[Vanaroo]

@carringb
So only half a million on your Econoline now? I sure hope it's going to hold up long term

Good point on the bolsters. But those new seats look so comfortable I think I'd take them even if I had to use a stepstool to get in and out of them!

 

[simple]

I've seen @carringb van. It's got back wheel bolsters lol

 

[Vanaroo]

He's got bolsters coming and going now (he turned his E-350 into a dually). 😊

 

[carringb]

@carringb
So only half a million on your Econoline now? I sure hope it's going to hold up long term

It’s coming up on 510,000 but since I missed the week long 2023 Transit order window, looks like I need it to go at least another 100,000!

 

[jondrums]

If you replace the airbag connection that is removed with the correct value resistor - the system thinks that an airbag is connected and the rest of the system will work as intended. I am 99% sure of this and I believe that the aftermarket seat often come with the correct resistor to do this modification to the wiring.

That said, my 2020 250 cargo van comes stock with 3 airbag systems:

Front-impact airbags
Front-impact airbags for the driver and passenger (cancellable passenger) have been designed to protect the head during a frontal crash.
Side impact airbags
Side impact airbags for the front seats have been designed to protect the torso during a side impact collision.
Overhead airbags
Overhead airbags are used to protect the occupant's heads in the event of a side collision or rollover.

The side impact airbags are in the driver and passenger seats. If the seats are changed, there will be no airbag protection for a side impact. In general, seatbelts do not help much if at all in a side impact collision - your body will hit the metal of the van bodywork very hard. If the resistor method is used, the front and overhead airbags should still function.

For me, the loss of side impact airbags is a pretty big deal and means that I will likely not refit my stock seats. Others may be comfortable with the risk, but should hopefully be aware of the risk taken. I say this from the perspective of having personally been at a crash test facility witnessing a side impact crash test and the effect on a dummy. I want no part of that without an airbag!

 

[jondrums]

2015-2021 side impact test video - showing the hip airbag protection

Take a look at 2:11 right at the hip. The main curtain airbag protecting the head should still function with an aftermarket seat, but the hip protection is an airbag built inside the stock seating - it pops open the stitching in the seat cover and inflates quick enough to protect the hip colliding with the door.

 

[RickT]

I'm gonna be busy this weekend... Look beautiful in the box.

 

[Randall Dee]

I’m curious, do these mount right up to stock seat bases or is there something else involved?

 

[Orygun Tranzit]

Plus one for what he said

 

[Jordan Motown]

I ordered one about a year ago and love it-- It does

I’m curious, do these mount right up to stock seat bases or is there something else involved?

There is a base you buy from Scheel-Mann that's specific to the transit along with slider rails that allow you to move the seat forward and back. Once the rails are on the bottom of the seat, they do mount to the stock transit base that comes in the van.

 

[timswope1]

You may already know this but since you said "the" airbag I wasn't sure. But anyway, when the airbag dash light is on due to a fault in any one part of the system, NONE of the airbags will work at all. IOW the whole system goes down. So you would be driving a vehicle with zero functioning airbags. At least on the older vehicles I'm used to, you can fix that by "letting the system know" that the one airbag you have removed is still there (even though it isn't) and then the rest of the system keeps functioning. Not sure if new vehicles can do that, but perhaps others who have installed the Scheel-Mann seats have done that. (If this can be done, then onnce the light is off and the system is happy, then you would just be missing that one particular seat airbag vs. the whole system -- if it works like older systems.)

Scheel includes a resistor with the delivery that you solder into the sensor so it thunks the airbag is there. I dont know aboiut the 10-way seat but I'd agree that the stock cargo van seats are torture for anyone over 6 feet. The Scheels are comfy, but 100 percent old-school manual adjust. Tons of adjustment but all manual. They are not "plush" seats. Made for long trips over African deserts where electrical failure would be problematic.