SUCCESS! Headrests in a 15-pass Chevy Express!

[Keeanh]

Are you willing to share how much your guy charged you?

And this is "ok" as far as safety things go? It would be acceptable to use with a backless or no booster and that sort of installed headrest and consider it as safe as something from the factory? (ok, seriously. It's probably *safer* but I have to ask)

I'm loving this idea. We own an auto service shop, so we have good working relationships with the salvage yard, dealers and body shops. I'm thinking that Friday's project will be to start searching and pricing!

He charged me $50 to do the welding. I have no idea if I could find someone to do it cheaper. I was just so relieved to finally find someone who was willing to modify a vehicle seat. Everyone's talking about liability, and I don't know anyone personally who is an experienced welder.

So if you add in the $75 for the bench seat, that's $125 for 2 headrests. I figure $62.50 per headrest is quite reasonable, since it would cost that much just to buy all the parts separately.

As far as safety goes, I just considered the force it would take to break TWO welded joints. There's not much leverage there; a person's head is only about 6-8" above the joint. And the foam would absorb a lot of impact. So really, if someone's head hit hard enough to break both joints, they wouldn't be alive to worry about what the headrest was doing.

 

[Admin]

This question is posted on behalf of a guest:

KeeAnh brilliantly installed head restraints in her Chevy Express and suggested starting a new thread so that she could explain in more detail about preserving the integrity of the upholstery, etc.

KeeAnh, can you post the updated instructions?

Does anyone know if how low the bench seats are in the Chevy and GMC full size vans causes any safety issues (in addition to the lack of head rests)?

KeeAnh, did you have to make the headrests in a way to adjust for young people vs. adults since the back is so low on the bench seat?

THANK YOU in advance.

 

[Keeanh]

Hi! Here's the new thread from about a month ago:
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=257226

The seatbacks aren't terribly low. I'd say comparable to other minivans. They come up past my shoulders. The Dodge Caravan headrests work perfectly.

 

[EmilyAnn86]

Does this only work in vans without shoulder belts in the center? I am looking into buying a 2014 Chevy Express but it has no headrests and shoulder belts for all seats

 

[Keeanh]

Does this only work in vans without shoulder belts in the center? I am looking into buying a 2014 Chevy Express but it has no headrests and shoulder belts for all seats

You can do it on the benches with shoulder belts as well. You just have to position the headrests on either side of the seatbelt "wart". I can get a pic of my 3-shoulder-belt bench for you in the morning. Also be aware that the outboard Chev/GM seatbelts don't work well with a lot of car seats. Not such a big deal with the later models since you'll have a lot of LATCH. But it might come into play if you're trying to do 3-across.

 

[Keeanh]

Sorry for the dark pics, hope you can see what's going on with my seats. The headrests on either side of the shoulder belt are cheated a bit to the sides, but still work. They're slightly forward of the seatbelt retractor so would hopefully prevent someone's head from hitting the retractor. The passenger side headrest is out right now, but you can see the guides sticking up. If you need more info or pics, let me know. I can take that Radian out and pop a headrest in if you need me to.

 

[Rchak]

My method of passenger headrests is constructed of ¾” plywood securely attached to all the supports in the back of the seat. The head rest goes the entire length of the seat with a cut-out to accommodate the retractabile seat belt. mechanism The cushioned portion is composed of hard foam. The headrest slopes forward where in contacts the seat.
A significantly more important safety risk is death in cargo vans due to the movement of the cargo. Persons seated in the front including the passenger, the driver, and in my case, my children’s bench seat, can be crushed by the movement of cargo in the event of a serious front end collision. GM takes the position that there are simply not enough cargo injuries and fatalities to justify installing barriers. They do provide tested barriers in the trunks of passenger vehicles. My barrier is constructed of gas pipe and it is secured from the roof and the floor. This barrier was recently tested due to a serious accident which resulted in a crumpled and distorted roof from the stress on the barrier supports. Thankfully, there were no passengers to test the headrest. I would like to display pictures but I don't know how.