Club 80-90 Forums

We've just bought a 1983 Westfalia T25. We have 2 girls 9 and 11 (they don't use car seats) and we're wondering how to make it as safe as possible for them in the back ...

Someone has suggested harnesses but I'm not convinced 3 point seatbelts (https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/rear-seatbelt-kit-t3.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) seem to be the best option but I've been told they are not much use without headrests ...

Any ideas?

Adding headrests is a very good idea and 3 point belts too

Our two are a similar age - we have two 3-point belts fitted and use them with Westy headrests, which seems to work well enough.

Both the 3-point belts are fitted from the sliding door side - one using the Brickwerks kit which bolts into fixing points that are in the wall of the van, and the other further from the door we had fitted by Seatbelt Service similar to the one on the right in the image below



Fitting both belts from the sliding door side avoids the problem of trying to get a fixing for the seatbelt back through the wardrobe.

I use a nearly identical setup to that above, but had never thought about headrest. Intrigued - could you show details??

My second 3point (ie in the centre of the van, ) uses two receivers so can be unhooked for sleeping when the rock and roll is down.

You can see the headrests in this picture from westfaliat3



They're not super comfortable but they allow our kids to prop a pillow behind their heads. I believe they were standard kit in the Club Joker - I don't know about other Westy models. In any case they were already fitted in our van when we got it.

I have a very similar set up to the one above, I use the brickwerk kit on one side and then got http://www.safetybeltservices.co.uk/ to make up the belt for the other side which I installed using brickwerks mounts. The belt I got made up was based on the below, please not that the buckles are probably a bit too long as is the seat belt if you go down this route I would recommend measuring carefully depending on your seat setup and exactly where you are going to plan to mount the seats.

In mid 2018 http://seatbeltservice.co.uk/ quoted between £260-£280 +VAT to fit a similar seat belt to the one shown above this included them coming to anywhere within the M25.



In terms of child seats we found https://incarsafetycentre.co.uk to be very helpful please note you need to ring to make an appointment and it is worth confirming your type of vehicle so they can make sure they have the correct seat and person available to help.

I have a https://www.vwrustylee.com/vw-beds/ and would be interested if anyone has any ideas on how to fit headrests.

clift_d wrote:You can see the headrests in this picture from westfaliat3

Thanks, I’m sure something will be possible, not sure when I’ll be in a position to have a go tho

My van is used by just us grown ups 90% of the time, but I have one 3 point seat belt set up in the back (furthest right of the bench seat attached to the wall) and head rests encase I ever need to take little ones.

I don't like the look all that much so the 3 point is strapped back against the wall (and down under the bench seat) and the head rests come out and are left at home most of the time. Definitely worth having them, but they don't need to ruin the look of the van if you are clever and make sure they can be removed / hidden for shows etc.!

How are those headrests attached? I hadn't thought about them as the kids were small but they ain't any more.

They fit just like a normal car headrest. A couple of plastic collar inserts for each headrest in the top of the seats with spring loaded catches, and headrest 'legs' which have notches in them which these catches engage.

Sir Brixalot wrote:How are those headrests attached? I hadn't thought about them as the kids were small but they ain't any more.

I bought a couple of these from Campervan Culture for my rear headrests:

https://campervanculture.com/shop/vw-t2 ... ation-kit/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They've been out of stock for a while but you might be able to get some from the US. The Samba has a couple of theads on fitting them

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewt ... p?t=303299" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewt ... order=desc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for those links. Very interesting

We have a Devon with an original back seat/R&R bed, I welded some tubes into the existing frame with some detent sprung catches that hold the VW head rests in place. To use the bed you lift out the head rests.
Very similar to the CC kit.
The tube used is from B&Q about 5/8" square

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

Thanks everyone. That is super helpful.

All done! 2 headrests from the scrap yard and 2 seatbelts from brickwerks. Kids are happy. Thanks everyone for their help!