mrsullivan

that was definitely the case 6 years ago Mike... I guess the question is whether or not it is still the case... will research.

orthojoe

Booster seats don't use the LATCH system.

Boosters are OK in buckets. Anything less is a no. The child needs to be a minimum height and age to use boosters

mrsullivan

I just read the owners manual. And I see nothing that would indicate a risk from airbag deployment to children in passenger seat, that would be any different than any other kind of seat. (coverage begins on page 40 for U.S.) In general, the safest place for children is in the backseat, of any car. Having small children ride in the front seat does carry more risk if an accident happened. For a lot of reasons. Airbag is part of that. Airbags are not 100% and certainly in some cases kids (and adults) get hurt from their deployment. Bottom line, I see no difference here than when I occasionally let a kid ride "shotgun" in the front seat of my Denali truck. The manual talks about kids under 1 years old in the front seat, and recommends against that, and talks about how they can be hurt. It further explains that children and small adults may cause the airbag to be on or off, depending on their weight, etc. My older is 75lbs and my younger is 65 lbs. I still plan to talk to Porsche, but unless I learn something different, I will let them continue to have the occasional "race drive" with daddy, as they call it...

Mike in CA

Maybe I misunderstood the concern. I thought the issue was whether it was safe for the passenger airbag to deploy (which depends on the size of the occupant, whether in a booster seat, child seat, or whatever) and whether the weight sensor was a reliable way to insure that it wouldn't deploy. Porsche seems to think that the weight sensor isn't fail safe and a manual over-ride of the airbag is necessary which is I assume is why they offer one (except for buckets). OTOH, if it doesn't matter that the airbag deploys when a child is in a booster seat, irrespective of whether the LATCH system is used or not, then there is no issue.

I read through my GT3 manual, but of course there is no mention of LWB since none were available at the time of my car's production. Maybe the restrictions are the same for LWB as they were for the sport buckets back in '09 and maybe not, but I'm betting those restrictions are what Adam Miller is referencing, correctly or not, when he says no to kids in LWB.

Look, as I said, I have no skin in this discussion and simply provided the info as a point of interest in case it was relevant. I have no argument to make; your kids, your decision.

mrsullivan

For sure, I don't think that there is an argument or debate here. Personally I am just still trying to figure out what the contention is. Because I have lwb, and I have small kids that ride in them. Why would the airbags deploying be different than any other vehicle with airbag deploying? Why would lwb with weight sensors be any different than any other seat with sensors? I see the light indicate that they shut off when my kid sits down. Still confused :-)

MKW

these days, with texting drivers and such increasing the number of accidents caused by inattention to the road ahead even in the middle of the morning in perfect weather vs the old days where most of the drunks were mainly out late at night ......I suspect most of us here wouldn't even go down the road to the market without putting on our seat belts as a solo driver and we certainly wouldn't do that with our child ...because ...we can get into a wreck two blocks away from home ...and statistics show most fatalities occur from side impact at street INTERSECTIONS within 2 miles of ones home for folks who live in cities (i.e., done in by the habitual red light runners , texters and like, drunks , stoned, and distracted who are more than likely to be a fellow local )

Mike in CA

Obviously, you're just being a conscientious Dad who wants to be sure your kids are safe when they go along for a ride in your LWB and haven't gotten a good answer as to why Porsche thinks they might not be. Maybe, as was mentioned earlier, Porsche hasn't crash tested those seats with kids so they're covering their *****. Anyway, I hope you get some satisfactory answers.

orthojoe

Remember the days when we were kids and there was no such thing as child seats? I don't know how we are all sitting here today alive and well.

Sullivan, I agree with your comments. The concerns being raised about the airbags apply to ALL the seats, not just the buckets

Rob in Potomac

You can always teach him to drive. Kidding, my granddaughter just sitting n car.

JRCNRING

Hi guys,
Its great to finally post on the forum after quite a long absence.
This thread has been very interesting from the get go, I have read thru all of it as many of you, I have the desire to share the fun of driving my car with my kids. I sure know they love to ride with me on nice weekends.
I will conduct further research on this, but I do have to agree with some of you about booster seats. They are on a different level in regards to traditional rear facing car seats. I have been using on one of my other cars a Recaro Booster seat that has worked nicely with the standard seat belt and with 4 point race harnesses. Although I have to admit it is not they favorit for my kids to wear the 4 point seat belts.

I will try to report as soon as I take delivery of my car if this worked or not.




My booster seat set up on a 2004 Challenge Stradale

Selvatico

Baby on board on the new RS?

shapiroeric

I think the key here is that a booster seat by definition is NOT a child restraint seat.....the literature specifically says no child restraint seats.....I would agree a booster is fine...

All the seats contain airbags.....the LWB's obviously have not been tested to hold a entire restraint system which is my guess why they say that....

mrsullivan

i think this is right

NateOZ

I think not all child seats are created equal as well, I researched for months for seats that are designed to work well with just a seatbelt.

I found one that tested at 83% using isofix + seat belt by ADAC and 81% using just the seat belt. Many seats in the US get less than 50% on either test, I think the safety features of the actual child seat is more important if they're in a bucket or 18-way or 4-way porsche seat.

MKW

to a 4 yr old, riding middle seat in the back of a family car is as much fun as front seat of a Porsche 911 if you pop in a commercial CD of various Formula 1 racer and Ferrari road car rev to redline sounds ( I have several ) on the sound system .

I have played these at normal drive around town speeds and it feels like you are accelerating to 150 mph when you are actually moving from a stop light to 35 mph ...I kid you not !