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Size of 3rd row child seats

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markwj

Asia Pacific
Moderator
Apr 10, 2011
4,681
1,380
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is having trouble getting these seats approved. The regulation appears to be:

Every seat in a vehicle shall be secured to the body of the vehicle and shall, except in the case of a bus or light bus, measure at least 380 millimetres from the backrest to the front edge of the seat and 380 millimetres along the back.

That is not really clear whether it is from the front of the backrest or back.

Could someone with child seats in their model S please help out with some measurements (in millimetres) of a child seat?
  • Along the backrest (width)
  • From front of the backrest to the front edge (depth)
  • From back of the seat to the front edge (depth)
  • Smallest depth of the seat
  • Largest depth of the seat
  • Smallest width of the seat
  • Largest width of the seat

(an annotated top-down picture would be wonderful, but just the numbers equally fine)

Many thanks.
 
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Looking at pictures of the seats, it seems that the width is not an issue. The main question is simply is the depth enough?

Can someone with these seats please help out? Just one measurement - from the front of the backrest to the front edge of the seat. Many thanks.
 
About 11 inches (28 cm) with the "leather" seats. Keep in mind there are at least two different versions of the seat, leather and cloth.

In the picture, the tape measure goes a little under the back seat rest, so the sittable area is about 280 mm.

photo.JPG
 
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Just a question about what type of child harness your children are supposed to be in? Say ages maybe 3-4 until maybe 8-10 depending on how much they weigh (77lbs max for tesla) and height. These 3rd row jump seats are made specifically for children only and not for adults and are made to take the place of say a booster seat. These jump seats are quite larger and safer than what the US allows as safe for a booster. I'm bringing this up only because would it possibly make a difference since it's used as a child restraint?
 
Just a question about what type of child harness your children are supposed to be in?

From my understanding, there are no specific restrictions in Hong Kong for children in rear sears. Just that every passenger needs to have a seat belt. As parents, we are just expected to use appropriate restraints.

Transport Department - Child Safety in Cars

The problem we are facing is purely their definition of a 'passenger seat' in a passenger car - they don't differentiate between adult / child / baby, and just require each seat to be 38cm x 38cm and have a seat belt.
 
No I get that. However these are NOT passenger seats. These are child restraint systems. Much like what you posted. They are a 5 point harness like the picture posted for the 9 month to 4 years. Can you take the schematics into a licensing place like the place you get your plates from or a police station?

I understand and what you're saying. This is kind of a gray area almost. But I almost think you might be ok just because simply because of what they are. I also don't think tesla would be allowed to offer them to customers if they were illegal for you guys to use on the street. Have you tried contacting ownership?
 
No I get that. However these are NOT passenger seats. These are child restraint systems. Much like what you posted. They are a 5 point harness like the picture posted for the 9 month to 4 years. Can you take the schematics into a licensing place like the place you get your plates from or a police station?

I understand and what you're saying. This is kind of a gray area almost. But I almost think you might be ok just because simply because of what they are. I also don't think tesla would be allowed to offer them to customers if they were illegal for you guys to use on the street. Have you tried contacting ownership?

The problem here is that cars are registered and licensed for a specific limited number of passengers, each passenger must have a seat, and each seat must be at least 380x380 mm. Child restraint systems go on top of these passenger seats. That is all written into the legislation, so it is not easy to get changed in the short term. Really black and white.

In a similar way, the legislation says that passenger cars must have reflective mirrors on each side (so no side cameras for Model X here).

We've actually tried the 'these are not passenger, but child, seats' argument, but it doesn't help. The legislation and registration is for a specific limit on the number of passengers, and there is nothing to allow us to add on child-specific seats on top of that. Bottom line is that a child is a passenger.

Tesla is not allowed to sell them to customers here (which is a real shame, as a poll indicates 85% of customers here would order the child seat option) and we have been trying to find a way around it. But, it looks like the legislation is an absolute roadblock for this at the moment.