Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations

• 2.4 (1) In subsection (3), measurement zone means the zone extending from a transverse vertical plane that is 150 mm behind the front leading surface of a seating surface to a transverse vertical plane that is 250 mm behind that front leading surface, measured horizontally and longitudinally.

• (2) If a location in a vehicle that is likely to be used as a seating position has a seating surface width of at least 700 mm, the number of designated seating positions at that location shall be determined by using whichever of the following formulae is applicable and rounding the quotient down to the nearest whole number:

  • (a) if the location has a seating surface width of less than 1 400 mm,

    N = W / X

    where

    N

    is the number of designated seating positions,

    W

    is the seating surface width in millimetres, and

    X

    is 350 or, at the option of the manufacturer, a number that is chosen by the manufacturer and is less than 350 but not less than 330; and

  • (b) if the location has a seating surface width of 1 400 mm or more,

    N = W / X

    where

    N

    is the number of designated seating positions,

    W

    is the seating surface width in millimetres, and

    X

    is 450 or, at the option of the manufacturer, a number that is chosen by the manufacturer and is less than 450 but not less than 330.

• (3) Adjacent seating surfaces are considered to form a single seating surface, unless

  • (a) the seating surfaces are separated by a fixed trimmed surface that has an unpadded top surface and that has a width of not less than 140 mm in each transverse vertical plane, as measured in the measurement zone;

  • (b) the seating surfaces are separated by a void whose cross section in each transverse vertical plane within the measurement zone is a rectangle that is not less than 140 mm wide and not less than 140 mm deep, and the top edge of the cross section in each of those planes is congruent with the transverse horizontal line that intersects the lowest point on the portion of the top profile of the seating surfaces that lie within the plane;

  • (c) interior trim interrupts a line drawn between the H-points of adjacent seating surfaces; or

  • (d) the seating surfaces are adjacent outboard seats, and the lateral distance between each point on the seat cushion of one seat and each point on the seat cushion of the other seat is not less than 140 mm.

• (4) Folding, removable and adjustable seats must be measured in the configuration that results in the largest seating surface width.

• (5) The number of designated seating positions in a bench type seat in a school bus shall be the number of seating positions determined in accordance with Technical Standards Document No. 222, School Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection.

Transitional Provision

• (6) Until September 1, 2020, the number of designated seating positions referred to in subsection (5) may conform to the requirements of this section as it read on the day before the day on which this subsection came into force.