Child seat safe for a toddler?
 

I've owned Porsches for several years, but when my wife got pregnant a few years ago I traded in my 2003 996--both for money and practicality reasons. But I got a G35 Coupe and now I have an Audi A4. I still miss my 996, and now that my daughter is two and a half I'd really like to get a Porsche again.

So my questions are this: I know there are child seats that fit in the 996/997 cars based on other forum posts, but would my daughter be as safe? She's now in the middle of the back seat of my Audi and seems quite protected. Am I a bad father for wanting my beloved sports car back? It's not like the Audi is a piece of junk, it's just that the only car on the planet that I truly love and get excited about driving is a Porsche Carrera! Any parents of little ones with advice?

Thanks in advance!

I am neither a scientist nor an auto-safety expert, but this seems like a ground ball. The Porsche, being a lighter and smaller car, is inherently less safe than the Audi A4, all other things (design, build quality, crash testing, etc.) being equal, which they probably are. Except of course for seating position. The middle rear is safer than either side. There being no such position in the Carrera, the Audi again seems safer.

How about a Cayenne, which I can't even believe I'm suggesting?

Update: I forgot to mention that I have two sons (5 and 6) who routinely ride on boosters in the back seats of my Carrera.

what booster seats are you using? Hows the fit? TIA

Between the active safety (great handling and great brakes) and passive safety (very good chassis rigidity and crush zones), I would put the 911 right up with the better cars from a safety perspective.

In fact, we refer to my 996 as the "family car" around my house.

I have found that the best booster seats for the 996 are the Britax Parkway. The key factor is that you need a seat that is narrow at the top. The Parkway curves back in at the top, which is very helpful. Finally, always remove the seat bottoms. They are held in by velcro, so they are easy to install and remove.

Life is inherently unsafe. All that remains is for us to choose the amount of risk that we can live with. Cars are far safer now for children then when we grew up. Designing for crash-worthiness was less of a priority when we were kids. Because our parents were bad parents? Child car seats were a non-issue. Because our parents were bad parents? Seat belts were often unused. Because we were all stupid?

Or maybe our values changed. Maybe as a society we've become obsessed with protecting our children and obsessed with creating a world where we are protected from doing dumb things (helmet laws, seatbelt laws, etc).

I walked a mile to kindergarten as a kid, and my wife plans to drive the kids 5 blocks to school, I think until college. And the statistics show that there's no more dangers to kids now, then there ever was. What's changed is our obsession.

According to the book Freakonomics, there is no data that supports the claim that childseats are more safe then seatbelts. The data only shows that childseats are safer then no restraint at all.

<exits soapbox>

We have 3 kids, ages 4, 2 & 2. They ride in the 996. The smallest is in a childseat, and the other two sit on small boosters. The two kids on the booster seats use a little device that holds the lap belt and shoulder belt together, such that the shoulder belt doesn't go across their necks.

Getting on Soapbox as an engineer . . .

THAT IS INSANE

The seatbelts do not go in the right position across the body of a child. As such, the primary function of a childseat, or a booster seat, is to ensure that the child is strapped to the car in a manner that distributes the load across the child in as optimal location as possible. No child seat or booster seat? The belt could choke the child as it slid across the neck, or the upper body of the child could simply slip out altogether.

Children and booster seats are no different than seatbelts. They are merely devices that are designed to ensure that the seatbelts, which were designed for larger bodies, can be adapted for use to a child's body.

So the choice really is: seatbelts or no seatbelts. The ONLY smart choice is seatbelts. If you are going to use seatbelts for children, again, the ONLY smart choice is to use a proper child's seat or booster seat. THAT is the choice.

If Freakonomics is saying that, it just shows that either the authors do not understand the relevant engineering or the people who compiled the data did not. Ask the wrong questions, and you will get useless data. Useless data will lead to bad decisions.

Off Soapbox.

Ranger, I take it you have fraternal twins? My daughter is 4 and my identical twin boys are 3. Sounds like we have fairly similar situations.

I use two Britax Starrisers with the backrests removed.
It was the only seat I found that would fit my cabriolet.
Threads here:

Seat thread at Renntech

Seat thread at Rennlist

To answer your actual question: the fit is perfect. The bottom of the booster fits exactly in the small seating area between the sidewall and the hump. My kids are tall enough that the shoulder belts ride properly across their shoulders - which is essential for safety.

Fitting a car or booster seat in a cab is much more challenging since the seatbacks lean forward a little.

Here is the Parkway: http://www.britaxusa.net/products/360_parkway.aspx

ALso have the Britax Starrisers in the 996. Finding any booster that fits isn't much of a problem as most are slim enough. I personally like the Britax and Recaro lines.

Since your daughter is still 2 1/2... you need to check that she is both tall enough and weighs enough to be in a booster.

To that end, the real challenge in our cars is finding a ChildSeat that will fit for when your kids are still too small to be in boosters. Do a search here and you'll find an old thread with recommendations and my pics of a Recaro Young Sport installed and Britax Starriser installed.

-Paul

The Starrisers have been discontinued. The Parkway is the replacement.

I just didn't find that to be true. I was in and out of stores testing seats quite a lot. I found that most of them were too fat at the bottom to sit properly in the back of my cabriolet.

Perhaps you have a coupe, Paul? That may be the difference.

CP

Paul does have a coupe, but I thought that the bottoms of the coupe and the cab were the same: the seatbacks are different.

CP, I have had the same experience you have had. Many boosters and seats simply do not fit. As I mentioned earlier, removing the seat bottom helps immensely.

Yes I have a coupe. And my post does say that I was only referring to the Boosters. Of course I am only saying the really thin minimalistic ones like the Graco and Fisher Price that look like clones of the Britax. Not one of those starship models with built in speakers, gameboy dock, MP3 player port and swing out LCD screen. LOL

And I do carry the little uns daily in the back of my coupe.

I'm in the same boat.....oldest sons are 6 and 4.....I have tried a load of seats like the turbo, etc that we already have, and they are too wide at the bottom to fit. I have researched the Star Riser by britax...but they are indeed discontinued.

I waited 1/2 hour to speak with a britax rep. on the phone......the Parkway is it's replacement....but it's a bit wider. No stores sell it around here so I can't tell if it will fit well....but looks like someone here is utilizing them just fine, so that's positive.

Fisher Price I think is coming out with a seat in conjunction with Britax that has the same dimensions as the star riser. I'm looking into that as well.....I think Target will carry it. Here's a link on how to take out the seat cushions...which will them much more room in the back.

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/286602-trying-to-install-baby-seat-in-my-02-c4s-need-help.html

J