2000_Black_RT10
Enthusiast
I highly doubt Chrysler will accomodate a new seating position.. it's another liability you may not be aware of. As background.. I've worked in advanced vehicle engineering at Chrysler in Auburn Hills, as well as Ford Motor Company in Dearborn in the past, exposed to vehicle design & engineering.
Typically the seating position is based on approved SAE / government standards, which require to be met.. otherwise, you cannot produce or sell the car. This is to discourage unsafe / liability issue vehicles being sold to the public.. such as the airbag sensor discussion. Any OEM would surely & successfully defend any responsibility if they had evidence modifying stuff like this in a court case, if they were being sued for whatever reason. There are many aspects regarding the seating position that could contribute to a liability if something were to happen.
Determining the seating position is a very indepth engineering task, it also dictates many other factors in the design of a vehicle. The seating position is based on the driver / passenger sizes (and different for female and male), and these following factors examples need to accomodate seat track travel limits (up & down, fore and aft). Brief examples are; as you sit in the seat, there are vision requirements. A minimal viewing angle to the side mirrors, minimum angle over the hood and dash, minimum angle through the windshield including the A-pillars, etc.. Another are crash requirements, there's knee bolsters, head form contact distance to the roof, windshield header and rails, distance to the airbag, distance from your hip point to your ball of foot (maintaining ideal leg angles), seat belt anchor points, roll over requirements, side impact, side airbag deployment, etc.. There are many other factors, these are just examples off the top of my head.. on top of modifying the OEM fastening or seat structure that attaches the seat to the chassis. All of this has been validated extensively, crash tested, etc.. for every design that is on the market. As they received government approval based on the SAE requirements for that particular design, they are no longer liable. Mess with that design, nope.. In the engineering world, if an engineer developed or manufactured a design and put it into production and it wasn't an approved design standard or material, etc.. they can actually go to jail depending on the incident or responsibility, and the company can be sued millions, if not more.. send them into bankruptcy depending how big they are. So.. you know they will be reviewing any modification that could have contributed to an accident.
I realize some may not know that relocating the seat is a liability, perhaps they are not aware of, regardless.. I don't know if it's something that can or would be enforced, yet I'm sure if an insurance company would surely take advantage of using this as defense in a situation in which there was an injured / killed person that did modify their seating position.
It's just babbling tonight.. nothing more.. Only reason I reviewed this post is that I'm hoping to be in the market for a SRT10 convertible.. but it now sounds like you'll be holding onto yours for a bit longer.. good luck.
Mike
Typically the seating position is based on approved SAE / government standards, which require to be met.. otherwise, you cannot produce or sell the car. This is to discourage unsafe / liability issue vehicles being sold to the public.. such as the airbag sensor discussion. Any OEM would surely & successfully defend any responsibility if they had evidence modifying stuff like this in a court case, if they were being sued for whatever reason. There are many aspects regarding the seating position that could contribute to a liability if something were to happen.
Determining the seating position is a very indepth engineering task, it also dictates many other factors in the design of a vehicle. The seating position is based on the driver / passenger sizes (and different for female and male), and these following factors examples need to accomodate seat track travel limits (up & down, fore and aft). Brief examples are; as you sit in the seat, there are vision requirements. A minimal viewing angle to the side mirrors, minimum angle over the hood and dash, minimum angle through the windshield including the A-pillars, etc.. Another are crash requirements, there's knee bolsters, head form contact distance to the roof, windshield header and rails, distance to the airbag, distance from your hip point to your ball of foot (maintaining ideal leg angles), seat belt anchor points, roll over requirements, side impact, side airbag deployment, etc.. There are many other factors, these are just examples off the top of my head.. on top of modifying the OEM fastening or seat structure that attaches the seat to the chassis. All of this has been validated extensively, crash tested, etc.. for every design that is on the market. As they received government approval based on the SAE requirements for that particular design, they are no longer liable. Mess with that design, nope.. In the engineering world, if an engineer developed or manufactured a design and put it into production and it wasn't an approved design standard or material, etc.. they can actually go to jail depending on the incident or responsibility, and the company can be sued millions, if not more.. send them into bankruptcy depending how big they are. So.. you know they will be reviewing any modification that could have contributed to an accident.
I realize some may not know that relocating the seat is a liability, perhaps they are not aware of, regardless.. I don't know if it's something that can or would be enforced, yet I'm sure if an insurance company would surely take advantage of using this as defense in a situation in which there was an injured / killed person that did modify their seating position.
It's just babbling tonight.. nothing more.. Only reason I reviewed this post is that I'm hoping to be in the market for a SRT10 convertible.. but it now sounds like you'll be holding onto yours for a bit longer.. good luck.
Mike
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