You're correct.
You can't just yank some OEM restraint out of a junker and expect it to fit. Depending on placement of bunk, you'd have many mounting point and net dimension issues to deal with. Obviously, a net pulled from a KW will virtually have no chance of fitting without numerous modifications. Common sense would tell you, you'd need one fitted for most aftermarket sleepers.
Well Thib, there is some truth to what you said, you can’t just yank it out of a junker and expect it to fit.
You got to use some common sense by measuring the area that you are using for and making sure that the restraint will work for the placement of the bed. The last time I looked there are six mounting points with most of these nets (two more mounts are used to make the ‘tent’ out of the restraint), and they are not a big deal to figure out how to use the restraint in a custom sleeper unless the sleeper is poorly made in the first place.
For the beds where they are placed with the head of the bed against the back of the sleeper, the restraint can be placed at the end of the bed to conform to the regulations. What good is the restraint when it keeps you in the bed laterally but when the truck stops hard, you go flying out of the end of the restraint?
Yep you are right, common sense is what is needed, and which means use the info I provide to give anyone an idea where to find a solution. By far to use some common sense to figure out how to mount a restraint system that will at least slow you, a passenger or 'stuff' that is sitting loose in the sleeper in an impact is far better than getting a ticket by some ***** of a DOT officer who is having a bad day.
The regulation is clear;
the restraint is there to prevent injury from deceleration.
I have a custom sleeper and both Volvo and KW restraints both fit the upper and lower bunk, rather well – so the ‘virtually no chance’ is wrong. I have no problems mounting the anchor points and using it.
The idea that a custom restraint is difficult to find, well that’s wrong too. There are a lot of companies that can do custom work and conforms to the SAE safety standards. They are not cheap like a reclaimed part and may require some planning on the part of the owner with the help of the company. You
both make this out to be something on the level of a space shuttle part.
Just speaking about common sense, where is the common sense when the salesman says "the manufacturer said the law does not require them in custom-built sleepers", especially purchasing a $250k apartment on wheels? Isn't that like having the salesman saying because you have an apartment on wheels which is a contained unit, you are an RV and don't have to log?
Maybe the feds need to look at custom sleeper manufactures to investigate them to see if there should be some special third party rules in the regulations on the manufacturing of these 'units'. You may not know this being in the Deep South that the OEM (that is Original Equipment Manufacture) tests the strength of the truck, the sleepers and the components to conform to some kind of standards; they don’t just throw them together. Unlike these custom manufactures, they have an interest in how they put together their products. I can tell you from practical experience that some of these sleeper manufactures sell poorly made products in the first place and age brings out the worst of them.
