Mounting a Fire Extinguisher
My criteria for mounting the fire extinguisher were:
- needs to be easily reached in case of emergency
- should be accessable from either side of the car
- solid mount as you do not want it coming loose in an accident
- located so it will not be discharged accidently by a passenger or driver's foot
- not to accessable from outside the car to avoid pranksters. (On the other hand I might want a safety worker to gain easy access if I am incapacitated.)
I dismissed the back package tray because I could not reach it easily. I wanted to put it in front of either seat as I have placed it there in my other cars. It is easy to reach in an emergency. The problem with this location is that people put their feet on the aluminium as a stepping pad for entry and exit. I was concerned someone might kick it while getting in or out. Under the dash and along the frame rails seems to take up personal leg space and mounted far into the passenger foot area makes the extinguisher difficult to reach.
The fire extinguisher uses Halon and contains 2.5 lbs. The mounting bracket is all metal. The mount does not require an holes to be drilled in the car.
view from the bottom of the seat
The mounting braces are 1/8th inch aluminium. They are attached to the seat studs where they pass through the seat mount. It is possible to use only two braces as the extinguisher will not move much side to side because the front of the seat cushion will stablize it. The extra brace triangulates the mounting and prevents movement.
The braces are sturdy enough to prevent the fire extinguisher from moving up and down as well, although there is not much freedom of movement anyway under the seat.
The length of the braces is dependent on the type of extinguisher being mounted. A good starting point might be 18.9cm (7 7/16 inches), 21.0cm (8 1/4 inches) , and 21.3cm (8 3/8 inches), for the top, middle, and bottom brace as shown in the above picture.
It is easiest to install the bracket with the seat removed from the car.
So far, no problems for the passengers getting in and out of the car. The release lever has not been triggered by a passenger although I did release it as I retrieved a package from the passenger floor. The trigger is far enough away from the normal entry point that it is unlikely to be triggered accidently. The extinguisher is out of the way of the passenger's legs.