Third Seat Possible?

[nayrhyno]

What about the school bus?

[thedhgroup]

Originally Posted by nayrhyno

What about the school bus?

I lost that battle in 2 ways. 1. Too close to school (3 miles by road, 1 mile by bird) 2. The bridge on our road is rated at 3 tons. The propane truck will only come over when the tank is near empty. The UPS truck refuses all together. The fire department won't commit either way. The city says they don't have money to replace it. I think the city is waiting till the bridge is condemned and then then can get state and federal funds. (politics)

[JuiceMcGoose]

I just went outside and checked. If you use a smaller than average seat or made a seat and installed it reclined back with the kid's legs/feet over the structure beam and into the area created by moving the passenger seat forward there is plenty of room. I would bolt cross supports to that beam and to both sides and rear. Bolt the seat and seat belts to the beam. Best use lap and shoulder belts. The rider would get a great view of the sky. I would make the support beams out of aluminum or wood. When you make the support beams remember they need to be removable for battery and spare tire access. Keep the wrenches to remove the seat/braces in the car. Very much do-able.

[joecvt]

Originally Posted by JuiceMcGoose

I would make the support beams out of aluminum or wood.

You have to remember folks, a child's safety is at risk....Making support beams out of wood This is not the horse and buggy days and car manufactures have to meet certain passenger safety standards. One could almost justify criminal charges if a child gets seriously injured or killed as a result of a homemade handcrafted seat placed into a car that was not designed to have a rear seat.

I would say that if you want a hybrid to carry more than two passengers then buy a four passenger type hybrid....There are plenty to choose from and they have been around long enough to buy a used one if you don't want to spend too much money on a new one.

JoeCVT = Just your average CVT owner

[JuiceMcGoose]

I thought someone would say something about wood. Strength to weight wood is close to steel in many tests. I have looked these tests up myself in the past. Morgan today is still making car frames out of wood. Wood was commonly used to build cars though the '30's.

Perhaps I should have added if you don't feel confidant in designing a rear seat, don't do it. If you feel you need to pay some one else to design a rear seat then that is what you should do.

There is enough room to install a rear seat. Leaning back with both lap and shoulder belts may be safer than setting up.

[talonmike]

Strength to weight yes. But Strength to size no. You would have to use very large wooden beams to be as strong a steel.

[joecvt]

Originally Posted by JuiceMcGoose

I thought someone would say something about wood. Strength to weight wood is close to steel in many tests. I have looked these tests up myself in the past. Morgan today is still making car frames out of wood. Wood was commonly used to build cars though the '30's.

I was using the phrase "horse and buggy days" as an example of the change in times. I'm sure there are exemptions and grandfathered designs and such and a large amount of wood can be strong but also takes up a lot of room.

I have a feeling that the orignal thought of adding a third seat is not going to happen anyway.

JoeCVT = Just your average CVT owner

[JuiceMcGoose]

Originally Posted by talonmike

Strength to weight yes. But Strength to size no. You would have to use very large wooden beams to be as strong a steel.

If you people are that much into it there is plenty to read online about the subject. Hear is a paper written by aeronautical engineer Chris Heintz Wood, Aluminum, Steel & Composite Construction To quote Chris: "The next material to be considered for aircraft structure will thus be steel, which has the same weight-to-strength ratio of wood or aluminum".

The main consideration is strength to weight. Talonmike if you are saying that there is not enough room available to build a frame from wood in the back of an Insight I would have to disagree. A wood frame would have larger section widths than a steel or aluminum frame but but the area available for use is adequate.

[thedhgroup]

Wood is probably strong but the bond from wood to metal is probably the weak point. Depending on how it is done I suppose but if I were to ever attempt something like this I would look very closely at how the ford ranger extended cab did it. Safety is a concern and if I ever attempted something like this my guess is that it would actually be safer than the ford ranger in the respect of over built metal framing, harness and headrest. If the ford ranger got rear ended, the passenger's head would be full of glass. It also only had a lap belt. That can't be safe.

Don't get me wrong I still have major safety concerns and very may well heed the warnings of others to not even think about attempting this. Even if I could make the rear passenger safe, the front passenger is now probably very close to the passenger side airbag if it ever popped out.

Just thought I would test what others thought.

I'm seriously looking at the Insight II as it will meet the passenger requirements but it does not get as good of mileage and no manual shift.

[MN Driver]

Originally Posted by JuiceMcGoose

If you people are that much into it there is plenty to read online about the subject. Hear is a paper written by aeronautical engineer Chris Heintz Wood, Aluminum, Steel & Composite Construction To quote Chris: "The next material to be considered for aircraft structure will thus be steel, which has the same weight-to-strength ratio of wood or aluminum".

The main consideration is strength to weight. Talonmike if you are saying that there is not enough room available to build a frame from wood in the back of an Insight I would have to disagree. A wood frame would have larger section widths than a steel or aluminum frame but but the area available for use is adequate.

Huh, if steel has the same weight to strength ratio of aluminum, then what makes the Insight so much lighter? I've handled aluminum and it is hands down much lighter and seemed very strong when constructed appropriately. The safety standards were met with the Insight as well, they wouldn't have spent all the extra money to build these using an aluminum alloy body and frame if it weren't lighter. I was under the impression that with passing safety standards that it was as strong as it needs to be.

I'm not an extra with metals and I'm probably missing something, but I am a bit confused by the statement of Chris Heintz.