7 December 2011

Non-bogan car seat covers in Canberra

| carnardly
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The Carnard family has upgraded the family car to a far newer model than that previously owned. This car has front seat side airbags. In the interests of keeping it clean and as kidfriendly as possible (eg safe from spills and crap) the boss wants seat covers. Some folk have warned/advised(?) us re fitting “normal” seat covers as, in the event of a collision, the airbags won’t go off, insurance is invalid blah blah. I’m not sure whether that’s rumour or rubbish.

The boss went to a couple of car part shops on the weekend and found many a seat cover (Repco, Autopro etc). Unfortunately, the covers they sold were all Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Playboy bunnies, southern crosses or ones equally boguesque. Gag! Most of these were the pullover type anyway with no side hole. Is there anywhere out there that sells normal plain black or conservative seat covers suitable for a car with side airbags? (prefer not to use sheepskin for the sake of the sheep). Do these things really need to be fitted by an “authorised installer” or can anyone simply pull them on.

I went to one of the major ford dealers in town and they said they don’t sell them either. Is there anywhere that anyone could recommend for plain covers for an average family sized car? Note: The “My Family” stickers are prohibited as well so that we are not included in the Bogan masses. Hence the preference for non Bogue seat covers.

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Holden Caulfield3:15 pm 08 Dec 11

lizw said :

…The side panel where the air bag is is left uncovered… and the side air bag is free to inflate if, and when needed.

Good solution.

Back to the OP… We had ours custom made at Auobarn at Fyshwick. The side panel where the air bag is is left uncovered. I think it may have been around $300 or so for the front and back seats. We chose the material, and they were made up for us. It took around a week. We’re pleased with the results, and the side air bag is free to inflate if, and when needed.

Mang said :

Tell me, where can someone like me find such a magical life changing set of seat covers?

Will it clear up my bad skin?

Will it help me with women?

I know its greedy to ask but, shoould I be waiting, is there more?!

It un-wrinkles your wrinkles, opens your pores, straightens your posture, flattens your tummy, fattens your bank account, re-closes your pores, changes your tires, whitens your smile, it does everything!

You want to keep the car safe from kid spills? Do not eat in the car sunshine!

el said :

Either that or put the $131 per seat cover into the bank, avoid giving the kids messy food/drinks in the car, and have any ‘wrecked’ seats re-upholstered by a motor trimmer at the cost of a couple of hundred bucks if the need arises – I have to ask, what are they likely to be spilling that you can’t simply wipe/mop out of the upholstery (modern automotive seats are easy clean), and will you be throwing these expensive seat covers in the garbage as soon as they get things spilled on them?

Tell ‘the boss’ that seat covers usually look stupid, never fit properly and in your case could interfere with safety devices designed to save your life. Scotchguard seems like a winner as mentioned by Grrrr.

What el said. Seat covers seem to be more a magnet for dirt, crumbs and other stuff than they do a protector. Any serious liquid spill will go through the seat cover anyway and all the other stuff will vacuum off the standard seats no worries. A good steam clean every couple years will keep them good as new. If you’re worried about resale call up some wreckers and buy another rear seat (rear sets aren’t big demand items for wreckers and there are lots of late model writeoffs in NSW that can’t be registered again).

Other seat cover issues include the not fitting properly, wearing out quickly, shifting around. Seat covers are for seats that are ripped, torn and stuffed, hence the bogan market.

Having owned a large Ford with Side Impact air bags, these were located in the side pillars of the car, I would suggest Ford would not have changed to airbags in the seats, and sorry Ford but that sounds too sofisticated for you.
Have a look on the Front and side pillars for SRS and this will answer your question. I
n regards to plain seat covers K-Mart and Big-W might serve your purpose for plain, alternatively , and making assumptions Ford used to make/sell these:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GENUINE-FORD-TERRITORY-WATERPROOF-REAR-SEAT-COVERS-/230647515443?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item35b3a9c933

carnardly said :

…I know I have no control over other drunks or stupids that may be out there today, tomorrow or in the future…

Other? drunks or stupids.

carnardly said :

oh well… I may as well back to the Ford website then eh…?

Either that or put the $131 per seat cover into the bank, avoid giving the kids messy food/drinks in the car, and have any ‘wrecked’ seats re-upholstered by a motor trimmer at the cost of a couple of hundred bucks if the need arises – I have to ask, what are they likely to be spilling that you can’t simply wipe/mop out of the upholstery (modern automotive seats are easy clean), and will you be throwing these expensive seat covers in the garbage as soon as they get things spilled on them?

Tell ‘the boss’ that seat covers usually look stupid, never fit properly and in your case could interfere with safety devices designed to save your life. Scotchguard seems like a winner as mentioned by Grrrr.

Oh, and I agree with everything Holden Caulfield said.

carnardly, does your car have airbags mounted in the seats (as opposed to door/pillar/roof mounted) like your first post suggests?

Will the car seat cover block the airbag?

If yes, then don’t use the cover. Put the money towards a Scotchguard treatment or similar.

What you want is a Holden/Ford/Jim Beam/Jack Daniels/Playboy montage – all against the background of the Aussie flag and/or southern cross.

True hipsters will recognise you as one of them by your ultracool ironic reference to the fact that all of the referenced bogan “Aussie” icons are actually American.

Holden Caulfield5:01 pm 07 Dec 11

Mang said :

Were you wronged by a seat cover at some point in your life?

Did a seat cover touch you in your special place when you were a child?

Just sounds like there must be some sort of dark painful history there for you to come off sounding like such a jerk =/

Haha, I have plenty of material left. But, yes, I would personally consider any seat cover a fashion crime. 😛

I just think people are often too dismissive of basic safety aspects of cars these days and figured it was worth highlighting to the OP that her priorities are a bit arse about.

Protect your seats, or protect your kids?

I realise it’s not really that extreme, but was just hoping to make a point.

If the OP insists on seat covers I’d suggest choosing OEM products. Airbags aren’t really things you want to take a chance with.

carnardly said :

Mr Holden…

I thought it may have been a given that I want to protect myself and all my passengers at all times as well as I have for the last 30 or so years. *touch wood*

I seem to have managed that successfully, albeit yes, I know I have no control over other drunks or stupids that may be out there today, tomorrow or in the future.

I also would prefer the car to be kept in as reasonable condition as possible. I don’t think that’s too big an ask either.

There are many car seat covers out there that cater for seats with airbags. I have visited 3 shops personally (4 if you count 2 branches as separate shops) and each of them did not sell the type that suited this new car. I am quite willing to tromp over town looking at another 20 shops if need be, but though I may ask if anyone else knows which shops may have suitable (or genuine ford) products.

Ford Australia itself sells them on their website for $131 each. As I said, I also went to the major Canberra ford dealer 2 weekends ago (Belconnen and Woden) asking whether they had them, or could get them in, and was told they don’t sell them and won’t order me any.

I don’t think genuine accessories created by the same company are going to interfere with the safety systems designed for their own cars.

If i have to buy them off the Ford website I will. I was just asking whether there might’ve been any other place (another ford dealer, car part shop) in town that sold the same.

Yes, I may prefer “non bogan” seat covers. however, if the only ones that suit this car are purple and pink bloody stripes I’ll buy them.

I have no intention whatsoever of compromising safety of my passengers….

oh well… I may as well back to the Ford website then eh…?

I would stick to the genuine ones. Ok they may be expensive but Ford knows their products best & they would be designed around the testing they do.

The aftermarket industry is uncontrolled/regulated & while they say they are airbag happy I somhow doubt they have gone to Crashlab & crashed one to actually see what happens.

Mang said :

Well, it sounds amazing… but Ive been fooled before…

are there varying advantages to the different colours of stitched dragon seat covers?

I have seen Grey, Dark Blue and even Green!

How do I know which Dragon Seat Covers are for me?

Choosing which Dragon Seat Covers is a very personal decision. There is no right answer – the best choice is the one that you feel most comfortable using as a bad choice can be visual contraception and lead to abstinence in the opposite sex and your friends might abandon you for the guy with the Playboy covers which is never a good thing for a guy to have.

Did you know that if you get new which Dragon Seat Covers you can increase the size of your manhood by up to 3 actual whole inches? Mine gets wireless coverage (Dragon Seat Covers, not my man-kickstand) and has now crossed over to digital so dont buy analog Dragon Seat Covers.

PBO said :

Mang said :

PBO said :

So you dont like Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Playboy bunnies, southern crosses or ones equally boguesque, but……

(Intro to “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor begins as internal soundtrack)

Could i interest you in a set of tastefull black seat covers with a rather classy red tribal dragon embroidered right into the material, you heard me correctly, sewn right onto the cover in actual thread. They practically pay for themselves and when everyday Joe Average folks see them they say:

“Hey!….Thats a classy guy who has taste and isnt a bogan…… and that dragon tells me that he is one dude not to be messed with who obviously knows a bit about martial arts because its a dragon, otherwise why would he have it?”

Now i know that your thinking: “Hmmm, I have a family, but i am also a fully testicled man…….Can my car be tough, cool and mysterious whilst still being a family car?”

If your thinking about it then the answer is yes. Be the envy of your workmates when you pull up to the carpark and the boss compliments you on your tasteful yet edgy vehicle, fast track to management my friend, where everyday can be business up front and party out the back, all thanks to Red Tribal Dragon Seat-covers.

Why deny yourself?

Tell me, where can someone like me find such a magical life changing set of seat covers?

Will it clear up my bad skin?

Will it help me with women?

I know its greedy to ask but, shoould I be waiting, is there more?!

I cannot be sure, but it will definitly make you more popular with the opposite sex, make your breath better and improves your yearly work appraisal. My GF at the time and i were having relationship trouble, I got those covers and when she saw them i could hear her suddenly start to ovulate right there and then.

But that wasnt the end of it….

I got pulled over by a lovely female Policewoman whilst toking it easy and she asked me to get out of the car and put my hands on the roof……Thats when she saw the seat covers.

Suddenly the pat down turned into a frisk and the suddenly became a reach around in search of my weapon (Having red dragon seat covers gives off the air of: “This guy is cool and obviously someone who is trained in the mysterious asian arts and maybe has a small but tasteful arsenal in the car or on him….otherwise why would he have the seat covers?”

I wont bore you with the finer points of my brush with the law but let me say this, when a cop sees you driving down the road with those seat covers, they will treat you like a fellow law enforcement professional, a member of the brotherhood so to speak, someone who can take care of themselves and step up and help take down a perp ….otherwise why would he have the seat covers?

Take my advice and get yourself a set of these babies before you cannot, you owe it to yourself. Do you want your kids to look at you like you are less of a man and more of a lesser man?

Well, it sounds amazing… but Ive been fooled before…

are there varying advantages to the different colours of stitched dragon seat covers?

I have seen Grey, Dark Blue and even Green!

How do I know which Dragon Seat Covers are for me?

Mang said :

PBO said :

So you dont like Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Playboy bunnies, southern crosses or ones equally boguesque, but……

(Intro to “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor begins as internal soundtrack)

Could i interest you in a set of tastefull black seat covers with a rather classy red tribal dragon embroidered right into the material, you heard me correctly, sewn right onto the cover in actual thread. They practically pay for themselves and when everyday Joe Average folks see them they say:

“Hey!….Thats a classy guy who has taste and isnt a bogan…… and that dragon tells me that he is one dude not to be messed with who obviously knows a bit about martial arts because its a dragon, otherwise why would he have it?”

Now i know that your thinking: “Hmmm, I have a family, but i am also a fully testicled man…….Can my car be tough, cool and mysterious whilst still being a family car?”

If your thinking about it then the answer is yes. Be the envy of your workmates when you pull up to the carpark and the boss compliments you on your tasteful yet edgy vehicle, fast track to management my friend, where everyday can be business up front and party out the back, all thanks to Red Tribal Dragon Seat-covers.

Why deny yourself?

Tell me, where can someone like me find such a magical life changing set of seat covers?

Will it clear up my bad skin?

Will it help me with women?

I know its greedy to ask but, shoould I be waiting, is there more?!

I cannot be sure, but it will definitly make you more popular with the opposite sex, make your breath better and improves your yearly work appraisal. My GF at the time and i were having relationship trouble, I got those covers and when she saw them i could hear her suddenly start to ovulate right there and then.

But that wasnt the end of it….

I got pulled over by a lovely female Policewoman whilst toking it easy and she asked me to get out of the car and put my hands on the roof……Thats when she saw the seat covers.

Suddenly the pat down turned into a frisk and the suddenly became a reach around in search of my weapon (Having red dragon seat covers gives off the air of: “This guy is cool and obviously someone who is trained in the mysterious asian arts and maybe has a small but tasteful arsenal in the car or on him….otherwise why would he have the seat covers?”

I wont bore you with the finer points of my brush with the law but let me say this, when a cop sees you driving down the road with those seat covers, they will treat you like a fellow law enforcement professional, a member of the brotherhood so to speak, someone who can take care of themselves and step up and help take down a perp ….otherwise why would he have the seat covers?

Take my advice and get yourself a set of these babies before you cannot, you owe it to yourself. Do you want your kids to look at you like you are less of a man and more of a lesser man?

HenryBG said :

So you want car seat covers and you discover that car seat covers are pretty much exclusively designed with Bogans in mind.

Does that tell you anything?

What percentage of bogans are in denial that they themselves are bogans? I reckon the percentage is pretty high.

PBO said :

So you dont like Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Playboy bunnies, southern crosses or ones equally boguesque, but……

(Intro to “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor begins as internal soundtrack)

Could i interest you in a set of tastefull black seat covers with a rather classy red tribal dragon embroidered right into the material, you heard me correctly, sewn right onto the cover in actual thread. They practically pay for themselves and when everyday Joe Average folks see them they say:

“Hey!….Thats a classy guy who has taste and isnt a bogan…… and that dragon tells me that he is one dude not to be messed with who obviously knows a bit about martial arts because its a dragon, otherwise why would he have it?”

Now i know that your thinking: “Hmmm, I have a family, but i am also a fully testicled man…….Can my car be tough, cool and mysterious whilst still being a family car?”

If your thinking about it then the answer is yes. Be the envy of your workmates when you pull up to the carpark and the boss compliments you on your tasteful yet edgy vehicle, fast track to management my friend, where everyday can be business up front and party out the back, all thanks to Red Tribal Dragon Seat-covers.

Why deny yourself?

Tell me, where can someone like me find such a magical life changing set of seat covers?

Will it clear up my bad skin?

Will it help me with women?

I know its greedy to ask but, shoould I be waiting, is there more?!

So you dont like Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Playboy bunnies, southern crosses or ones equally boguesque, but……

(Intro to “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor begins as internal soundtrack)

Could i interest you in a set of tastefull black seat covers with a rather classy red tribal dragon embroidered right into the material, you heard me correctly, sewn right onto the cover in actual thread. They practically pay for themselves and when everyday Joe Average folks see them they say:

“Hey!….Thats a classy guy who has taste and isnt a bogan…… and that dragon tells me that he is one dude not to be messed with who obviously knows a bit about martial arts because its a dragon, otherwise why would he have it?”

Now i know that your thinking: “Hmmm, I have a family, but i am also a fully testicled man…….Can my car be tough, cool and mysterious whilst still being a family car?”

If your thinking about it then the answer is yes. Be the envy of your workmates when you pull up to the carpark and the boss compliments you on your tasteful yet edgy vehicle, fast track to management my friend, where everyday can be business up front and party out the back, all thanks to Red Tribal Dragon Seat-covers.

Why deny yourself?

Holden Caulfield said :

carnardly said :

Can I ask what OEM seat covers are?

sorry if that’s a dumb question…

Well you’ve already asked one, so another won’t hurt…

OEM = Original Equipment Manufacture; authorised seat covers signed off by the maker of your car (if they even exist).

Personally, putting seat covers on seats with airbags, no matter how authorised they might be, seems pretty daft to me. The airbags are there for a reason. If you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident and the side airbags didn’t go off due to a seat cover I’m guessing you won’t be thinking, “that’s okay, at least the seats don’t have any food stains from the kids.”

Were you wronged by a seat cover at some point in your life?

Did a seat cover touch you in your special place when you were a child?

Just sounds like there must be some sort of dark painful history there for you to come off sounding like such a jerk =/

“prefer not to use sheepskin for the sake of the sheep”
Uuuum, where do you think lamb chops come from?
Do you think they just throw away the skin?
Sheep don’t get killed for their skin…

Mr Holden…

I thought it may have been a given that I want to protect myself and all my passengers at all times as well as I have for the last 30 or so years. *touch wood* I seem to have managed that successfully, albeit yes, I know I have no control over other drunks or stupids that may be out there today, tomorrow or in the future.

I also would prefer the car to be kept in as reasonable condition as possible. I don’t think that’s too big an ask either. There are many car seat covers out there that cater for seats with airbags. I have visited 3 shops personally (4 if you count 2 branches as separate shops) and each of them did not sell the type that suited this new car. I am quite willing to tromp over town looking at another 20 shops if need be, but though I may ask if anyone else knows which shops may have suitable (or genuine ford) products.

Ford Australia itself sells them on their website for $131 each. As I said, I also went to the major Canberra ford dealer 2 weekends ago (Belconnen and Woden) asking whether they had them, or could get them in, and was told they don’t sell them and won’t order me any.

I don’t think genuine accessories created by the same company are going to interfere with the safety systems designed for their own cars. If i have to buy them off the Ford website I will. I was just asking whether there might’ve been any other place (another ford dealer, car part shop) in town that sold the same.

Yes, I may prefer “non bogan” seat covers. however, if the only ones that suit this car are purple and pink bloody stripes I’ll buy them. I have no intention whatsoever of compromising safety of my passengers….

oh well… I may as well back to the Ford website then eh…?

So you want car seat covers and you discover that car seat covers are pretty much exclusively designed with Bogans in mind.

Does that tell you anything?

How about some wooden bead seat covers? Big furry fake-sheepskin?

Autobarn/supercheap/repco?

Holden Caulfield12:50 pm 07 Dec 11

carnardly said :

Can I ask what OEM seat covers are?

sorry if that’s a dumb question…

Well you’ve already asked one, so another won’t hurt…

OEM = Original Equipment Manufacture; authorised seat covers signed off by the maker of your car (if they even exist).

Personally, putting seat covers on seats with airbags, no matter how authorised they might be, seems pretty daft to me. The airbags are there for a reason. If you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident and the side airbags didn’t go off due to a seat cover I’m guessing you won’t be thinking, “that’s okay, at least the seats don’t have any food stains from the kids.”

carnardly said :

Can I ask what OEM seat covers are? sorry if that’s a dumb question…

no problem, original equipment manufacturer. Basically means products/accessories that come from the manufacturer (of the original product) themselves, rather than using other brands. Usually used to describe ink cartridges

Holden Caulfield12:46 pm 07 Dec 11

You want to protect the seats in your new car from your children. In doing so you seem quite willing to introduce a risk that could interfere in the safety systems of your new car protecting your children in the event of an accident.

And you think bogan seat covers are the problem?

Can I ask what OEM seat covers are? sorry if that’s a dumb question…

Thanks folks. Its trying to work out where the good shops are as opposed to the others. Arescarti – some of the ones on that website would do perfectly fine thanks.

The answer to your question about curtain airbags, if they are installed in the side of the seats (look for a plastic panel marked “SRS AIRBAG”) then fitting non-OEM seat covers _will_ prevent those airbags from inflating.

I needed some a few weeks ago. I got some fairly unobjectionable grey velour ones (you have to say velour like Zapp Brannigan) from one of the autocheap places, they have the hole cut in the side for side airbags.

There are plenty of non-bogan ones on the supercheap auto website:
http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/inside-the-car/seat-covers/everyday.aspx?id=1014

If all you’re finding in store is the bogan ones, then you probably need to check out a few other stores.

Autobarn in Fyshwick had some plain ones last time I was there, only in the model specific fitted styles, they were also mega pricey.

have you tried Ebay?

if you are worried about spills, there are protective/waterproofing sprays available that help.

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