Custom extended seat rails group order

<<No crash testing is going to be done to account for the airbags. >>

Let's see...to crash test even one set of the extensions we would need one sacrificial Prius. Even a salvaged beater would increase the cost of the rails by a thousand bucks per person.

I'd much prefer a set of cargo hooks any day.

 

Evan,

I most definitely wouldn't want it to interfere with airbags either. But from what I know about the force of inflating airbags, I don't see how moving the seat rails back 1 - 4 inches would affect the operation or effectiveness of airbags.

 

I understand that there are sensors too somewhere down there. But I assumed that they would just be disconnected and then re-connected during installion of the new rails.

 

Thanks for the update ProblemChild. Look forward to getting those rails.

 

hmmm. there are some important safety precautions to consider here.

first, is the steel strong enough to handle forces experienced during a crash. you want to be sure that the rails are made of the exact same materials OR stronger.

second, there is a seat position sensor to consider. it is not designed for the parameters including a longer seat rail. now if there is a problem with that sensor, it defaults to full force frontal airbag deployment. which is technically not a problem, unless you share the car with someone shorter who would otherwise benefit from a lower-force deployment. that's what that sensor is there for. also, you may need to extend the wire from the harness to not pull it out of the sensor going far enough back on those rails.

third, and this is most important, the airbag may not reach far enough back to protect you in a frontal accident. if you alter the distance that the airbag thinks you are sitting away from it, it may be deflating before your head hits where the airbag once was. the job of the airbag is to inflate, protect you, then very quickly deflate to get out of the way. this timing may leave your face in the center of the steering wheel if you're farther away than the parameters of the system account for.

some very important things to consider before you rush out to extend your seat rails. you will never need the srs system until it is a life or death situation...

 

Dude, you might not care, but you shouldn't give such a flippant reply to someone who is trying to share useful info with you.

Its not a 64 Chevy that you are trying to modify. It's one of the most technically advanced cars on the road, and that includes a sensor to determine seat position so that the SRS system can properly deploy the air bags.

You might want to consult a lawyer about liability if you end up selling these things to other people. You can call it a cargo hook or whatever, but if someone uses it to mount their seat and they die, their relatives (and lawyers) may still come after you.

 

i have a husband. he spent many years fixing cars and knows Wth he's talking about.

i wrote a perfectly legit list of technical concerns and you act the smartass. congratulations on presenting yourself so maturely. we're sure put in our place, thanks for straightening us out.

 

I have to agree here. As an attorney, I would say that your friend should be careful marketing these seat rails. He knows what they're being used for so it doesn't matter what he calls them. The fact is, they're being marketed here for a specific purpose. I, for one, would be quite hesitant to run out to buy something this important from a stranger when the product hasn't been tested. Many of the serious injuries injuries I've encountered as an attorney were caused by the collapse of a seat. Be very careful folks ....... :tape2:

 

You can say that again. I had flashbacks of the old '65 Chevy El Camino I owned many years ago. I bet there was enough empty space around the engine to drop in the entire Prius engine and have room left over for quite a few batteries. There weren't any wires running around the seats (well, other than speaker wires from a teenage audio "improvement"). Don't ask what the mileage was like -- the Prius is an entirely different experience (and one I much prefer).

 

I'd be interested...even more so if the rails allowed the seat to drop a little in addition to going back.

 

Wow. Been a while since I checked this thread and it sure has taken a turn. I guess it's to be expected in this day and age. I just wanted to be able to fit into my new car comfortably and start enjoying it for what I know it can be. But I imagine we just scared someone enough that I'll have to figure out another way to accomplish this.

Everybody's so preoccupied with safety these days that they're afraid to go out on a limb and live a little. When I was a kid, we would have beaten the crap out of another kid for wearing a helmet. Now I see kids so controlled by their parents that it's rare to see one without safety gear. What happened to learning that life has consequences while jumping a creek with no hands on the handlebars? Sure, we got beat up a lot, and some of the dumb kids never made it, but we were free, not repressed. I think this repression is why kids are shooting each other every few months now. I bring this up because I feel it roughly parallels what we're fairly calmly discussing here.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate everyone's input on this matter and think that the more cautionary people are absolutely right. I just am saddened that they are so right.

Take this all with a grain of salt. After all, my first posting asked how to disable the airbags.

 

double post

 

You are free to modify your own seat if you want. Its your car. You can do whatever you want to it. But you should understand the risks before doing so.

Others have had the seat rails extended; if you search, you can find posts by NYPrius where he describes how the seat rails were modified to give more legroom. He had it done by a company that specializes in modifying cars for NBA players.

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-modifications/21751-seat-height-adjustment.html

If you want to drop the rails at the same time, I think you will find that this is very difficult. I hinted at this in an earlier post; the shape of the floorpan where the outboard rail mounts at the back of the seat does not leave much clearance between the floorpan and rail.

 

It is a sad fact that someone can take all the time and energy to make a product and some non deserving slacker can come along and take it all away.

While we are at it why not sue Henry Ford for inventing the car or the person that actually caused the accident or what if it was the drivers fault there selves for the crash.

God forbid any one does get hurt or killed in a car but it happens every second of the day.

Make who ever buys the product sign a waver and fax it to you. But then what do you do if they sell the car????????????????

The car itself and the drivers on the road are dangerous not the seat rails.

Also from what I here about the seat positioning if you have a wreck and get hurt even without the seat rails you could sue Toyota for building a car that is unsafe due to seat positioning.

Good grief my anxieties are way up there.

 

If you are designing and marketing a product, you have a responsibility to make sure it is safe to use. Doesn't matter if you are making it in your garage or if you are Toyota building it in Japan.

You don't get out of that responsibility by claiming "Prius cars explode on impact and the people die. If your worried about death you should buy a BIG SUV." That doesn't fly.

Toyota tests the seat and the air bag system to make sure it works properly. That is because they realize that they have a liability and they can mitigate some of that by testing.

If you modify part of that system, you are taking a risk that it will no longer work properly. You can test it, but that isn't practical for anyone other than Toyota, a seat manufacturer, or the government. So if you market it, and someone gets hurt, you are liable.

I'm not against anyone making aftermarket parts. I'm just pointing out that there is a liability.