ran bucket recaros in my 944 turbo for a year and it was a PAIN IN THE ASS getting in and out of the car. Sooo impractical on a daily driver!

also, in a proper cacc-approved race car with bucket seats, we are now actually required to install a seat brace, to make sure it doesn't move in an accident.

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/attach...s-p2070025.jpg

Very informative, thank you for you input! This is exactly what I am looking for!

Awesome info :thumbsup:. Just a question though, what if a person installs OEM seats from the same car that was OEM from another country say Japan. I have a set of JDM Recaros in my Integra and wondering if that causes any problems down the road.

^ OEM seats from the same car are a great idea. They would have also been designed with safety in mind, even thought the styling could be much different.

It depends on which car and model.. a lot of the times, the seats are USDM specific because it passes crash test.. eg Audi R8's seats in Europe is different from the US ones because the Europe ones can't pass US safety tests.

The issue is ICBC/ accident investors are usually not very well versed about the minute details of the cars.