Bench Seat Replaced with buckets. Brackets/supports needed?

Yes definitely. When I got the car I pulled the buckets out and discovered the guy put a piece of tin that he had formed around the floorboard. Kind of a shoddy patch work. I figured there must have been some support for buckets.
Strange though, you'd figure that they would already be in place, that way when coming down the assembly line it would be ready. "Buckets or a bench in this one".
I'm with you, but economics takes over at some point in manufacturing.