Law requires seatbelts.. but what about seats?

So I took out my rear seats and put a big platform back there for the dogs. The OEM seatbelts are still there. I know by law all passengers have to be buckled in California but what about proper seats (ie. disregarding insurance)? Could my passengers sit in the back as long as they use the seatbelts while sitting on the platform?



Edit: I should suffix this with the note that I'm moreso asking about actual written law and not general safety concerns.

 

If there is no seat then the belts are no longer seat belts. They are platform belts.

 

Think about it, a seat doesn’t just exist so you sit there. The seatbelt fastens you to the seat, so in the event of an accident you are secured to a safe spot in the vehicle. The seatbelt and no seat will likely cause severe injury. Would you want to be back there with just a seatbelt and plenty of empty space in between your body and the vehicle in the event of a 50MPH+ wreck?

 

nope.

 

Nope.... seat belt is designed for proper seating position anything else has potential to cause death or major bodily injury.

 

Seriously?

 

?

 

Hah. But what if I claim the platform as a homemade seat and it's still being used as a seat because well someone is sitting on it. I guess I should've asked if there were laws on seating then.

 

Yeah platform is not a seat, at least in PA, you now have a non passenger/cargo area. Even with belts, they will not sit properly on passengers and will not restrain them properly.

 

I want to think that things like this are common sense, but sadly they’re not..

 

It's also common sense that smoking is bad for people but here we are in 2019.

Joking aside.. and obvious general safety concern aside.. I'm just looking for actual written law under the Federal and/or State codes. All I could find was seatbelts and fastening to a seat but nothing about seat requirements. If we were to be literal, a seat is "a thing made or used for sitting on, such as a chair or stool." That includes benches in buses or RVs. The platform is basically a giant bench.

 

Consult your local DMV.

 

The subject of seats must be covered elsewhere in the legislation. Don't think you can legally seat passengers without the full meal deal.

 

Perused Federal law and there is mention of a Designated Seating Position (DSP) and it only seemingly mentions width requirements around hip/shoulder room and size of the vehicle.