Racing Seats and Insurance

[JD3]

Hi everyone, quick question. For racing seats with no airbags, what would happen if you got into an accident and they found that you had essentially gotten rid of airbags in the car? Naturally, insurance takes all those things into account. Could they claim that you removed a safety feature and deny an injury claim?

[s85e90]

Absolutely

[JD3]

Ok. Well, no racing seats for me then. I wonder if I called then and had them factor that into the policy. Plenty of vehicles out there without side airbags.

[Kisenwether]

Depending on your budget there is bmw performance seats that have side airbags. There also might be other companies that make seats for our car that have side airbags, for some reason i think i saw other seats besides the bmw seats that had airbags.

[JD3]

Originally Posted by Kisenwether

Depending on your budget there is bmw performance seats that have side airbags. There also might be other companies that make seats for our car that have side airbags, for some reason i think i saw other seats besides the bmw seats that had airbags.

Yeah, but my primary goal would be weight loss. I like Cobra Misanos. Under 15 lbs each. No arbags obviously.

[Amirsm3]

I would shoot for the BMW Performance seats. It's more expensive, but there are obvious benefits outside of the slight weight loss.

Have you looked into other avenues to shave some weight?

[JD3]

Originally Posted by Amirsm3

I would shoot for the BMW Performance seats. It's more expensive, but there are obvious benefits outside of the slight weight loss.

Have you looked into other avenues to shave some weight?

Yes and no. It's still a street car so stripping it out doesn't work. The Misanos save approx 80 - 90 lbs over stock seats, which is substantial. It would be nice to get the benefit of sport seats and weight savings and they're relatively affordable.
Titanium exhaust seems like a final step, maybe in a few years. It's a good savings but costly. I'll probably get a lightweight set of 18s for tracking at some point too.

[z3papa]

It depends on the state whether they could use that against you. IL has a specific provision within there statutes which states that while you are required to wear seat belts, the failure to do so by a driver or passenger can not be used to diminish a claim for personal injuries caused by another negligent driver. With that said, I've driven a car for 5 years on the street with Recaro race seats installed. You can get a seat installed and still have airbag functionality but it is tricky. The bigger concern I had was if I were hit there is essentially no real padding in the head area and your natural recoil of your body on a rear collision would like cause a major concussion. I once explored having some density padding placed into the head area and was told there were DOT concerns to altering seats. Go figure.

[JD3]

Originally Posted by z3papa

It depends on the state whether they could use that against you. IL has a specific provision within there statutes which states that while you are required to wear seat belts, the failure to do so by a driver or passenger can not be used to diminish a claim for personal injuries caused by another negligent driver. With that said, I've driven a car for 5 years on the street with Recaro race seats installed. You can get a seat installed and still have airbag functionality but it is tricky. The bigger concern I had was if I were hit there is essentially no real padding in the head area and your natural recoil of your body on a rear collision would like cause a major concussion. I once explored having some density padding placed into the head area and was told there were DOT concerns to altering seats. Go figure.

That's a good point, it could be state by state. As for the airbags, are you saying that none of the airbags work? I didn't think that having sports seats affected the remaining airbags, such as the steering wheel/dash, but since the airbags are in the seats removing them obviously triggers the airbag light, which needs to be deleted. Does it shut off all bags?

[z3papa]

Race shells like Recaro Profi XPG XL or Pole Position which I've had don't have the seat occupancy sensor which the stock seats have which tells the system someone is in the seat which facilitates the SRS system to operate. In some BMW's, this sensor is only on the passenger side as the system assumes someone is in the driver's seat if the car is running. There are by-pass modules which fool the system into believing a person is in the seat. One point I'd like to make is while most cars on the road now a days have SRS airbags, some older cars still don't. It's not like you slam into one of those causing an injury and claim no or reduced liability just because they didn't have an airbag.

[Amirsm3]

Originally Posted by z3papa

Race shells like Recaro Profi XPG XL or Pole Position which I've had don't have the seat occupancy sensor which the stock seats have which tells the system someone is in the seat which facilitates the SRS system to operate. In some BMW's, this sensor is only on the passenger side as the system assumes someone is in the driver's seat if the car is running. There are by-pass modules which fool the system into believing a person is in the seat. One point I'd like to make is while most cars on the road now a days have SRS airbags, some older cars still don't. It's not like you slam into one of those causing an injury and claim no or reduced liability just because they didn't have an airbag.

This. The passenger side SRS is weight dependent (in case your kid is with you in the passenger seat and isn't heavy enough, the airbag stays off so it doesn't injure your kid in the event of a collision).

If you go with a non-oem race seat without the bypass cables on the passenger side, you're going to lose SRS functionality. It was like this in my 350Z when I had Bride Gias seats.

[s85e90]

Originally Posted by z3papa

Race shells like Recaro Profi XPG XL or Pole Position which I've had don't have the seat occupancy sensor which the stock seats have which tells the system someone is in the seat which facilitates the SRS system to operate. In some BMW's, this sensor is only on the passenger side as the system assumes someone is in the driver's seat if the car is running. There are by-pass modules which fool the system into believing a person is in the seat. One point I'd like to make is while most cars on the road now a days have SRS airbags, some older cars still don't. It's not like you slam into one of those causing an injury and claim no or reduced liability just because they didn't have an airbag.

Insurance companies insure older cars knowing the safety items in place (no airbags). We're talking about altering new cars to remove safety devices.

Yes it matters.

[z3papa]

Originally Posted by s85e90

Insurance companies insure older cars knowing the safety items in place (no airbags). We're talking about altering new cars to remove safety devices.

Yes it matters.

If you hit someone and your airbag doesn't go off because it's not active or has been removed, it's not like your insurance company is going to then deny your property collision damage since there is no causation to that and your loss. It certainly has no causation to your negligence for hitting someone else. If someone hits you, your enhanced injuries are not caused by your absence of safety features since they take their victims as they find them. It's their negligence which caused the impact which results in your injuries. The laws I referencing specifically bar the claim for comparative negligence being asserted by the tortfeasor upon the claimant. The answer is yes to your next question.

[JD3]

Thanks folks. Doesn't really sound worth it unless it's a truly track focused car.