Bucket Seats and Harness

illestFX35

illestFX35

Member
Car
2010 FX35 RWD
Dear fellow iS members. Are any of y'all running bucket seats and/or harnesses? I drive my FX35 every day. And my daily commute to work is a very windy backroad. However when I am driving to or from work, my butt moves everywhere. The seats just don't have enough support to keep me in place. And when I am in the canyons on the weekend with friends in their more capable cars I really wish I could not move around as much. I have no clue if anyone makes rail that will make the bucket seats work with the FX. I looked into a pair of Takata harness for me and passenger(usually my 13 yr old son). They are a 4 point harness and I can get the GENUINE ones for $350<. I think they will be enough to keep me in place and I just don't want to lose the comfortability with the bucket seats. I remember someone on here who retrofitted the Audi RS4 seat into their 1st gen but I can't find a thread on that. Anyone have suggestions?
 
To fit the harnesses you will need some sort of harness bar, which will probably impede access or usability of the rear seats.

Also Harnesses on a daily driver are annoying, cause putting them on gets annoying after awhile.

I highly suggest you just look for more bolstered seats, to retrofit into the FX. You might have to get some custom brackets welded up to get them to fit, but I think that's the best option.

The other thing you could do, is look for a set of FX50S seats, which have bigger bolsters which are also adjustable. Or have your current seats reupholstered with better bolstering.
 
Have you ever tried the seats in an FX50S, they definitely are a better fitting .seat
 
meme405 said:
To fit the harnesses you will need some sort of harness bar, which will probably impede access or usability of the rear seats.

Also Harnesses on a daily driver are annoying, cause putting them on gets annoying after awhile.

I highly suggest you just look for more bolstered seats, to retrofit into the FX. You might have to get some custom brackets welded up to get them to fit, but I think that's the best option.

The other thing you could do, is look for a set of FX50S seats, which have bigger bolsters which are also adjustable. Or have your current seats reupholstered with better bolstering.
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I have seen the harnesses done without a bar or cage. And could I just put them to the side when I don't need the harness?I have never tryed out the 50 seats and I will find one to sit in soon. Do you think a R35 GTR seat will work? My friend who is a mechanic is getting rid of his OE Recaro seats and replacing them with aftermarket ones. I know for sure that the GTRs hold you in very tightly in the R35 so I would assume it would you in even better in the FX. They are off of a Black Edition which have the red accenting, but I have no clue if I can get it to work with the FX.
 
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illestFX35 said:
I have seen the harnesses done without a bar or cage. And could I just put them to the side when I don't need the harness?I have never tryed out the 50 seats and I will find one to sit in soon. Do you think a R35 GTR seat will work? My friend who is a mechanic is getting rid of his OE Recaro seats and replacing them with aftermarket ones. I know for sure that the GTRs hold you in very tightly in the R35 so I would assume it would you in even better in the FX. They are off of a Black Edition which have the red accenting, but I have no clue if I can get it to work with the FX.
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So you are talking about keeping the factory seat belt and putting in a harness as well? If so I don't know how well that setup would work, if at all.

Cause the factory seats aren't designed to operate with a harness.

Have a look at this picture:

///11537[/ATTACH]

Without some sort of bar, where do you plan on attaching the harness to?

As for the R35 seats, you would need to get custom brackets built, the seats won't just bolt in and be at the right height or maybe even bolt in at all. Also things like seat motors, air bags, etc. they would all either be compromised or require splicing of wires and harnesses to figure out. Also seat heaters and stuff might need to be forfeited.

I strongly recommend you look into FX50s seats, it's really your best option.
 
meme405 said:
So you are talking about keeping the factory seat belt and putting in a harness as well? If so I don't know how well that setup would work, if at all.

Cause the factory seats aren't designed to operate with a harness.

Have a look at this picture:

///11537[/ATTACH]

Without some sort of bar, where do you plan on attaching the harness to?

As for the R35 seats, you would need to get custom brackets built, the seats won't just bolt in and be at the right height or maybe even bolt in at all. Also things like seat motors, air bags, etc. they would all either be compromised or require splicing of wires and harnesses to figure out. Also seat heaters and stuff might need to be forfeited.

I strongly recommend you look into FX50s seats, it's really your best option.
Click to expand...

I would attach the harness to the child Carseat latches under the rear seat. As for the R35 seats, it is probably alot of work to do. i will for sure look into the 50 seats


Sent from my iPhone
 
The attach point for the shoulder harness should not be much lower than your shoulder height.

I don't know about California, but most states do not allow the use of 4, 5, or 6 point harness systems if your car originally came with a factory restraint system.
 
Definitely research the safety issues with harnesses, especially if you are wanting to put a 13 year old in them...
 
Raymond was the member who outfitted S4 seats into his 1st gen. And other members are right, your best bet may be the FX50 seats. Modern seats got much more complicated and wiring R35 seats is going to be more work than it's worth. The brackets are probably the easiest part, but even making those compatible would take a decent amount of fab. Keep in mind that you sit way lower in an R35 too so they'd probably have to raise them a lot unless you wanted to sit on the floor. And raising the seats may make the bracket less structurally sound.

Please don't put harnesses on your factory seat, they're not meant for that. I know people do, but it's really more for track days on a daily driver, not daily driving on streets. Harnesses lock you in place so if you're in a rollover, there's nowhere for your body to go if the roof comes in. And if you mount them wrong, harnesses can be very dangerous. Mounting to child seat anchors can be ok on some cars. Since you're not in a fixed back racing seat, every time you adjust your set, you'll need to adjust your harness, that can get old quickly.

I had harnesses on a car a long time ago. It was a show car so I installed them with some Corbeau racing seats and I stopped using them very quickly, it's just too much work unless you're at the track. The bolsters on a seat do most of the work so the harness wasn't really keeping me in any more than the seat was, it was just really hard to get into and out of. Locking yourself into a factory seat with harnesses is a bandaid.

There's a member here who tracks his FX50 (yeti something?) maybe he can tell you his thoughts on his seats in hard corners.
 
shadow191 said:
Raymond was the member who outfitted S4 seats into his 1st gen. And other members are right, your best bet may be the FX50 seats. Modern seats got much more complicated and wiring R35 seats is going to be more work than it's worth. The brackets are probably the easiest part, but even making those compatible would take a decent amount of fab. Keep in mind that you sit way lower in an R35 too so they'd probably have to raise them a lot unless you wanted to sit on the floor. And raising the seats may make the bracket less structurally sound.

Please don't put harnesses on your factory seat, they're not meant for that. I know people do, but it's really more for track days on a daily driver, not daily driving on streets. Harnesses lock you in place so if you're in a rollover, there's nowhere for your body to go if the roof comes in. And if you mount them wrong, harnesses can be very dangerous. Mounting to child seat anchors can be ok on some cars. Since you're not in a fixed back racing seat, every time you adjust your set, you'll need to adjust your harness, that can get old quickly.

I had harnesses on a car a long time ago. It was a show car so I installed them with some Corbeau racing seats and I stopped using them very quickly, it's just too much work unless you're at the track. The bolsters on a seat do most of the work so the harness wasn't really keeping me in any more than the seat was, it was just really hard to get into and out of. Locking yourself into a factory seat with harnesses is a bandaid.

There's a member here who tracks his FX50 (yeti something?) maybe he can tell you his thoughts on his seats in hard corners.
Click to expand...

Definitely considering 50 seats. the seats just need a little more work and thats it. PM will be going to Yetis way
 
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