Seat safety

FYI I got a quote for a BB Advantage II Sportsman yesterday, closer to $1600.00 depending if custom or off the shelf.

Yeah, a seat in that league is a couple grand or so. I talked to LaJoie last year but they didn't really have much sports car experience. The Butler Pro Sportsman with the head and shoulder supports looks like a good, generic fit package.

Paul, did you get the head and shoulder supports?

The fit Paul mentions is an important factor in safety. Even if it's not a custom seat, you don't want to be swimming in it. It's like having your belts tight or a helmet that fits well. In any of those cases, you don't want to slam into your safety devices. It puts a lot more stress into the seat and into your body.

I currently have a Racetech HRV4009HRV (the viper seat). This was expensive but what attracted me to it was the shoulder support. All the safety testing I have read suggests that lack of shoulder support is a likely path to rib damage in side impact. I believe this is becoming the norm for latest FIA homogolation. The new FIA conforming seats (can't remember the FIA number) which will come out in the next year or so will be a significant step up apparently.

Bruce is correct about this seat in that my helmet will strike the top left horizontal bar in my car at about the same time it will hit the Halo (which will move slightly). A point of concern for me that can only be corrected by rebuilding the cage (which has metal fatigue safety concerns for me) or lowering the seat (which is already as low as I can go). This seat only has one more year of legal life in it. Interestingly Racetech make a wonderful Sprint Car seat which they do not advertise on their main site (you can Goolge it though). I had a chance to sit in one a while back and thought it was far better then my Viper seat. About $2,200. I think that is in my future.

Cnj.

The seat that I have is the E-Z Sportsman. That is the seat that Howard Butler recommended for the Miata. List price is around $670 and the lower back support was $35.

The EZ Sportsman looks even better. Good price too.

As Paul stated I have E-Z Sportsman from Butlerbuilt. I spent over an hour at Race Car Engineering sitting in several aluminum seats before settling on the Butlerbuilt. I own seats from both of the other seat guys and what I was most impressed with was the overall quaility difference between the seats. I was surprised at how well the seat and its overall shape fit for something straight off the shelve. The only mod I made was to slightly bend the upper corner of the side out to ease getting in and out. I did get with it the lumbar pad. I was worried about the seat having less padding than my Race Tech seat however that went away once I drove with it. Butler will make full covers if you want them and company really seems to put customer service first.

Over the past few years there have been several rib fractures with the cheaper Aluminum seats. I am aware of 3 such injuries and I am sure there are more. The seats have good hip containement, but in severe lateral impact and insuing deceleration, the upper torso and head which are not contained, and comprise significant mass and therefore momentum, pivot over the lower section of the aluminum hip bolster, and fracture the ribs.

I would not use one of these seats. Containing the head with a halo will improve the situation, but the ideal situation is to have shoulder containment as well. Difficult in our cars

As Paul stated I have E-Z Sportsman from Butlerbuilt. I spent over an hour at Race Car Engineering sitting in several aluminum seats before settling on the Butlerbuilt. I own seats from both of the other seat guys and what I was most impressed with was the overall quaility difference between the seats. I was surprised at how well the seat and its overall shape fit for something straight off the shelve. The only mod I made was to slightly bend the upper corner of the side out to ease getting in and out. I did get with it the lumbar pad. I was worried about the seat having less padding than my Race Tech seat however that went away once I drove with it. Butler will make full covers if you want them and company really seems to put customer service first.

Could you post a picture of the seat inside the car for us?

I have a few pictures before the car was complete, however I don't know how to attach the photo's to this post

Miata cage is working on a real nice carbon fiber seat. A few people have them already. I think I am going to take the plunge next year.

Jim

The Miatacage seat does look pretty nice....

I have a few pictures before the car was complete, however I don't know how to attach the photo's to this post

If you go click more reply options on the bottom quick reply box, there is an option to attach files.

Miata cage is working on a real nice carbon fiber seat. A few people have them already. I think I am going to take the plunge next year.

Jim

Link or picture someone?

Well said Danny. This thread was started by a driver with this exact complaint. Here is the video from his accident...end result, broken ribs and bruising.

http://gallery.me.com/petedpm#100241 Fast forward to the 12 min mark...

Link or picture someone?

I think this was a video of the very first prototype testing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF1IQCD7pic&feature=related

Sean wanted me to do a similar video, i was certain i would bust my big ass right before the runoffs So I declined

Here are those pictures

I guess I didn't do something right

Link or picture someone?

http://www.miatacage...miata-seat.aspx

Here are some images of Ultrashield Full Containment Halo Seat and right side net.

http://carphotos.car...54_original.jpg
http://carphotos.car...53_original.jpg
http://carphotos.car...52_original.jpg

Respectfully,
Henry V

I have a butler built made to measure seat. My dad and Brian Butler went to high school together. I have known them for years. It's a full containment seat. The seat MUST go in the car first. Then build the custom cage around it. You will NOT fit a kit cage around this type of seat.