Morris Minor Owners Club

I have recently bought a 1969 traveller with seat belts fitted to the front seats but not the back. Are these mandatory ?

I think seatbelt mountings were fitted to all the 1962-on (Series V) Minors. AFAIK, the front seatbelts are mandatory (required for the MOT) if the mountings are fitted, but you don't have to have rear ones, unless, of course, you want to.

The law has developed over the years - unless things have changed recently (and I cant find any reference to is) the original requirement was for seatbelt mounting points to be installed and used in cars first used on or after 1st January 1965 / Built after mid 1964, although the law later required retrospective fitting of front belts in all cars first used after 1/1/65.

Cars prior to 1/1/65 were exempt from the requirement to fit/wear, but where belts are fitted they must be warn regardless of the age of the vehicle, and of course where fitted they will fall within the scope of an MOT test.

Fitting belts to the rear from scratch leaves the fitness of the installation to the opinion of the mot tester, but it goes without saying that a "newly fabricated" seat belt mount needs to be a substantial piece of engineering, Ive seen some pretty hair raising work on cars over the years, especially on older cars. If you fit them yourself be aware there are requirements about the "run" of the belt, to prevent the belt causing unnecessary injury in an impact

Thanks for advice guys, it usually my wife and myself in the traveller but my daughter wanted to join us yesterday !

Hi,
Personally I wouldn't feel safe travelling any distance without belts, even though mine are at present the original 'Kangol(?)' static ones.
I have been lucky enough to source some original 'Britax' inertia ones which I will replace them with in due course.
However in looking for these I came across plenty of grey webbed (some even with chrome fittings) seat belts that would go much better with 1950's / 1960's cars than black webbed ones do (IMO).
My point being that you should be able to source some in keeping with your car relatively easily and keep your passengers safe. I've included some links below. Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Mike.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KARMANN-GHIA- ... 54042e1139

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TYPE-2-SPLIT- ... 5afe862f2f

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TYPE-2-BAY-Se ... 54078e6fc9

Good spot with the VW belts!

You can also have period style webbing and fittings made up specifically for your Minor by:

http://www.quickfitsbs.com/classic_cars_seatbelts.php

Not cheap, but they will also do installation an almost any car, even where mounting points were not originally fitted.

you can buy a t shirt so it looks like you are wearing a seat belt

you can buy a t shirt so it looks like you are wearing a seat belt

That should raise a smile in A&E .

The Traveller rear seat belt reels are fitted to the rear wheel arch but check the max length as some belts specified as Traveller rear are not long enough.
Having used both static and inertia belts I would go for the inertia belts every time.

rear seat belts compulsory after 1 Jan 1984 or if fitted

I have just yesterday, fitted a 2nd SECURON automatic belt from ESM in the back seat of my 66 Traveller. (I already had one fitted). Went in easily after you decide where the mountings should go. There are no strengthening plates supplied with the kit so I fitted large (40mmdia) washers under the nuts for extra strength. I'm 6'4" and 15 1/2 stone so not exactly small! and the straps are long enough for me to wear but only just!