Office chairs come in a variety of quality features. These are heavy duty actual commercial grade chairs...that could house the 98 lb secretary or the 310 lb secretary as a major office complex near you. I've noted they are made with metal frames and supports as well as thick plastic - no wood. I've had home office chairs with wood bottoms.
NOW...I actually have a set of military issue BUCKETS for this truck. But - they create leg room issue as they are thicker in the rear and harder to get up and down. Very hard to access the battery box on the passenger side once mounted. Unfortunately I don't have the mount brackets that were originally with them so I'd have to fabricate something anyway. I had thought about putting the Mil spec front buckets in the front and these chairs in the rear. Then, after playing around with it I was shocked how well these replace the commander seats. The color of the fabric is off - needs to be black or olive green or maybe even brown. I'd like them to be the same type of hardy material of the stock pads that were there. I would like a high back bucket for neck/head support in an rear collision situation - but as noted...what I had before was no better and was standard equipment for these.
As far as swapping seats - it is done all the time. Speaking of my 69 Camaro, I have a set of 1985 Corvette seats in that car. Had to make tracks/brackets/supports to mount to the car. I've been putting seats from one thing to another for years. Fiero seats are popular donors. The problem is, mounting brackets still have to be fabricated. I think Fiero seats would be excellent in the M998, but again - brackets...and more...and recovering is pricey. Plus, you are back to the heavy seat removal to access the battery box.
In terms of office furniture, years ago I salvaged a Pontiac Grand Prix seat and mounted it to an office swivel base. This is what I use in my work from home office. So, I kind of got it backwards.
All kidding aside, the only thing I can find that would require a certification of seats would be for racing purpose. Racing seat applications have to be SFI or FIA approved depending on the type of racing circuit. These relate to other harness and safety mount issues. I can't find anything when looking on-line for various seats otherwise in terms of DOT approval. Generally for a street/off road (non-competition) you will search seats for width/height/depth mounting locations - high/low bucket...recline/non-recline and or fabric material. There are no DOT stampings or big brother serial number/inspections notice remarks that I can see on any aftermarket seats.
In doing some research I found some cool $35 a piece buckets at Summit Racing that would be great for off-road - mud/grime as you hose them out. BUT, no butt cushion! My wife makes me carry a pillow to put on the passenger seat as is - so that would NEVER fly.
