Long ago I used to carry my son in a car seat back there. I installed seat belts to hold his car seat. There are threaded holes in the body under the rear platform for seat belt bolts. I cant remember bolt size, maybe M10.
You will lack the top tether now required in new cars, but you won't have one in the front seat either anyway.
The arrangement seemed safe enough to this careful engineer dad.

 

I have used Recaro Kinder seat front and rear of my 560SL. Front seat is less windy, when assembled on rear seat the space and location is better for her (and me). Unfortunately I did not find any pics when the Kinderseat is assembled on the rear seat.

 

No. Do not do this. Do not ride with your three year old in your SL and tell her step father that his little S-10 is inappropriate too. You are gambling with your grand child's life. At least wait until she is older and can be in a booster seat. It's not worth it.

 

Huh? She is talking about securing an approved car seat not seat belting a child in with standard seat belts.

 

I got not only one on top of my folding back seat, but two.

Thread: http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r-c107-sl-slc-class/1587941-jump-rear-seat-installation-photos.html

I suspect you get a little more cushion when the child seats are on something padded. The kids aren't supposed to be bolted to the frame of the car. There should be some give is the seat to absorb some of the impact instead of transferring it all to the kids neck. So if you do strap the car seat to the car, put some cushioning between it and the hard parts of the car. Don't sit it right on the parcel shelf and against the sheet metal of in front of the gas tank.




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Not sure about the US, but here, even with an approved seat, if it doesn't have an approved (i.e. fitted from the factory, or signed off by an engineer) anchor point, it's a no-no.

I know that I'd never risk it with my daughter. It's not so much my driving I'm worried about, it's other people. Just takes one idiot to run up the back of you.

 

As stated the anchor points for seat belts are there and threaded. Lap belts only. Should not be difficult to cut the parcel shelf for installing. I am not familiar with car seats for children having never had a use for either. If a lap belt is sufficient to secure the seat it should not be difficult of very expensive.

 

I took an online defensive driving course and was shocked that lap belts only decreased the likelihood of mortality in a car crash by 25%, shoulder belts by 50%, but fortunately baby seats are way up there like 85% or something. I can't remember what 5-point child seats were rated at.

Needless to say, I will certainly be installing three shoulder belts in the back of my convertible SLC and using 5-point harnesses as long as possible.

I can't remember the statistics on front-vs back seats for five point harnesses. I suspect that the back is always safer.

If you go into the rollover category though, I think the front might be safer for a soft-top SL. I tried to create a thread of pictures of crashed SLs to understand how they fair in terrible accidents. The thread certainly did not "take off" with participation. There are a few pictures that might be helpful though. http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r-c107-sl-slc-class/1638629-pictures-crashed-r107-c107.html



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Edit in Dec 2017:
Almost 5 years later and I haven’t done what I said I would: install 3-Point belts for my kids. I’ve found myself rarely driving my SLC convertible since the fair weather occasions where all five of us want to go for a top-down drive is so rare. Honestly, I think there was only one five-passenger occasions in each 2016 and 2017. The red 280sl stick with a jump seat gets more action, but even that does not have 3-point belts, and my oldest 10 (almost 11) is probably too big for that back seat already, my 9 year old complains when he rides back there, and my 6 year old doesn’t. And when adults ride back there, they will get restrained by the front seat being only inches from their face. So putting 3-Point belts in the r107 has totally fallen off the list, and is not very high on my SLC convertible list due to lack of usage.

 

Sorry for resucitating an old thread. But I think this is new info. Doing some EPC mining I found out you could actually get rear child seats for the 107!:

B67862118 Model Roemer Peggy

 

Ask and ye shall receive. A Mercedes Benz branded child seat.

I wonder if the fabric is the same fabric they use on the cloth seats!

 

Neat!

That’s definitely not an r107 though.

 

I am not sure about the current nanny state criteria.

I had no issue transporting my kid in the front seat of a w115 for years. Three year old to 8, when the car died. I would not put him in the rear with only lap belts.

In an SL, as long as the belts are solid, I would have no issue stuffing a kid up front.

 

what you need is a Britax vario Ronny

Maybe worth an enquiry of Britax-Romer themselves. They are on google

some info here. no longer available, except I still have one and am open to offers.
Britax Romer Vario

The part number is " Romer Vario 88516" and it's a Universal 15-25 kg. Group II ECE R44/04.
It says centre seat, but not lateral seats or passenger seat., but the illustrations clearly show a child being fitted into a lateral seat. It also defeats the object saying that, as in cars like the SL where lap belts and lateral seats are all there is, these are the ideal solution.

 

After countless hours of research I found a rear facing top-secure child seat for the 107: The Axkid Minikid
- Up to 4y old approx
- Rear facing, takes only one rear seat, you can fit 2 imo but front passenger sear needs to be full forward
- Anti roll bar and tethers
- No rear mirror obstruction
- You can fit and use the original windscreen without removing the seat!
- Kid goes in/out unlocking the rear pin of the soft top. It's quite convenient actually. On a hard top you have more trouble unfortunately

So yes, it fits in the back seat and original windscreen compatible. Looks like done on purpose to fit a 107. I don't know if it's available outside of Europe though? :-(

 

that looks scary

really really scary. not too mention claustrophobic. Is that ECE/DIN/TUV approved for a 107?:nerd and where do the little co-pilot's feet go?

 

Thankfully my 6 & 8 year olds are big enough to fit in the back seats now, I did fit 3 point seat belts.

Previous to that on another car I used a Maxi Cosi ifofix seat, I removed the arm, its held on with pin and circlip, and used 3 U shaped bolts, one over the pole at the front and two for the rear isofix mounts to click into. I'm not saying it was perfect but the mounts looked stronger than any isofix mounts I've seen as original equipment. It was easy to remove and refit too. Might work on a R107 too.

 

The issue with restricting kids to the back had to do with the early installation of air bags in the front. Air bags were still in development and were not ready for use in all cars at the time legislation required their installation. This air bag requirement, as well as the law that kids be seated in booster seats and rear facing child seats, was a formula for disaster. The forces of air bag deployment was not understood and the early bags exploded with an high impact force. Small adults as well as children sitting in the required booster seats, as well as rear facing child seats, could and would be seriously injured and necks were being broken. The answer the legislature had for this was to require that small people be placed in the rear seat where there was no airbag. Newer airbags are much better now with the ability to reduce deployment forces with lighter weight passengers.

This was an example of a situation where legislation and government were not properly coordinated or understood resulting in many injuries as a result of an improperly directed search for safety.

Legally, kids can be in the front seat in a two-seater car, and there is no need (and it is a poor idea) to cobble up a rear shelf seat in the R107 if there is a choice. Our R107's do not have a passenger side airbag so the child injury problem created by them is not a problem. There was a time when an airbag disconnect switch could be installed on some cars to turn off the passenger side airbag. My Ford F250 has such a switch from the factory.

Statistically, a non-passenger side-air bag equipped car is no issue at all for having kids in the front seat and this would be the safer place for them per the design of the SL. Certainly there are considerations on what to do if both front seats are occupied by adults and you want to have the kids along also.

Hard to imagine, but prior to the 2000's kids were often in the front seat and we somehow survived.

 

Not scarier or more claustrophobic than any other small car, but obviously don't use the windscreen when the kid is in the seat if that is what you referred to.

In any case thanks for the info on the front/back info, as I expected the back seats to be the safest. There is a lot of confusion around this. Some claim isofix is not as safe as seat-belt secured ones, then there's the rear/forward facing comparisons, skewed articles etc etc It is a small research project in itself to find out what is the best combination, not for the 107, but for any car in general. So far I concluded the safest is back + seat belt + rear facing... :shrug: