Plastic racign seats - DON'T USE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you search through a bunch of my posts in the past you'll probably find some here and there where I am talking about my experiences with plastic racing seats and how I don’t' find them very uncomfortable and possibly even interpret some of what I've typed as an endorsement for them. This post is to tell people about my recent experience and retract anything I've ever said about them and flat out warn people NOT TO EVER USE PLASTIC RACING SEATS IN THEIR BUGGIES / TRUCKS!!!

As many may know I run the cheap plastic racing seats in my buggy. I have done so for a long time thinking that my cage can stand up to anything and my overall comfort level inside the cage is of little importance since I never spend very long periods at a time in the seats. I’ve never found them to be uncomfortable anyway and never found that they beat my kidneys to death as some have claimed. I found out the hard way this weekend that none of that matters worth a god-damn when it comes to a drastic end over end roll though.

I am on a long 14-hour trip top Harlan, KY right now from FL. This is a trip I look forward to all year long. I arrived early Fri. with my group. There was rain coming into the area so we all wanted to hurry to get out onto the trails before the bottom fell out. The first obstacle on the trails is just a short, small hill made of slime with a deep dug-out on one side at the top. The dug-out makes about a 4 â€" 5’ ledge that the right front has to climb while the left just goes up the embankment. It’s not a difficult obstacle by any means when it is dry but it’s a whole different monster when its wet. By the time we got to it though it had started raining and making it slick. I knew nothing but a full throttle assault would get the job done so I didn’t bother tickling its clit with a crawl attempt. My first full-throttle attempt was almost successful. After a second or two of very violent rockwell-style, front tires in the air bouncing I managed to get my front end up and over the obstacle but I let off the gas for a second and it ruined all my momentum. Since I was halfway up though I figured I just needed to back down and get my momentum back, so I went back down and made a second attempt. The front end bounced over to the right and my side-lugs caught traction on right wall of the embankment, shooting my front end up straight into the air. I tried to catch reverse coming over but couldn’t get to it in time to save it and I went front end over back upside down. No big deal normally and at the time we were upside down I figured everything was going to be OK. But I had enough momentum to send the back end over the front again, pivoting on my nose and slamming down hard on my rear end. That’s where all hell broke loose on my girlfriend Ashley and my backs. Since the ass end landed from an upside-down position, we were hanging out of our seat by our seat belts when the rig sling-shotted around taking us with it. When the rear end landed it landed hard, and we were shot straight down into the hard plastic racing seats with no padding.

The instant everything stopped moving I realized we were both hurt. Neither of us could breath because the wind was knocked out of us. I was doing that muscle-memmory moaning that people do sometimes when they can’t breathe but Ashley was just dead silent. It’s happened to me before though and I knew I would be fine and I knew it had never happened to Ashley before so I knew she would be scared. In addition, Ashley has a bad back from a car wreck she was in in the past and I was EXTREMELY worried that her back was damaged as mine was pretty damn hurt, too. Trying to make this long story short though, I’ll cut to the chase and say that Ashley was way more hurt than me. EMS was called and they came out and cut her out of my buggy, taking out any tubes they needed to do get her out without risking further spinal injury. I didn’t care as it was obvious that my chassis took the brunt of the damage and was effectively totaled as it was. We spent several hours in the ER getting cat scans and x-rays done of her. Thankfully, there appears to be no permanent damage to her spine and it all appears to be just very bad whip-lash. (We still have to get a bone-scan done by her regular dr. when we get home to know for sure.) We are spending the rest of the weekend in a hotel room resting, hoping that she feels better in time to drive home on Sun.
I’ve seen countless buggies with suspension seats take this exact type of roll in competitions before and never once have the occupants been hurt. I am 100% confident that with suspension seats in my buggy Ashley would have escaped with little to no injury. The buggy would still be totaled but at least we would be out at camp drinking beer with our friends instead of holed up at a hotel room nursing our backs.

People site cost as a huge reason to run those plastic racing seats. There’s about a $200 - $300 difference between a good suspension seat and the plastic racing seats. But I guarantee you that that difference and about 10x more has been erased after all the bills come in for the ambulance ride, the ER visit, the cat-scan, and the x-rays, not to mention the therapeutic bills in the future that are going to come in.

Another reason to run them is that they are more compact and easier to build around. But the EMS had to cut my buggy to pieces to get my injured girlfriend out. I now have to build an entirely new buggy to wheel again. It would have been much easier to just design around the bulkier suspension seat to begin with.

People say that suspension seats soak up water, dirt, grease, etc. WHO GIVES A ****??? So your new seat looks old after 2 trips. It still looks better than the plastic ones. Maybe you had a wet-ass when it rains and you don’t’ put a trash- bag over it, but in relation to the pain that me and my girl are in now, a wet ass is nothing.
I’m here to say that there is NEVER an excuse to run plastic racing seats in a buggy or any vehicle that may ever flip. There is nothing that is worth what we are going through now that could have been avoided if not completely with a simple suspension seat. That being said, I have a pair of black plastic racing seats for sale CHEAP if anyone wants them.

I’ll not be wheeling for a long time now. I’m just not in a position to build another buggy quickly right now. I’m going to take a year or two to enjoy my time with Ashley, travel for reasons other than wheeling, and just relax. I’ll be back someday as I already have many parts for my next one. I’ll never be able to stop wheeling and will always have to push the envelope. It’s one thing when I get hurt but something completely different when someone I love so much gets hurt because of me though. Let’s just say that it rearranges my priorities in life and I hope that my experience rearranges everyone else's when it comes to choices in occupancy comfort and protection. I know my next buggy will be a veritable fortress of padding and seat belts on the inside.

J. J.

Wow JJ, glad you guys escaped without serious injury. Please just destroy those seats and do not sell them. I too have seen some nasty stuff in competitions that people have walked away from with minimal soreness because of a quality suspension seat. Maybe this is a wake up call for those that want to cut corners in the seat area. Thanks for sharing.

First of all glad there is no major permanent injury. Sorry about the trip to the ER. Tough luck on the buggy, but like you said it does rearange your priorities.
They give Ashley some good meds to get home with? Again glad you will be OK soon.

I have always wondered about those seats just not being too safe for that very reason. I have never run them so I didn't have any room to talk.

Kelly always ran the plastics, and when ever I would ride with him I would be sore for DAYS afterwards. Its like riding a bleacher through the woods.
If you ride for 5 minutes in a suspension seat you immediately know its more comfortable than a plastic or kirkey. And thats forgiving enough.

Glad you guys are ok. It could have been much worse. Broken backs, etc....

Sorry for the expensive lesson, but hopefully enough people listen to you to not run them in there own junk. There is a reason why they are $10 at swap meets.

I've wheeled with the plastic seats for many years. Now that I'm married though and Leah had her hip replaced last year, a long weekend turned into a long few weeks of recovering from being sore. They are CHEAP, that is the point. They aren't inexpensive. I finally bought some suspension seats and wouldn't go back now. Today was the first day out in them and they were great. When I pulled the plastic seats out, they were cracked at the inserts and just junk now.

Glad to hear you are ok and were able to realize what needed to be changed instead of never having to worry about it.

I've known for years they were junk, I didn't want them, and have bought a suspensin seat that is in the basement. AND, they're still in there. they hurt the kidneys in ways I didn't know possible. I couldn't race with wyatt without his sus seats because of my bad low back.
btw, they're heath's. when I built the rig I was in college and as broke as they come, so loaners it got laughing1
JJ. **** man, that is hard. Hurting yourself is one thing, but the ones you love, that is worse. I know the feeling. My sympathies to both of you.
I can say the same for kirkey's too. Don't stop at plastic. If you don't have the extra thick pad, don't go out in them

glad your both okay...
I'm rockin my stock taco seats w. harnesses because i don't have the money for good suspension seats and def. don't want to go plastic...

Pics of your rig??? sucks that you had an ER trip, hurt loved one, and a trashed buggy..
Sorry to hear man...

Sorry about what happened JJ and I know that it feels bad to have your girlfriend hurt because of wheeling. Hope all is well and she is ok

Glad yall are doing ok. I had no problem spending 300 bucks for a set of beards for my truck. Plastic seats or even Kirkey seats belong in dirt track or drag cars IMO, not rockcrawlers. I saw your thread on pirate, havent read it, but hopefully the message will convince others to buy good seats. I mean I find seats to be cheaper than alot of other **** people do to their rigs. Comfort and safety is not an area to cut corners.

I heard about all police and ambulance rushing to the trails on Friday. I guess that was for you. I saw them headed back on Friday night but I don't know who was hurt the next time.

I'm glad you guys aren't seriously hurt but it's still a bout of tough luck. Which trail was it? Pinball?

Sorry to hear about the bad experience. Like others have said maybe others can learn from this. Glad you guys are ok.

Sorry bout your accident man, goodluck with everything.

It sounds like your describin my seats..... guess ima look around for some better ones.

Glad to hear yall are alright. We heard about what happened on Saturday morning when we rolled in. Makes me glad I didn't go with those seats in my junk.

that trail is called Pinball. I didn't make it up there this weekend, but I heard from a friend that somebody had to be cut out of a rig after rolling off it.

glad you are both ok, sounds like it could definitely have been alot worse.


on a related note, I catch alot of crap for wearing a helmet on some of the "riskier" obstacles. well, one of my buds did 4 end over end rolls off of egg-rock at greyrock saturday. smacked his head on the ground in the process. thankfully not serious, but he got very lucky, could've been REAL bad. the real kicker, he has a helmet, but he left it in the truck that day.

Glad you are both OK... and are going to be feeling better soon. Obviously that is the most important thing. Scary !!!


Safety was alot of the reason I built my buggy... and yea its hard to get in and out of and all that but dammit i feel very safe and feel like my passengers are very safe in it. I dont know why anyone builds a nice rig from nothing , then sticks plastic or alum seats hard mounted in it. F that. Its just as important to have a good seat if not MORE as it is to have lockers winch or any of that other stuff we take for granted.

Im glad you are sharing your story, I do hate that this situation caused you to though. Back pain is the worst and scariest injury.

Wow, thats a scary deal. Glad y'all are not more seriously injured.

I saw the buggy up at the campsite and it was bad I am just glad everyone will be Okay

dammit man, that sucks! hope you both have a speedy recovery!

I am glad I spent the money on my seats in my rig....I never even considered the other ones, just never thought they were safe for what we do.

hope to see you on the trails soon!

Brian

Offfta! That sounds REAL bad. I have ridden in buggies with these or Kirky's and while never been hurt, they sure beat me up and I strap in also to hold me. Just not a fan.

Hope you both heal up well.

I hope you both have a speedy recovery