I figure I'll put this out here for everyone to chew on.
First off, here's my thoughts on racing harnesses, if anyone is interested.
Now... consider what yours seats do for you in your car. The first and most obvious is that they give you somewhere (hopefully) comfortable to be while driving. A good set of seats will also help position you properly for driving and hold you there while turning. Finally, we all want our seats to look good.
In many cases, the stock seats don't fit the bill for us. They don't deliver everything we want in a seat so we like to change them to something better or cooler.
Consider also though, that your seats are designed to protect you in a crash. Manufacturers spend all sorts of money to ensure that they meet crash standards. This means they're not going to fold in half when you hit something, snapping your back. The headrest is going to have adequate support and padding to protect your neck in a crash. The seat isn't going to come dislodged from the floor in an impact and destroy your or your passengers hips.
There are all sorts of things taken into consideration that you may not have thought of, but they are important and can save your life.
Now consider what goes into making an aftermarket seat. There's generally two realms in the aftermarket seat market. There are those made by reputable manufacturers such as Sparco or Recaro that meet stringent standards and are certified under various safety standards.
Then there are the rest. The rest are what I'm cautioning you against buying. Whether it's a cheap no-name seat, a cheap ricer brand seat like APC, or a counterfeit brand name seat, if the seat is not certified then you have no way of knowing how it will behave in a crash. Considering that most of these (those who bother) come with disclaimers saying they're for off-road use only should give you a hint as to how confident they are that their seats are properly engineered.
Most companies who want to sell you some blingin' seats for your ride don't have the money to conduct crash tests. It's not that they want to make cheap garbage that's going to kill you. It's simply that they don't have the resources to produce something that they know will keep you safe. Often times you'll find them made from fibreglass shells with upholstered padding attached to them. Consider what happens to fibreglass in a crash and ask yourself whether you think they've designed it to break up in a safe manner or whether it's going to send splinters and fragments into your back and neck?
The bottom line is that this isn't a modification to be taken lightly. It's about the safety equivilant of removing your airbag because you want a fancy aftermarket steering wheel. In retrospect, when you've crushed your sternum into the steering column, that bling won't seem so important. Or when your girlfriend is dead because of the blingin' seat you installed.
Finally, even if you're getting a high-end certified seat, pay close attention to the mounting brackets. Generally speaking, you should be able to put something in that attaches to the stock bolts but if you can't, at least make sure it's properly braced or welded. This is what customizing is all about. If you're not sure what you're doing, you'll need someone who is.
Safety should be the first priority when doing mods. If you're making your car less safe by doing something, then I don't think it should be done. Mods should improve your ride, not put you in danger.
[/rant]
Ok, as an example of what to look for, here's one of Sparco's seats marketed for street cars.
Sparco Milano 2
It's one of their more reasonably priced models, starting at under a grand, and has these notes in the description:
I found some mention of a certification on Recaro's site but it was tough to navigate and I couldn't find any further details. The fact that they make OEM seats for all sorts of cars though should give you an indication that they're building quality products.TUV Homologated
Tested and Approved to
ECE 17 (Europe) and
FMVSS 208 (USA)
I found a note in another forum indicating that Corbeau had their certification rescinded at some point, and no mention of any on their site. If it gets taken away, one has to assume there's a reason for this.
Note the FIA and MIA logos on Cobra's site:
http://www.cobraseats.com/
Interesting... I see that APC has changed their ghetto logo. I couldn't find any info on their site about their seats other than pictures and prices.
This is a synopsis of FMVSS 208:
Standard No. 208 - Occupant Crash Protection This standard originally specified the type of occupant restraints (i.e., seat belts) required. It was amended to specify performance requirements for anthropomorphic test dummies seated in the front outboard seats of passenger cars and of certain multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses, including the active and passive restraint systems identified below. The purpose of the standard is to reduce the number of fatalities and the number and severity of injuries to occupants involved in frontal crashes.
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Originally Posted by Wild Weasel
