Ask the expert
ESTATE RESTRAINTS
“Whatever the solution, it usually compromises the rear seat and the way it can be folded”
Q I’ve owned a Clubman Estate (Italian export spec) for some years. It unfortunately has no rear seat belts so I can’t take any children with me in it.
In the May Mini Magazine (Issue 314), on page 39, the Clubman in the On The Job feature has rear three-point seat belts. Is this so? Where are the rest of the anchoring points and what has been done (drilling, welding...) to use them? Best regards from Germany.
Wolfgang
A The subject of rear seat belts in Mini Estates has been well explored down the years (as you pointed out). Joe Hipkins’ Estate is a work in progress and how we pictured it may not be how the car finally takes to the road.
As has been pointed out before, there are two major issues when trying to equip the back seat of any Mini Estate with seat belts. Firstly, unlike many of the saloons, there are no seat belt fixings of any type in the rear – many saloons at least had points to mount lap belts, while the last cars were adapted to take three point belts. Secondly, there is nothing above waist level in the Estate with enough structural integrity to fit a mounting point to.
We have
