Car safety - can i buy a lap belt converter

Question

i've recently bought a car which has a lap belt fitted in the back, middle seat does anyone know if it's possible to buy a converter to turn this into a shoulder belt, and if so where can i get one? many thanks for any help!

Answer 1

It is generally not possible to replace the centre lap belt with a  3-point (lap and shoulder) belt. This is because the car will probably not have been designed with a mounting point for the upper end of the shoulder belt. A seatbelt has to take a very high load in the event of an accident (the tests required during vehicle development generally apply enough force via the belt to distort the body shell beyond repair), so the upper mounting point has to be included during the design stage of the vehicle.

The only case where it may be possible to replace the lap belt with a 3-point belt is where the car was originally available with a 3-point belt as an option (e.g. 1999 - 2005 Fiat Punto). However the rear seats may be different on the version with 3-point belts (in the case of the Punto they include an upper guide for the centre belt), so these may also need to be changed, as may other parts of interior trim.

Answer 2

The same question was asked a while back and you cannot do this because it was first not designed for this and second this would be a safety problem...

Answer 3

Have a look at the link below, You would have to get someone to install it though.