Removing seats from seven seater = no wof

mggd, Jul 9, 9:20am
I would buy a seven seater but if the last row of seats are removed I believe it is considered a modification and therefore not allowed, no good just doing it as it gives the insurance company an out if there is an incident, seems a bit odd ? The vehicle type and size I prefer just happens to have a row of fold up seats that I would never use.( fortuner) . Have to find something else.

tweake, Jul 9, 10:30am
not a wof fail that i know of.
the seatbelts must be removed as well.
probably have the vans in the country have rear seats removed.

toyboy3, Jul 9, 10:58am
Not a wof fail having rear seats removed, don’t even have to remove the rest of the seatbelts,

bigfatmat1, Jul 9, 11:02am
My car failed a wof for having rear seats folded down lol. Reckon they couldnt check seat belts. Dunno why the didn't just push the back of the seat into place.

mrfxit, Jul 9, 11:27am
Not the inspectors job to put the seats back in their place, BUTT, he's being a bit of a dick about it.
If he had moved the seats, then he would have confirmed the hinges were ok as well as the rest of the belts etc.

sandypheet, Jul 9, 11:37am
Its the owners responsablity to present the vehicle in a manner in which it can be inspected.

bigfatmat1, Jul 9, 11:52am
lol ok. Next time I'll open the door for him aswell so he can check the hinges. It was in a manner it could be inspected. Its a function of the vehicle. The area was clear.

sandypheet, Jul 9, 12:07pm
Lol nope.Its his job to open the doors. Just saying.

msigg, Jul 9, 12:24pm
Load of bollocks. Take the seats out and seat belts. No problems there. This can never cause an accident so the insurance cover is all good, only time insurance is no good is if what you did is a contributing factor in the accident. end of story. Think about things please.

kcf, Jul 9, 12:43pm
Where seatbelt or seatbelt anchorage components remain fitted, and the vehicle is such that the removed seats can be readily re-fitted and used with the seatbelts, the vehicle inspector must:
identify which seats were missing when the vehicle was presented for inspection, and
advise the vehicle operator that the remaining seatbelt components have not been checked, and that if the missing seats are re-fitted at a later stage, it is the vehicle operators' responsibility to ensure that these seats and seatbelts are compliant prior to using them.

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

androth2, Jul 9, 1:04pm
Some WOF inspections are done by some weird people.Once I was nearly rejected as they said the side mirrors would not retract when the car was locked .I said its not a WOF requirement to have folding external mirrors so they just mumbled .

mack77, Jul 9, 1:57pm
You only need to have the drivers seat fitted to get a WOF. I usually don't bother to take the unused seatbelts out of my cars. I have only once had a problem with a WOF check in regard to seats removal and had to phone NZTA to get them to tell the WOF inspector that his rejection was wrong. NZTA were very helpful to me in this regard.

john1623, Jul 9, 2:54pm
Why not just leave them folded down?

michlmasters, Jul 9, 9:02pm
I have taken the back row seats out of my mux, no problems with wof so far

amasser, Jul 10, 4:22am
Yes. Caused a re-check which was no more income for the testing station but more work. Silly attitude.

kazbanz, Jul 12, 6:57am
It is definitely NOT a WOF fail to have seats removed. It is illegal to have a usable seat and no belts. (in that vehicle)
I haven't removed seats from the rear of a Fortuna but have with many similar Toyota vehicles. It is literally 2 bolts per seat. With the seatbelts the easy way is to just undo the one belt mounting bolt you can see on the floor and the top mounting bolt . tape the bolts to the end of the belt and then reel the belt up into the spool