LVDell

40

roadsession

thanks !

larry47us

Dell:

Actually, the 10 month old is stable enough to be able to sit in a forward facing seat with a full harness, so the configuration that I have works for all 5 of the grandkids. With the Evenflo Steeplechase seat, I don't have to remove anything. The base is narrow enough at the back to fit right inside the space available in the rear bucket. It looks like you did a rear seat delete for your car. That works out very well. I just belted these seats right into the buckets. The seat back fits right against the back of the rear seat, and the bottom of the base sits fully back into the bucket. I didn't see a Britax seat when I was shopping. The seat I picked was the best fit, at the cheapest price.

larry

LVDell

I am only referring to what the law as well as pediatricians state. A child should be rear facing as long as possible and no sooner than 1 year and a minimum of 20 pounds to turn forward facing.

To each his own though.

larry47us

To be honest, the space in the rear of these cars is so small, that I don't know if you could even fit in a rear facing seat, with the front seat in a normal sitting position. That being said, my daughter is still using a rear facing seat for Asa when he is in the car. He isn't the reason why I bought the seats. It is mainly for the other 4 GKids.

larry

LVDell

You can fit a rear facing seat (Graco Snugride). That is also dcumented in the link I posted for you that has all the baby seat info you could want. The problem though is there is a time between when a baby will weight too much for it but yet still less than a year old so no riding in the P-car.

kristyhana

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's illegal in all states (as well as extremely unsafe!) to put a baby under 1yr in a forward facing seat. They should stay rearfacing as long as possible. My daughter rearfaced until she was 2.5yrs old and the only reason I moved her forward was because she started getting very carsick.

Also, newer infant carriers go up to 30+ lbs so if those fit rearfacing, that's an option. My daughter grew out of her carrier (at the time they only had 20lb max) at only 4 mos, but she would've fit until 1yr if it went just 5lbs higher.

itsphoenix

Nice!!!!!!!!!!

frisbee91

I use the Harmony Literider booster (as mentioned in Post #2 above) for my 5-year-old. The booster was $13.50 at Walmart.
See more (with pictures) in this long post.

FYI, my 7-year-old uses a booster in most cars, but in the back of my 996 Cab, the booster makes the belt fit too high on her. So, she rides in the back of my 996 without a booster seat of any kind. The seat is small enough, it fits her fine.

larry47us

You know, that was one of the concerns that I had. How does the belt track on the child sitting in it. In the Evenflo seat, there are two positions on the outside edges (you can see them in the second and third picture) that allow you to thread the shoulder belt to keep it at the right height. Secondly, the seat is set up so that the lap belt is channeled directly across the waist of the passenger. So, if during an unfortunate accident there is a lot of forward pressure on the child, the lap belt can't move out of position, and the shoulder belt remains in the proper height because of the channel.

BTW, one other thing about the booster seats. I know that they are convenient, I used them in my Lexus. The problem that I had was when my Gkids fell asleep while using the booster. There was nothing to support them, and they flopped to the side, so that their shoulders weren't supported by the belt, they pretty much "fell out" of the safe position. In a full seat, the child is held in at the shoulder and waist, and if they fall asleep, and they slide to the side, their heads are held in place by the "wraparound wings" of the safety seat.

Makes me feel more comfortable. I guess the main thought is that you need to find something that works for you, fits properly in the car, and makes you comfortable that your kids or Gkids are protected. BTW, our Toys R Us let me take the seats out into the parking lot so that I could try them out in my car. No mystery here, great customer service.

larry

tooloud10

+1

That's what we do, too. It's pretty clear that the rear seats weren't designed for full-size adults and my 7-year-old seems to fit perfect.

kristyhana

My daughter is 7 also, but she does not fit in the seat without a booster. Yes, the seat itself fits her great, but the shoulder part of the seatbelt cuts across her neck instead of sitting on her shoulder. So while it may look like they fit back there fine without the booster, they may still need it. This pic is of her without the booster seat - you can see how the seatbelt is still way too high on her (and she's the biggest girl in her class). I don't even want to imagine what would happen if we got into an accident with the seatbelt like that on her. With the harmony literider in there, the seatbelt sits perfectly on her shoulder. For $13, it seemed stupid not to use it.

frisbee91

In that case, I just put the top down. Wakes 'em up every time.

kristyhana

LOL! I can't imagine any kid falling asleep in these cars, lol. My daughter thinks it's like a roller coaster or something, egging me on at every turn! LOL

larry47us

I haven't had a chance to drive the Gkids too much in my car yet. They have fallen asleep in my Lexus, though, and that was what I was referring to. Of course, if they spend a lot of time watching my performance by viewing the instrument cluster, I am in deep doo-doo.

larry