I'm disapointed

[jackthebear]

We have a 2003 allegro 32' gas unit. The problem we have is we now have 2 grandchildren, 1 toddler & 1 baby and we can't take them with us as we don't have seat belts to hold the toddlers & babies safety seats. We have the drivers and DW , plus 2 on the wall sofa (sideways) which we can't put the GC in. These 4 seat belts would do for us and their parents. We have contacted RV & van shops to see if they would install seat belts in the forward facing dinette bench but won't touch it with a 10' pole. Liability and dinette seat construction is the problem. The front facing dinette bench is right over the genset to make matters worse.
Just upset I guess. We are pleased with the unit otherwise and can't afford to trade it in and take a beating on a trade in.
Thanks for reading my vent.

[Ray,IN]

Your predicament should be presented to Tiffin Motorhomes Tiffin Motorhomes - Allegro Bus
for their consideration. I've read many good things about Tiffin, they just might have a solution.

[johnsonjm209]

Don't you have a chair in that model behind the passenger front seat with seat belts?
My couch has three sets of seat belts, and they hold the child seats ok.
It a HR Vacationer 03, 32ft.

Just a thought.

[Big Bear Local]

My Sightseer has seat belts on both sides of the dinette. They are bolted to the floor under the cushions.

[Dixieray53]

I instaled seat belts on our 1999 Cheftain. Screwed them right to the floor below the dinnete. Now I am speaking for me and me only. This keep the grand in her car seat. IMO if you have a serious TURN OVER CRASH...a factory installed seat belt is not going to be any different than a seat belt bolted by you to the floor. This is my opinion only. Peace and Safe Travels....D

[thelastplace]

Must be a manufacturer thing cause I have more seat belts than I'll ever have passengers (8 total).


But the true travelers are they who leave for leaving’s sake
Saying continuously, without knowing why: ‘Let us go on’.
Paraphrased from Baudelaire’s ‘The Journey’

[frankdamp]

The aft-facing dinette bench, if it has belts, would be safer than anywhere else. The seat-back would provide much more restraint that any forward or side-facing seat. I don't understand why all school buses dont have the seats facing aft. Military transport airplanes do, because the seat structure adds so much to the protection.

When I was working VIP airplane conversions at Boeing, the VIP industry was having a very difficult time with the increased crash deceleration test case (it went from 9g to 16g, thanks to disciples of Ralph Nader), for passengers in sidewall divan seats.

Having watched slo-mo video of what happens to the test dummies in those sidewall divans in aa 16g decel test, I think I'd rather be killed outright. It's a bit like the discussions after that TV movie about nuclear war. Most folks said they'd prefer to be killed immediately One guy said he'd like to be far enough away to say "What was that?"

[jackthebear]

Thanks for the replies & advice guys.
A few issues that I've tried to work but pose a problem are that being that the dinette being over the genset.
I would have to pull the genset and try to install an angle iron baseplate on the top side of the genset cavity and it is not deep enough( from the O/S of the coach to the furthest inboard seat belt anchor).
I will contact Tiffin, but they probably did not install belts at that location because of the above problem.
There is a chair behind the passenger seat, but it is not anchored down(another problem) & thus no seat belt.
I agree that seat belts on a sideways sofa are a real hazard also.
I guess we (or I) are concerned about safety to the point that it is such a major issue.
We were talking last night about seat belts/car seats and we remember the days when a sudden stop meant that Dad's right arm would come across your chest in a fairly abrupt manner to stop you from hitting the windshield.
Or when you were sleeping on the space above & behind the rear seat & again rolling down onto the rear seat. Things have sure changed,albeit for the better.
Anyways, Thanks again for your help, and will resolve the problem one way or another.

[rjf7g]

Here's a solution - drive a separate vehicle to haul the kids.

[jeepfreak]

We're taking our DD and her family (Hubby and 2 kids 6 and 7) down to Disney on the 27th and did not have enough seat belts . So I found that under the forward facing dinnet bench on the window side there was one 1/2 inch bolt holding the slide to the slide frame. I found a web site that sold RV seatbelts. I bought a 96 inch belt mounted one end to the 1/2 inch bolt and drilled another hole on the inside slide frame facing the rear to mount the other end. Nice thing is the new hole is still insde the slide gasket.

[jackthebear]

Hi jeepfreak, thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, we don't have a slide(wish we did). It's great that you were able to get that extra belt installed for the family. As I mentioned, our dinette is over the genset, thus causing major problems. On another subject, JEEPS, I guess I'm a bit of a jeepfreak, with 6 altogether,3.5 restored, 1 waiting for restoration & a 06 Unlimited as a toad & daily driver.

[sniggles]

Well I think it must be your unit because in our 2000 Allegro 32 foot gas ,
We had seat belts on both sided of the bench. Although no one wanted to ride backwards. They were bolted to the floor. they came standard on the 2000