Bride Seat Authenticity

**ludecrs** · 24-06-2009 09:05 PM

These have been taken out of a car he has purchased as he doesn't like the 1 piece bucket style seats these represent. I know the rails are universals, but the seats..... are they authentic or not? Its hard to tell when they are one piece.....

**ludecrs** · 24-06-2009 09:06 PM

Apoligies for technical section, but I couldn't really think of where else such a thread could exist, and it does require specific knowledge?

**bennjamin** · 24-06-2009 09:09 PM

not model specific - so why not.

Best bet is to take hi res pictures of various parts of the seat/s , and send off the BRIDE themselves to compare.

**fatboyz39** · 24-06-2009 11:27 PM

If your questioning whether its real then i wont bother buying it. To me there not real.

**MrJohn** · 24-06-2009 11:32 PM

Originally Posted by ludecrs

These have been taken out of a car he has purchased as he doesn't like the 1 piece bucket style seats these represent. I know the rails are universals, but the seats..... are they authentic or not? Its hard to tell when they are one piece.....

mmm.. are they from Taiwan? because i heard taiwan produces replica ones

**ludecrs** · 24-06-2009 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by fatboyz39

If your questioning whether its real then i wont bother buying it. To me there not real.

At first I thought they were real.

Seller believes they are real. He honestly isn't sure. He's willing to take as many pictures as I want, of anything I want.

I forgot to mention, not pictured, it has the Bride tag attached on the back with the "holding monster" logo and Jap writting on the rear of it.

But now I'm not sure. Something just doesnt feel right, but yet, everything about them looks real. The reps I've seen in the past month have been amazing.

Reclinable Brides are easy to spot fakes, but how do you spot fake bucket seats?

**beeza** · 24-06-2009 11:48 PM

Yes they do,I have one.But the place that makes them in Taiwan was the place where the originals were made,now the originals are made in Japan.
So the Taiwan company still make em' but they are 'copies' now.Get it.

Too difficult to tell.

I would do what benny says,shoot bride an email,more than likely there will something on the seat that will tell them it's not the original from Japan.

btw there's absolutely nothing wrong with the taiwan bride seats!!

Japan Bride = $1550
Taiwan Bride = $760

http://shop.ebay.com.au/?_from=R40&_...All-Categories

off ebay.Double the price and I would guarantee you couldn't spot the difference,like we can't now right?

But they are 'copies' lol A lot of copied things I wouldn't buy but in this case the company in Taiwan was the company that 'originally' made them soooo the taiwan ones are actually more 'original' than the Japan ones LOL!!

**quenjose** · 25-06-2009 12:40 AM

For what they're worth, i doubt the original brides would have the underside of the fabric showing like this (marked red)... it looks like the ends havent been stitched in at all.

plus the way the fabric is cut, looks uneven...

**blehbear** · 25-06-2009 01:11 AM

Originally Posted by beeza

Yes they do,I have one.But the place that makes them in Taiwan was the place where the originals were made,now the originals are made in Japan.
So the Taiwan company still make em' but they are 'copies' now.Get it.

Too difficult to tell.

I would do what benny says,shoot bride an email,more than likely there will something on the seat that will tell them it's not the original from Japan.

btw there's absolutely nothing wrong with the taiwan bride seats!!

Japan Bride = $1550
Taiwan Bride = $760

http://shop.ebay.com.au/?_from=R40&_...All-Categories

off ebay.Double the price and I would guarantee you couldn't spot the difference,like we can't now right?

But they are 'copies' lol A lot of copied things I wouldn't buy but in this case the company in Taiwan was the company that 'originally' made them soooo the taiwan ones are actually more 'original' than the Japan ones LOL!!

correct.

nice bit of information~ can get takata harness and sard injectors and mugen shit from same place. very hard to tell if those parts are real or not~

**jdm_b16a** · 25-06-2009 07:49 AM

I suspect, in good faith, that the only question you really need an answer to is: "Are they ADR approved?".

If the answer is YES, then they will have a tag attached to that effect.

If there is no tag then the question of whether they are genuine or not is immaterial. If you just want to buy them to sit in your lounge room for bragging rights then you don't have a problem, However, if you want to buy them to fit to your car, a non-compliant seat will void your insurance (probably) and render your car defectable, two outcomes you don't want.

Fixed seats are purpose-built for racing IMHO. I can't understand all this getting wet over seats like this in a road car. They are da*n difficult to get in and out of, especially after a long road trip, they are extremely uncomfortable without masses of padding, and if you are using a racing harness you have all the problems of where you afix your anchor points. Using a standard seatbelt just wears away the fabric at a number of contact points. At least you'll now if they are fakes then as the material will wear away quite quickly if they are fake.

Which brings me to the definition of "Fake". What is a "Fake"? As a number of people have pointed out these seats could have been made in the original factory that had a licence to make BRIDE seats. So in terms of quality they are probably as good as a BRIDE seat. But if the factory no longer has a licence to manufacture these seats then they are counterfeit or FAKE but I would prefer to say that they are unlicenced, like the tshirts you buy at some markets. And the other question is, if BRIDE Japan has brought the manufacture of its seats 'in-house' (at more expense) WHY? To control the quality? Was the quality of the Taiwanese factory slipping? Only BRIDE can give you that answer.

I wonder what BRIDE's attitude is to these seats, especially as they are using the logo and tag. Perhaps the Taiwanese factory did a deal allowing them to 'reproduce' the seats, maybe for a limited time. Who knows!

Anyway, I suppose the bottom line is" How bad do you want these seats?" Enough to void your insurance, especially in an accident - imagine a collision and your seat rips from the floor, and you end up in hospital, and the insurance co checks your vehicle and finds you have non-compliant seats fitted that are of dubious quality. They attribute your injuries to these seats and refuse to pay out. Worse still, the other party sues you for all their injuries/repairs claiming you were unable to drive your car safely due to these seats. I know this sounds over-the-top but we all know insurance companies can be very difficult when it comes time to pay out.

So that's my thoughts, for what they're worth.

This seat was made exclusively for the Lotus Exige, announced in June 2006 on the US distributors website.

Look at the design. Completely different to the seats in the photos above, which have a pull-on fabric.

The US distributor has a website with a warning on it about "imitation" seats. http://www.tees-usa.com/welcome.html

There's also a warning about weight limits: http://www.tees-usa.com/warning.html Limit is 100kgs.

See also their news section, from which I have reproduced the flyer about the "Low Max" seat: http://www.tees-usa.com/news.html

Send your photos to info@tees-usa.com and see what they say.

[EDIT2] I looked on the BRIDE Japan website and found the following. Its at http://www.bride-jp.com/. On the left hand navigation bar there is a link to information from BRIDE Japan about "copies" of its seats.

Here's a very bad GOOGLE translation:

Foreign imitations (copied items) Please note! ！ !
In Japan, not yet been confirmed in the U.S. and Asia BRIDE sheet It is being circulated to copy items.
This explains the comparison, so I got some pictures.
Copy ◎ product has not tested the strength of our ancestors to create a very weakly.
Car seat safety is a critical component, please do not copy items to the absolute.
It is very dangerous.
BRIDE was trying to buy or purchase products or copy sheet sheet BRIDE
If not decisions, please contact us.
(If you have a picture, we published on a website.)
Copy ◎ product is indistinguishable from getting out, the product sticker tag number
You may have to copy and Manual.
International users, it is recommended that you stop buying from a regular dealer.

in the following PDF file, are described in detail in another product.
Goods overseas imitation (copying items) please note. [958KB] [958KB]
Difference between the regular items and copy items

GIAS[408KB] GIAS if the logo Gradient (1) [408KB]
GIAS[545KB] GIAS if the logo Gradient (2) [545KB]
GIAS[159KB] If GIAS SPORT (of 1) [159KB]
GIAS[200KB] If GIAS SPORT (of 2) [200KB]
GIAS SPORT[810KB] If GIAS SPORT (of 3) [810KB]
VIOS3 [237KB] VIOS3 if the logo Gradient (1) [237KB]
VIOS3 [233KB] VIOS3 if the logo Gradient (2) [233KB]
VIOS3 [904KB] VIOS3 if the logo Gradient (3) [904KB]
VIOS3 SPORT[222KB] If VIOS3 SPORT (of 1) [222KB]
VIOS3 SPORT[172KB] If VIOS3 SPORT (of 2) [172KB]
DIGO[218KB] If DIGO (the 1) [218KB]
DIGO[200KB] If DIGO (the 2) [200KB]
DIGO[174KB] If DIGO (the 3) [174kb]
DIGO[312KB] If DIGO (the 4) [312KB]
CUGA[193KB] If CUGA (the 1) [193KB]
CUGA[177KB] If CUGA (the 2) [177KB]
CUGA[220KB] If CUGA (the 3) [220KB]
CUGA[183KB] If CUGA (the 4) [183KB]
CUGA[387KB] If CUGA (the 5) [387KB]

Looking at one of the pdf files reveals that BRIDE seats have a sticker with manufacturing details and a serial number. Plus all genuine BRIDE seats come with a manual.

Check also the surround of the seatbelt opening. You can see in the top photo that the BRIDE logo is also embossed in the surround under the serial number sticker. It could be the "imitation" ones skimp on this added feature to reduce costs.

[EDIT3] I enhanced the rear seat image from the original photos in Photoshop and magnified the opening. It shows the BRIDE logo.

Peter

**beeza** · 25-06-2009 10:10 AM

Great stuff Pete!!

So true about the insurance,it certainly is not worth the risk,you can lose EVERYTHING in an accident!

Originally Posted by jdm_b16a

Fixed seats are purpose-built for racing IMHO. I can't understand all this getting wet over seats like this in a road car. They are da*n difficult to get in and out of, especially after a long road trip, they are extremely uncomfortable without masses of padding, and if you are using a racing harness you have all the problems of where you afix your anchor points. Using a standard seatbelt just wears away the fabric at a number of contact points. At least you'll now if they are fakes then as the material will wear away quite quickly if they are fake.

Absolutely!!

I can see mine is starting to wear a tad in the places you speak of,only a little,it's no problem.Using it everyday could tear the fabric in time.So being smart and just using it for the track,that won't be a problem as you will only use it every now and then.
I have not seen how the originals wear but I would most definately agree if you are paying twice as much you would certainly want to be getting a good strong lasting material.
But like I said if just for the track then that extra money IMO is unjustifiable.