The legal requirements for seat belts in your motorhome are explained here. Any improvements will increase the safety for you and your passengers. If you're hiring a motorhome for a journey, check that the vehicle meets these standards before your take it on the road.
Seat belts must be fitted in:
all motorhomes manufactured on or after 1 October 2003
all motor vehicles converted into motorhomes on or after 1 October 2003.
While older motorhomes are not required to have seat belts, we strongly recommend that you voluntarily fit them. If it's not possible to fit seat belts to rear seats of older vehicles, try to eliminate, or at least pad, sharp edges and projections in the area to reduce your passengers' risk of injury.
Since 1 October 2003, there must be standards-compliant seat belts in all front seating positions. Standards-compliant seat belts are required to be fitted in rear seating positions until the total number of seat belts in the vehicle match the total number of the vehicle’s sleeping positions (berths). The types of seat belts required are detailed (see Belt types, below).
Please note: if a motorhome is imported or constructed that has more berths than seat belts, either additional standards-compliant seat belts must be retrofit (see Correct installation for retrofits, below) or excess berths must be permanently removed. It is the manufacturer, not the importer or trader, who determines the number of berths.
The driver's seat and front outer seat must each have a three-point, dual-sensitive, retractor seat belt.
If your vehicle has a front middle seat, it must have at least a lap belt. This is the legal minimum. We recommend you upgrade this to a lap-and-diagonal belt if you can, as they provide more protection in a crash.
Seatbelts fitted to forward-facing and rearward-facing seats must be lap belts at a legal minimum. We recommend you upgrade to a lap-and-diagonal belt if you can, as they provide more protection in a crash.
Seatbelts fitted to sideways-facing seatbelts must be lap belts. This is a legal requirement – you cannot upgrade to a lap-and-diagonal option.
You must display a notice in a prominent place in the rear seating area of your vehicle, telling your passengers, that:
for their safety, they should travel on seats fitted with seat belts
where their seat has a seat belt, they must use the seat belt.
For seats that can swivel or change direction, the passenger should sit in the direction in which they can use the seat belt properly. You need to display a sign showing the direction the seat needs to face for the belt to be used properly.
If your motorhome has retrofitted seat belts, the belts must be certified by:
This certification checks that the belt anchorages can withstand crash forces. For information on light vehicle certification, contact the Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association.(external link)
See the standards approved by Land Transport Rule: Seatbelts and Seatbelt Anchorages 2002.
