okay so i wanted some corbeau bucket seats(FX1pro to be exact) mostly because they're cheap yet look good at the same time but they're not FIA approved and that kind of worries me, but should it keep me from buying them? i read online that corbeau used to have FIA approved seats but the backing to them weren't strong enough to meet FIA requirements. Do you guys think its that a big of a deal? i don't want to be in an accident and all of a sudden my seat gives out. SO for this reason i looked into other cheap seats that were FIA approved and i found Sparco SPRINT 5s theyre about the same price as the corbeau FX1 pros, these ARE FIA aprroved, but they dont look as nice as the FX1pros. what do you guys think, should i sacrifice looks for quality? or do you think the FIA requirements shouldn't affect my decision? any other seats i should look into?

 

Is it a daily driver or a track car? If it were me and just using it as a street car I wouldn't really worry about it. I think to keep the FIA you have to put a brace in after a couple years as well 3 or 5 I can't remember.

 

Its a daily driver/ weekend warrior

 

i wouldn't worry about it too much, since to install the 5 point harnesses for those seats *properly*, you need a rollbar. have a back brace built for the seats while you are at it. Remember, the brace is there to prevent the seat from breaking off backwards, not forward (ie. hitting a wall going backwards), the seatbelts/harness will prevent all the pieces from going forward in a headon collision.



BTW, i have those same Corbeaus in my Jeep..

 

There was a guy on the 'other forum' that tracks his car pretty frequently and his seats weren't FIA approved. He was braking hard to come into a turn when the seat broke free of the rail and he almost smashed into his steering wheel. Luckly the 5-point kept him in place.



He took the seat apart and found that they wound up being Sparco 'knockoffs' that weren't FIA certified. Note these were also bottom mount rail seats rather then sidemount.



I'm not saying Corbeaus could have similiar problems, but I'd do a little research first.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. The harness/seatbelts are going to keep you safe in a normal automobile accident. If you aren't tracking the car you aren't going to be putting the side to side forces and the rear forces you would be putting on a track car.

 

if you buy a non fia seat and still want to track the car, as long as the shell is fiberglass not tube frame all you need to do is add a back brace to the seat to your main hoop of your roll bar. you will need at least a 4 point inorder to properly mount your belts and seat back brace.



randy