rules regarding rear seats in a 4 door sedan.

Can I remove the rear seats + seatbelts and pass a wof? car is 4 door sedan wrx.

I think as long as there aren't seatbelts it can pass without seats. But don't quote me.

yes and no

yes you can pass a wof with no rear seats BUT just removing them and the seatbelts is not enough, the holes for the belts will have to be permanently disabled, the vehicle will also have to changed on its registration from a 5 seater to a 2 seater( can be done at VTNZ easily enough ) as if it is still registered as a 5 seater any WOF inspector who is any good will be looking for 5 sets of seatbelts to test.

If you have one you have to have the other, I.e if seatbelts are present you need seats, if seats are present you need seatbelts. There is no need to remove the belt holes as far as I am aware. You will find though that some WOF guys will misinterpret what is written in the rule book, I had this issue with one place in my rally car, The guy tried to tell me I had to register it as a 2 seater which is utter B/S, Even when I produced the evidence directly from a mate that worked at NZTA compliance he still wouldnt listen, easiest solution was to go elsewhere.

sweet deal thanks.

 B1 said:

If you have one you have to have the other, I.e if seatbelts are present you need seats, if seats are present you need seatbelts. There is no need to remove the belt holes as far as I am aware. You will find though that some WOF guys will misinterpret what is written in the rule book, I had this issue with one place in my rally car, The guy tried to tell me I had to register it as a 2 seater which is utter B/S, Even when I produced the evidence directly from a mate that worked at NZTA compliance he still wouldnt listen, easiest solution was to go elsewhere.

Wouldn't the easier option be to register it as a two door, it's really quick and easy to do then you don't have to drive around different laces to get a wof.

As long as you remove seat belts and seats then you can register as a two door that's all I did, I haven't disabled the sear belt bolt holes on mine they are still there and in theory could still be used.never had any problems getting wof.

 B1 said:

If you have one you have to have the other, I.e if seatbelts are present you need seats, if seats are present you need seatbelts. There is no need to remove the belt holes as far as I am aware. You will find though that some WOF guys will misinterpret what is written in the rule book, I had this issue with one place in my rally car, The guy tried to tell me I had to register it as a 2 seater which is utter B/S, Even when I produced the evidence directly from a mate that worked at NZTA compliance he still wouldnt listen, easiest solution was to go elsewhere.

you have been sent wrong by your guy then,as if it is registered as a 5 seater then it has to have 5 seating positions and therefore( if they are normal seating facing frontwards) 5 seatbelts, and when going for a WOF check the inspector will see that it is registered as a 5 seater and because it has a/ been changed from original b/ he cannot check seat rigidity, c/ he also cannot check seatbelts then he should fail it outright.

I get this all the time when selling vans that were cofed as a minibus selling as an empty van, I just take it into VTNZ get it re certed on WOF and changed to 2 seats easy peasy

I have a Gc8 Rally car, Rear seats and seat belts are removed - It has not been registered as a 2 seater, there are Roll bars in the rear so seats/belts are impractical. I have passed a WOF numerous times at VTNZ - This also applies to the FXGT rally car I used to own. Your reasoning suggests that I should reinstall the rear seats and belts to make the vehicle comply

As far as the VIRM says the only mandatory equipment is a drivers seat as far as seats go. These items are not required to be checked if not present

 ballsrburning said:

Wouldn't the easier option be to register it as a two door, it's really quick and easy to do then you don't have to drive around different laces to get a wof.

As long as you remove seat belts and seats then you can register as a two door that's all I did, I haven't disabled the sear belt bolt holes on mine they are still there and in theory could still be used.never had any problems getting wof.

I don't really want to have to Weld up the rear doors, Seems like far too much work.

 B1 said:

I don't really want to have to Weld up the rear doors, Seems like far too much work.

Not the doors. Just the holes where the seatbelts bolt into.

Register it as a four door 2 seater lol. Easy as that, weld up seat mounting points. Doors dont mean it needs seats.

 B1 said:

I have a Gc8 Rally car, Rear seats and seat belts are removed - It has not been registered as a 2 seater, there are Roll bars in the rear so seats/belts are impractical. I have passed a WOF numerous times at VTNZ - This also applies to the FXGT rally car I used to own. Your reasoning suggests that I should reinstall the rear seats and belts to make the vehicle comply

As far as the VIRM says the only mandatory equipment is a drivers seat as far as seats go. These items are not required to be checked if not present

I think you may find that as your car is a "rally" car and is caged and runs a log book that it is in a different legal standing

The original poster has said nothing about his car being rally or race so maybe just having a 1/2 installed for looks for all we know.

Racecar = do what you need to, welding seatbelt holes isn't a major if there is a cage anyway

If not a racecar then why bother for the 10kg a seat weighs, unless it's your hektic eg hatch weekend racer

 B1 said:

I don't really want to have to Weld up the rear doors, Seems like far too much work.

You don't need to, my rear doors work still i have not welded them and I haven't welded up the Seat belt bolt holes either. The car is caged so there is no way you can get a rear seat back in there. I filled in one form sent it off now it's a two door and I always get my wof at vtnz No issues.

Why would you want to remove the backseat unless you had a cage?

And B1, pretty sure the cage and associated paperwork nullifies the whole re-registration requirement.

My experience differs a little from this, but here it is anyway:

Years ago I had an Impreza wagon that I removed the rear seats from. I wasn't able to get a WOF unless I had the class of the vehicle changed to a commercial-use vehicle (Class NA), but there was no specification of how many seats, as far as the registration went. My WOF guy (who also did certs) said that a commercial vehicle was only allowed to have two seats, and to make sure that seats couldnt be put back in after the WOF / rego was changed, the seat-bolt holes had to be disabled. This meant welding bolts into the holes. This also meant that since the rear seats had been disabled, this required certification *sigh*. I didn't have to disable the belts, but they did have to be removed.

So I did this (spot-welded bolts in place), he certed it and WOF'd it. I then changed the class of the vehicle on the registration to NA, and everything was fine from then on.

When it came to disposing of the vehicle, I was able to grind off the spot welds, put rear seats back in, change the class back, remove the cert plate, and it was back to normal again.

How does filling out a form make your car a 2 door? If it's the car in the picture I still see four doors lol

The authority card (which is required to use a caged car on public roads) is only valid for what is stated on the card, So mine reads: Homologated roll protection structure, Seats, harnesses. It also has a low volume cert for ABS and airbag removal, Hydraulic handbrake and adjustable suspension. Nothing about a 2 seater nor has it ever been registered as one.

Yeah, it's changing the class, or the usage of the vehicle, that requires the removal of the rear seats... but not changed to a 2-door. It's basically turning a car into a van, of sorts. A commercial van has only a front seating positions, nothing in the rear.

 B1 said:

The authority card (which is required to use a caged car on public roads) is only valid for what is stated on the card, So mine reads: Homologated roll protection structure, Seats, harnesses. It also has a low volume cert for ABS and airbag removal, Hydraulic handbrake and adjustable suspension. Nothing about a 2 seater nor has it ever been registered as one.

well to be honest I think you are just being lucky, IF a vehicle that was once a 5 seater and has been changed to a 2 seater, should have its usage changed to 2 occupants.

because of yours being a rally car it may just slip thru, it should not but sometimes if the car is not "standard" and looks legit then the wof inspectors will either a/ thinks it must be ok ( as it has all the documentation) or b/ puts it in the to hard basket as they dont know the regulations

Well well well After reading the legislation on seat modifications look like we could both be right as per usual the legislation is unclear and all in all bloody useless.

It does state that seat removals donot require a cert( this we already know) but it does state that a change of usage and loadings maybe required in some instances

http://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/virms/in-service-wof-and-cof/general/vehicle-interior/seats-and-seat-anchorages#table711

I have actually contacted the NZTA and hope to hear back soon, will keep you posted on what they say, but from when my friend worked in the vehicle compliance area he told me this information, Even pointed me to the correct info in the virm and armed with this I told the WOf place I originally went to they were a bunch of cocks. went elsewhere and have never had a problem. A lot of issues come down to misinterpretation :-)

Also said WOF places reasoning was that if they gave me a WOF and then I put seats back in and someone died in my car they would be held liable - pretty sure the WOF system is just a snapshot of the vehicles condition at time of inspection, If I add an ejector seat after I get my WOf it is not the WOF issuers problem, and the legality of the vehicle is the owners issue between WOFs.