Adding a 5th Seatbelt

Alright so I couldn't find any threads where people added a 5th seatbelt, so I decided to be the guinea pig and buy a seat and figure out how to make it work. (I will upload better after photos tomorrow). I will have a booster in the middle for now, so I decided to keep the original bench. I wanted to keep the red stitching so I modified my type R bench, you could also just buy the seat back from a hatch and use as is, but you will no longer have red stitching, you could take a black sharpie to the remaining red stitching I guess.

What you need:
Drivers side rear seat from donor vehicle (or can purchase some parts from Honda)
Center seatbelt buckle latch (Mine is on order so not in the picture)
Hack saw
Sockets
philips and flathead screwdriver


What I found to be the best after taking everything apart was using the metal frame and seatbelt from the donor car and using everything else from my Type R.


I took the donor seat cover off, turns out I did not need to. The basic idea is to take the seat apart, cut the foam to add the make room for the seatbelt assembly.

FIRST
Remove the right rear seat
Start by removing the bottom bench
There is one bolt in the back and 2 clips on the bottom, this video goes over how to remove the bottom bench and side pannel.

To remove the right seat there are 2 bolts on the right that are easy to see, and one bolt on the left side of the bench, stick your socket between the 2 rear seats and unbolt and the seat, with the seat folded down remove the tie down clip and pry up on the 3 plastic clips holding the back material to the trunk area.







Second
Take apart the seat
Pry off the 2 push pins, they take a lot of force and a flat head to remove


The seatbelt latch cover pull off with a flat head screwdriver Pull up on the fabric in the lower right and left corners to expose the zippers


Then separate the foam from the metal seat back

Repeat for both donor and type R seat

The difference is the metal frame has the seatbelt supports welded into place. Next we take the type R foam and cut some space for the seatbelt assembly, measure twice cut once...

Measure the hole in the donor foam to modify the Type R foam to fit on the donor frame.


Wow the cuts look a lot worse in the pictures, but the did the trick... Ignore the red paint on the floor, it was already there, I did sustain main papercut type injuries, but nothing that bad.

Next cut the headrest frame off


Next put the type R foam over the donor frame, if you cut enough foam out everything should fit perfectly.
Cut 3 holes, top hole is for a plastic clip to go through, middle hole the seatbelt goes through, lower is where the plastic cover screws to. I just cut 3 slits instead of enlarging them as the original was.

I did not take pictures of the reassembly, put the Type R foam over the donor metal frame, put all the plastic covers back on, make sure to put the seat belt through the holes you just created. Tuck the zippers back in.

Third
When reassembling the car the right hand panel needs to come apart into 2 pieces, put the lower portion on first then the upper.

Attach the seatbelt by removing the silver screw and inserting the screw attached to the new center seatbelt.


Put the bottom bench back on and enjoy.


Sorry for the crappy pictures, it was a long process since I had to figure some stuff out and it was dark by the time I put things back together.

Reserved

If your kid is in a booster, how much longer until it's not required? 6 months? A year?

I'd rather just wait that out or make them sit on the side instead of modifying my car.

GraphiteAZ said:

If your kid is in a booster, how much longer until it's not required? 6 months? A year?

I'd rather just wait that out or make them sit on the side instead of modifying my car.

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I modified the car so I can have a fifth passenger, the booster can already go on the side.

damned nice write up - but if you were to have an accident - and the insurance company caught this thread.... would not be good.

For anyone else considering putting 3 car seats across the back, I have heard Diono brand slim fit seats work well. I have a 7 year old, 2 year old, and 11 month old. I'm able to fit the 3 of them in the back with Graco brand stuff, but it's tight and the seatbelts require some damned good muscle memory to plug in..... or the extenders

Oh god I hope this is safe.

It is the safe. You are modifying the seat so it is the same as the normal hatch. The only difference here is that there is no center headrest. If you use the bottom bench from a normal hatch also you are basically stock other than the headrest.

JoYu said:

It is the safe. You are modifying the seat so it is the same as the normal hatch. The only difference here is that there is no center headrest. If you use the bottom bench from a normal hatch also you are basically stock other than the headrest.

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You can argue "It is the safe.", but that's not the only concern, "will it stand up to an insurance claim?" is also important.

I considered swapping out the 2nd row bench in my wifes Traverse for the 2nd row captains chairs. After collecting a list of parts needed, I contacted my insurance company to get a statement saying the conversion using a body shop and all OEM parts would not be a safety issue. They contacted me back a day later saying they would not provide an exemption and that it was good I checked first because a claim would have been denied. Maybe that's just NJM Insurance, try calling your own insurance company to confirm.

Be careful. HUGE liability !

Respectfully the risk associated to this is not worth it. Take the minivan instead.

It is completely safe, it is the stock seat.

Thank you everyone for your concern.

Are we all just going to ignore the fact that this guy had broken glass in the seat and rust already on the INSIDE of a less than 1 year old seat assembly??? I worked with my local dealer to figure out if a 5th seat was possible, It can be done using factory parts but they quoted me $3500 to make it happen. Yes it is safe using a dealer sourced conversion "kit".

No thanks

Type_RawR said:

Are we all just going to ignore the fact that this guy had broken glass in the seat and rust already on the INSIDE of a less than 1 year old seat assembly??? I worked with my local dealer to figure out if a 5th seat was possible, It can be done using factory parts but they quoted me $3500 to make it happen. Yes it is safe using a dealer sourced conversion "kit".

Click to expand...

Safe is not the whole argument. Supported for an auto insurance claim is the other half of the argument.

Type_RawR said:

Are we all just going to ignore the fact that this guy had broken glass in the seat and rust already on the INSIDE of a less than 1 year old seat assembly??? I worked with my local dealer to figure out if a 5th seat was possible, It can be done using factory parts but they quoted me $3500 to make it happen. Yes it is safe using a dealer sourced conversion "kit".

Click to expand...

Yes the seat came out of a hatch that was rear ended. There was no damage to the seat but the rear window was broken, I purchased the seat for $100. There was also a seat for $150 that was hit in the front that I missed out on that def wouldn't have a tiny bit or red on the frame if that makes you feel better.

"This guy" is a person posting to help the community, I think I should just delete the thread, I spent a lot of time writing this post, if you don't appreciate it that's fine but no need to be rude.

I understand everyone's point about a insurance claim, and respect everyone's opinion and agree this mod is probably not for everyone if it would make you uncomfortable.