Will a Skoda extinguisher bracket fit under Polo seats?

[cheba]

So I had a thought about installing a fire extinguisher in the car. I found out that Skoda models have a bracket for installing an extinguisher under one of the front seats.

There seem to be two different brackets. One is the 1Z0 860 359:

https://www.drive2.com/l/505284143030993006/

and the other version is the 5L0 860 359 D:

https://www.drive2.ru/l/5143789/

(There seem to be other part numbers also but these are the different main designs)

In these threads, we see the brackets installed under different front seats (different hole patterns). So my question is, would any of these fit the Polo seats (more specifically the sports seats of the GTI and WRC)? Or do the Polo seats have a different hole pattern? Does anyone know if the Polo seats are similar to one of the seats pictured in the thread above, or does someone maybe even have a photo of the underside of a seat?

I haven't check myself since I have the sliding storage trays under my seats, and I can't find all the fastening screws to get them out. In order to find the screws I will probably have to take one of the seats out, so I thought I'd ask here first before going through the hassle of taking out a seat and trying to remove the tray.

[cheba]

So, the little info I could find suggests that the bottom frame of the Polo seat is the same as the one pictured in this Fabia: https://www.drive2.ru/l/9788310/

Here it seems that one of the brackets will fit, however only with 3 out of 4 attachment screws. Should be enough though. However I can't be sure that all of those screws for the attachment screws exist in the version installed in the Polo. Guess I will have to take out the seat to check...

[iichel]

Suppose you need to remove the drawers from underneath the seats

[cheba]

Suppose you need to remove the drawers from underneath the seats

Yep I will. And that will require me to take the seat out to get to the screws. Though I would eventually have to do that anyway if I want to install an extinguisher. So I guess I might just do it now, and if the attachment holes for the bracket are there then I will reinstall the seat without the drawer, so I can add the bracket later without removing the seat again.

Thinking of installing it on the passenger side, so I might as well route the wiring harness for the Bluetooth module while I'm at it...

[cheba]

OK so I dismounted the passenger seat today to get access to the attachment screws of the storage drawer, and was able to get the drawer out. I turns out that the underside of the seat is indeed similar to the Fabia seat shown here: https://www.drive2.ru/l/9788310/. So installing the same bracket on the Polo should be possible.

[cheba]

It fits, kind of!



The reason I say "kind of" is this: I bought the bracket for the mk2 Fabia which has seemingly the same seat frames as the Polo 6R. It has four screw holes, two in the back and two in the front. The two back screws fit perfectly, however where the front two screw holes line up, there are no holes in the seat frame. When I discovered this I was wondering how it is supposed to attach to the Fabia seat, then I realized that Fabia has the bracket under the driver's seat, and the bracket can only be found in LHD Fabias (I know this because the corresponding trim piece with a cutout for access to the extinguisher only exists for the left side). So my thought is that maybe the front screw holes only exist in the frame of left side seats. I tried to google for pics but I haven't been able to confirm this.

Anyway, in order to get the front screws in when installing it under the right side seat, I guess one could use short (as short as possible) self-tapping screws. Still, it would only be a thin piece of sheet metal for the screw to hold on to. Although from the geometry of the bracket it seems that it's the two back screws which will carry the majority of the load. With this fact in mind, for the moment I solved the problem by attaching double sided foam tape with quite strong adhesive on the front fastening tabs, then when I tightened the rear screws the fastening tabs became pressed against the seat frame.

Next step is modifying a trim piece from a Polo without the drawers to make a cutout for access to the extinguisher, similar to how it is on the OEM Fabia left side trim piece.

EDIT: The Fabia trimpiece with cutout for the extinguisher does exist as a right hand version, used in the VW Amarok. Still no clarity about the front screw holes...

[iichel]

Thanks for your extensive report !

[RUM4MO]

I'm keeping an eye on this as it certainly beats my current method which is storing the extinguisher in the boot in my cars! (hint, there is a tank of fuel very close to the boot/trunk area)

[iichel]

This diesel stuff is not particularly flammable or explosive...

[cheba]

Thanks for your extensive report !

No problem, just happy to share a mod that I haven't seen done on a 6R before

I'm keeping an eye on this as it certainly beats my current method which is storing the extinguisher in the boot in my cars! (hint, there is a tank of fuel very close to the boot/trunk area)

Yeah, I know some people keep an extinguisher in the strap on the left side of the boot on the 6R. I prefer to use a bracket made for the purpose though (plus I have an OEM 6R first aid kit in the left side of the boot, which I think is what the strap is for, according to ETKA).

I think some countries require an extinguisher to be in reach of the driver. I wondered how they did with the 6R in those countries. Maybe just put it in the "bottle space" in the driver's door?

And then there's the fact that performance cars often have an extinguisher in the front seat area

Something I forgot to mention: Even though I only installed an 1kg extinguisher, the straps of the holder were a bit too short. They are fixed length, and must be designed for a very thin extinguisher. What I did was pulling hard in on the straps one by one in order to stretch them out, and I was able to gain a few millimeters this way. The rest was solved when I forced the buckle to close and the 90 degree bend of the female part of the buckle deformed slightly.

[RUM4MO]

This diesel stuff is not particularly flammable or explosive...

Oh, I don't understand that stuff, is it not a bit slippery when people spill it on fuel station forecourts? (smells quite a lot as well)

[cheba]

Oh, I don't understand that stuff, is it not a bit slippery when people spill it on fuel station forecourts? (smells quite a lot as well)

Diesel doesn't evaporate as much as petrol. A spilled patch of diesel won't disappear quickly as it won't evaporate, it will stay there and be smelly for quite some time. If you spill petrol it will disappear quite quickly, but the vapors are highly flammable. Going with a lit match near a patch of spilled petrol is highly dangerous, but that isn't true for diesel. I have never tried it, but it is said you can extinguish a lit match by dipping it into a bucket of diesel. And yes, it also makes the road slippery.

Anyway, progress update. Although it is by no means necessary, I felt that I wanted to try and modify a trim piece to cover up the front part of the seat cushion (like the factory storage drawer did) and the mounting brackets below it, as seen in this (bad) photo:



I wanted something like the trim for the Fabia:



So I started with the trim piece used on Polos without the storage drawers:



And after a fair bit of Dremel and knife work, here's where I'm at now:





I really wanted to end up with as thin edges as possible in order to not obstruct the opening, but just enough the cover the edges. Unfortunately in both ends of the trim piece I was forced to make it slightly thicker, otherwise I would have lost the attachment tabs on the backside. This is after I already did a first cut, test seated it in the car and decided I really have to remove as much material as possible in order to reduce the obstruction of the opening. I actually cut away so much material that the cut edge is higher up than the attachment tabs on the back, making the attachment tabs partly visible when looking at it from the front. This won't be an issue when installed since the viewing angle will be from above.

I thought this would be the final version so I went over the edges to give them a slight chamfer and "shave" them using a sharp knife. However I've now realized it's possible to remove some more material in the upper corner to make it a smaller radius bend like on the Fabia trim. Will continue tomorrow.

[RUM4MO]

cheba, I know all about Diesel I was just making derogatory comments about it jokingly as iichel's car is a TDI, that is all.

By the way, I don't advise it, but you can extinguish a lit cigarette by dropping it into a container of petrol most of the time, though some people might just get it wrong!

[Willni]

cheba, I know all about Diesel I was just making derogatory comments about it jokingly as iichel's car is a TDI, that is all.

By the way, I don't advise it, but you can extinguish a lit cigarette by dropping it into a container of petrol most of the time, though some people might just get it wrong!

Does Shell V-Power extinguish the lit cigarette faster than regular 95? I'd like to see a fire extinguish curve for the different fuels

[RUM4MO]

Does Shell V-Power extinguish the lit cigarette faster than regular 95? I'd like to see a fire extinguish curve for the different fuels

Oh, go on then - let us know your findings?