Safety belts in motor homes

Important requirements for safety belts in motor homes were introduced in Land Transport Rule 32011: Seatbelts and Seatbelt Anchorages 2002 and came into effect on 1 October 2003. This is important if you are a manufacturer or are converting a vehicle into a motor home. It is also important if you are hiring a motor home, or if you have an older motor home and want to make it safer.

Safety belts must be fitted in:

motor homes manufactured on or after 1 October 2003, and
motor vehicles converted into motor homes on or after 1 October 2003.

Please note that these are the minimum legal safety requirements. Take advantage of any opportunity you have to further improve the safety of your vehicle.

How many safety belts must a motor home have?

The total number of seats fitted with safety belts in motor homes manufactured on or after 1 October 2003 must match or exceed the total number of sleeping berths — so there is a safety belt for everyone travelling in the vehicle.

For example, if a motor home sleeps six, it must have safety belts for at least six. If it has two safety belts in the front, it must have four in the rear.

The number of berths in a motor home is determined by the manufacturer of the motor home (who may be a private individual).

What types of safety belt must be fitted in a motorhome?

The types of safety belt you must have depends on the location of the seats, the direction they face and where the anchorage points are.

Safety belt requirements for front seats

The driver's seat and front outer seat must have a three-point dual-sensitive retractor safety belt.
The front middle seat, if there is one, must have (at least) a lap belt. However, the law allows you to upgrade this to a lap-and-diagonal belt, and Land Transport New Zealand strongly recommends that you do this. Lap-and-diagonal belts provide passengers with more protection than lap belts if there is a crash.

Safety belt requirements for rear seats

For forward-facing and rear-facing seats, you must have lap belts (as a minimum). The law says you may upgrade these to lap-and-diagonal belts. However, it may not be possible to fit lap-and-diagonal belts to some seating positions — for example, it may be impossible to fit the upper seatbelt anchorage point because of windows.
Sideways-facing seats must have lap belts (only). The law does not allow for an optional upgrade to lap-and-diagonal belts for sideways-facing seats.

Safety belt notices

A motorhome must have a notice in the area where the rear seats are located. The notice must be displayed in a prominent position and must:

recommend, on safety grounds, that when the vehicle is travelling, passengers choose to use seats that are fitted with safety belts
advise passengers that when using a seat that has a safety belt fitted, it is compulsory to use the safety belt.

Where there is a seat that can be moved to face in more than one direction, and the passenger must face in a particular direction for the safety belt to adequately protect them, a sign must be placed in the vehicle to alert passengers in that seat to the fact that they should sit facing the direction that the belt was designed to be used in.

Definition

three-point safety belt — a 'three-point' safety belt is a lap-and-diagonal safety belt

dual-sensitive — means the wearer has freedom of movement during normal driving conditions, but the safety belt is activated by deceleration of the vehicle, acceleration of the strap from the retractor, and similar situations. (A single-sensitive safety belt is vehicle-sensitive only — ie, it is not activated by movement of the wearer.)

retractor — means the safety belt has a device to accommodate the 'webbing' of the safety belt when it is not pulled out

Have the safety belts been installed correctly

If safety belts are retrofitted to a motor homes, the seatbelt anchorages must be certified by:

a specialist low volume vehicle certifier — for light vehicles
a heavy-vehicle certifier — for heavy vehicles.

The certifier will check that the seatbelt anchorages are safe and can withstand the forces that might act on them in a crash.

For information on low volume vehicle certification, contact the Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association at www.LVVTA.org.nz

Older motor homes

Motor homes manufactured before 1 October 2003 are not required to have safety belts in the rear seats. However, Land Transport New Zealand recommends that rental companies and owners of motor homes that were manufactured or came into service before 1 October 2003 should fit safety belts voluntarily in the rear of their motor homes.

If it is not possible to fit safety belts in the rear seats, try to eliminate sharp edges and projections inside the motor home, or wrap padding around them. This will reduce the risk of injury to passengers while travelling.

What should I look for if I'm hiring a motor home?

If you are hiring a motor home, try to get one that is fitted with safety belts, and check they meet the requirements given on this website. There should be as many safety belts as there are sleeping positions, and there should be safety belts that will accommodate any necessary child restraints.

Last updated: 14 December 2007