Aftermarket seats?

FG4 Pjay

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Vehicle Model
Civic Si
Body Style
Coupe
If i wanted aftermarket seats what would i have to do?
Im new to this, I have no information on this.
Would it depend on the size of the seat?
would i have to get a seat bracket?
Please help
 
If you're asking about race style seats, we just had a very informative breakdown on those by @Nix (I think)........ so don't buy any till he get's on here........ Or you can look for the thread(I can never find old stuff on here).
 
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If your airbag light is on, none of them work. Removing the seat and the sensor not only eliminates the airbag in your seat back but effectively disables the whole system. Very very unsafe. Your Honda is incredibly well engineered to save your life in a crash. Undoing a major life saving system for some "cool" seats is something I really really strongly recommend you not do. Swapping in an OEM seat with the proper resistor and airbag in the seat back would be ok as far as I'm concerned. I have not seen anyone post that they have beaten the stock system with a resistor yet. I think people with Recaros/Bride seats are just running dangerious.

Also those very popular 4-point harnesses are so dangerous I can't believe they haven't been banned. Those green TAKATA straps that everyone loves will kill you.
This is long but you should read it if you are considering this.

Taken from club wrx:

http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/interior-mods/134349661-seat-belt-harness-bar.html


To use the 4-point systems you need a bolt in harness bar. As far as safety restaint system, yes, all harness bars are absolute crap. A collison at an autocross is highly unlikely, but just having that bar in your car on the street, even if you're using your OEM 3 point belt, it can be a fatal mistake.


Okay, I'm making this post in an attempt to save the OP or anyone else who wishes to install a harness, harness bar, or roll cage from ending up paralyzed or dead. I see improperly used and improperly installed equipment on a regular basis, and it kills me to see people risking their lives and their passengers lives simply because they don't have the pertinent information.

You NEVER mount harnesses to the floor, period. What is keeping you from doing a face plant on the steering wheel/dash in a front end collision? The seatback? That seat would snap like a toothpick. Not only that, as you fly forward into the dash, and you will, in even a low speed accident, the harness is going to pull down on your shoulders and compress your spine causing a debilitating or fatal back injury.

Furthermore, harnesses, harness bars, and roll cages have no place in a street car, period.

DO NOT USE HARNESS BARS for safety equipment. Use a bolted or welded in roll cage. But you are putting your life on the line if you use a roll cage, or even a harness bar without wearing a helmet AT ALL TIMES in the car. I know of someone who was killed in a 25mph collision when he bumped his head on his harness bar.

DO NOT USE ROLL BARS/CAGES on the street. You should never get into a car that has any type of roll cage or roll bar in it unless you wear a helmet at all times. See above for a further explaination of why a helmet is necessary.

DO NOT USE 4 POINT HARNESSES. Use 5 or 6 point harnesses. The reason you submarine out of a 4 point harness is that your upper body does not lean forward and over the lap belt like it would with a 3 point. Thus, the g forces force your body out under the lap belt. The act of submarining out of a belt is going to seriously injure and potentially kill you, but once you've submarined out of the harness, you can also be ejected from the car. Also, if you have a 5 or 6 point harness and it works as it should, it decelerates your torso instantly in a frontal impact, but your head will continue moving forward. This will result in a debilitating or fatal neck injury or instantly fatal basular skull fracture. Oh and that front airbag, forget about it because you'll never reach it if the harness works. Never use a harness on the street, period.

Next, harnesses should only be mounted at shoulder level and mounted only to a welded or bolted in roll cage, period. Mounting to the floor, or rear seatbelt mounts, causes the harness to pull down on your shoulders and crush your spine when you are in a frontal impact, causing a debilitating or fatal back injury. Also, you will be hitting the steering wheel/dash with full force if you've bolted the harness to the floor. The only place I would say that it is remotely safe to use an improperly installed harness is the autocross. This is because collisions at autocross events are more than rare, so you would not be at much risk of using the harness as a safety restraint. But, injuries are still possible, at least you can now weigh the risks and make an informed decision as to whether or not you use this equipment in your car.

STREET CARS DO NOT USE AFTERMARTKET SEATS. Well, they don't when they have integral airbags in the seats. When you remove the seats with airbags, the airbag light comes on, and you have now DISABLED EVERY AIRBAG IN THE CAR. You have no more front, side, or curtain airbags. You have also put yourself in hot water with your insurance company by removing your factory safety equipment. If you or someone else is injured or killed in your vehicle, even if the accident is the other guy's fault, you are going to get sued, along with the guy who hit you.

I've had several people mention that 'race cars' use this type of safety equipment, but....

Also consider that accidents in race cars are NOT usually as severe as accidents on the street. Everyone is going the same direction on a race track, so no head on collisions. The track is lined with tire walls and barriers so that it is highly unlikely that you could hit a solid object like a tree. The track is set up so that collisions are deflected and cars can't deccelerate all at once. There should be no spot on a track where you can go head on into something and deccelerate intantly. On the street, the hazards and potential impacts are far greater in likelihood and severity than on a track.

Furthermore, The safety equipment used in 'race cars' is a system, period. You cannot pick and choose what equipment you want to use. No harness without a HANS, no HANS without a helmet, no cage without a helmet, the list keeps going in cirlces. YOU NEED EVERYTHING. Race car drivers do not piecemeal their safety equipment together.

The factory safety equipment is the best possible design for street use and is also a system. When you remove or change one piece, nothing else works like it should. It kills me to see people risking and losing their lives so that they can have some Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements on their cars.

If self preservation is at all alive within you, use your factory safety equipment AND ONLY YOUR FACTORY SAFETY EQUIPMENT on the street.
 
:clapping: Great info! It's upsetting that I can't swap out my seats though :/
 
As far as I know you can swap in any other seat from Honda that matches the one you are replacing.

Ex: If you like a leather accord ex-l seat you can swap the drivers side civic seat for the drivers side accord seat as long as they both have the airbags and sensors.

That's how it was on the 8th gen. I have not seen anyone attempt it on the newer cars though.


More than anything the stock 3 point seatbelt is the safest thing going for a street car.
 
As far as I know you can swap in any other seat from Honda that matches the one you are replacing.


Ex: If you like a leather accord ex-l seat you can swap the drivers side civic seat for the drivers side accord seat as long as they both have the airbags and sensors.

That's how it was on the 8th gen. I have not seen anyone attempt it on the newer cars though.


More than anything the stock 3 point seatbelt is the safest thing going for a street car.

Ok so you're saying I can swap in some 8th gen si seats? I know you said nobody has tried but what do you think? Would the connectors work? I do like the 8th gen seats a lot more than mine.

What would be nice is to offer us a (SAFE) factory option racing interior seating system.

That would be awesome! Some nice recaros would be nice
 
@Nix Is my car seat guru...... Knowing there are some replacements is nice.
I was thinking(dreaming, more like it)......... Was to have a safe street car seat but of the looks and fit of the racing seats everyone wants to get(but still be incorporated with the proper air and other restraining devises).
If Honda won't do it, the aftermarket companies could make them DOT for modern public road cars(just dreaming, and it would cost a lump of $$$$$$$......
 
I would really recommend finding a friend with an 8th gen and trying the seat swap before confirming anything or spending money on seats. I don't know how much has changed with the new iMid system. It may not work anymore. I just know you previously could swap drivers seats between civics and accords and so on. The Si has far more bolstering in the seats than the non-Si and I have personally noticed that the coupe has a much more snug fitting seat than the sedans.
 
I would really recommend finding a friend with an 8th gen and trying the seat swap before confirming anything or spending money on seats. I don't know how much has changed with the new iMid system. It may not work anymore. I just know you previously could swap drivers seats between civics and accords and so on. The Si has far more bolstering in the seats than the non-Si and I have personally noticed that the coupe has a much more snug fitting seat than the sedans.
I would also think that as the new cars are designed, the technology in the seats is improved. I'm not sure I would swap out an older seat in my car. The seats are probably matched with the rest of the safety equipment in your car to work all together in a crash. It sounds risky to me.
 
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