Car seat on which side of car?

britb143

Is there a "suggested" side to put LO's car seat in the car? My sister is persistent about have my niece on the passenger side. Is it based on preference? What are everyone else's opinions on this?

jaime52005

Everyone has their own opinions on this..when I took mine to get inspected with my first the officer said middle is preferred .. My daughter is now on passenger side since it was to hard for me getting her in an out if middle. I would have liked her on driver side but my husband is very very tall and couldn't put his seat where he wanted comfortably with a car seat behind it

mrsdanielleM2010

The middle seat is a tiny bit safer than the sides. Statistically the sides are equal, but if you do a lot of parallel parking you might want to consider putting the seat that would most often be the sidewalk side.

SingleMom31

After the middle, it's personal preference. I prefer the passanger side too so that I can look back at her more easily. I know other mom's who like loading on their side and choose the drivers side.

MrsLaLaBug

Middle.

hizah05

We did the passenger side because it was easier to see him and now that he's older, easier to hand things to him. If I remember correctly, our car doesn't have a middle latch system, only on the sides. I feel like I need to double check that though, I could be wrong. I have always heard middle is best.

britb143

Wonderful! Thank you so much for the advice now I just have to make sure my middle seat has the latch system.

megs2011

Yep middle is safest and personal preference after that. We have a van with captain chairs so right now we have 1 twin on each side. When squish comes, the girls will be moved to the back seats (we will flip to FF at this point) and squish will be on the drivers side. For me it will be easier to load the twins that way bc if we have street parking, everyone can get out on the side walk side. We have stow and go seats so that one will be stowed. I can place squish in, help the girls in and shut the door.

suitern

We had DS on the passenger side always because we learned we could not LATCH share in our middle seat and I could never get a tight enough install with the seatbelt in the middle. If you really want to have your seat in the middle, you can always do a seatbelt install that way instead of using LATCH.

DS will probably stay behind the passenger since I need to hand him stuff occasionally and then little miss will go behind the driver. 

cls0602

I would have liked my LO in the middle, but I'm a nanny and don't think both of their car seats wil fit that way. I have the girl I nanny on the drivers side for a few reasons. She used to be on the passanger side but I realized it's easier for me to get her in and out when she's on the same side as me (in stead of walking around the car). Also, she's 4, so she's pretty annoying if I'm being honest hahaha so it's nice that she can't see me now to ask why I pushed this button, what's that button, why are you moving your thumbs, why is your hand on this or that etc. And of course I can sneak candy and cookies without her seeing ;-)

Ecat504

Another middle vote here. But if you're going to pick a side I would put my LO behind driver because SO usually does the driving, and it would be easier for me, personally to find around and deal with her from the passagers seat if she's behind him.

Jenner37

Middle if it's possible, also check your car manual, it should include a section on car seats.

Jenner37

@reverey‌ do you not plan on having a base for each car? Or did you skip right to convertible seat?

mcstrepp

We take my nephew a lot so I think in order to fit two car seats we will do the baby on the passenger side and my nephew on the drivers side.

andthatmakes4

I've heard that middle is safest but then for a side (not sure where I read this so feel free to disregard), I read that drivers side is safest because more collisions occur while turning left therefore impacting the passenger side of the car than the drivers side.

Edited because knowing which side is the left vs. right side of the car is hard.

mrsdanielleM2010

@reverey the car that's 5 years old will def have latch, but perhaps only on the sides. The one that's 10 is questionable. Installation is easier with latch but equally safe when you use the seat belt.

rockychryslerb2010

Definitely make sure you read your owner's manual before making a decision.  I know my 2010 Subaru Outback lists driver/passenger side as the preferred spot over the middle.  It depends on airbag setup in the different vehicles.

amom2four

I have not decided what I am going to do about car seats. Ideally both car seats will go in the middle seat of our Durango side by side. I am thinking that this is not happening though as the combined width of seats may be bigger than width of seat I have to work with. The third row doesn't have top tethers for a forward facing seat and is a kind of shallow seat, so I would need to take it in and have the anchors installed.

Whether a seat is installed with LATCH or not doesn't bother me. My daughters seat is actually the first it have used latch on. I always have done seat belt installs because it's easier for me to get the seat tight enough. Either seat in the back is fine as long as the seat is installed correctly, so my choice will be based on fit and ease of getting kids in and out.

mrsdanielleM2010

jasminerebecca said:

We are moving DD to behind driver and putting LO in the middle.

Just one thing to consider - I've read that the recommendation is for the least protected child to be in the middle. If the new baby is in an infant seat, and the older child is forward facing, the recommendation would be for the forward facer to be in the middle.

Certainly not a rule, just passing on what I've heard.

mrsdanielleM2010

reverey said:

Jenner37 said:

@reverey‌ do you not plan on having a base for each car? Or did you skip right to convertible seat?

Right now going with infant car seat and one base but might add on a second base...

Some infant seats allow a baseless install, so whichever car LO will be in least could go that way, if your seat allows it.

Jenner37

Yes @reverey‌ , ^ this or if your seat doesn't allow I would recommend a second base if you both plan on driving LO at all, it makes life so much easier!

CplusJ=S

We currently have DD in the middle. The middle doesn't have latch so we used the seatbelt instead.

JustCricket

Definitely read both your car and carseat manual. If your car says to install on the side, then definitely do whatever side it says over the middle seat. There are a lot of different variables that go into where you install it in your car... (LATCH, type of center seatbelt, 'hump' in the middle, how far forward the seats need to go to fit the carseat, etc) and it depends on BOTH your car and your carseat.

Jayhawkali

Ds was in the middle until her unrest forward facing right before 2. Now he's on the passenger side but will switch to drivers side soon since baby will be rf. and hubby will need more leg room to drive

StefanyaMarie

With the first I had him in the middle, mainly because I had a small two-door car and the seat wouldn't fit behind either of the seats. This time I have an SUV so have my 3 year old behind the driver seat where I can see him with my rearview and I will put baby behind the passenger seat where I can reach him at a stop light if he loses a pacifier or something. But really, it's up to you.

BabyMayinMarch

We have captains chairs in our minivan, so DS couldn't go in the middle.  DS is currently in the back passenger side.    I chose this because I park on the street and prefered loading him on the sidewalk compared to the street.  

LaurenWarwick

I was wondering this too, and couldn't find anything definitive! 

Also, WHEN should you install it?  And where do you go to get in inspected??

cmumama

When it was just DS1, I had him on the passenger side.  When DS2 came along, DS1 stayed on the passenger side and DS2 was on the driver side.  When DS3 arrives, the big boys will be going in the 3rd row.  I'll be stowing the driver side 2nd row captains chair and putting the baby on the passenger side.

kateronium

Mine got installed by my hubby on the passenger side and we moved my daughters front facing seat to the driver side because having the nb seat behind the driver crowded that seat too badly

lindsay3022

middle if you can in your car is the safest, plus it's convenient to still be able to use the seats on the sides for passengers or bags…

having two kids soon the toddler is going on the passenger side so I can get to him and the baby is going behind the driver

however, who the hell knows if that's the best way to do it… I feel like I'm just muddling through this until I figure out what works!

mrsdanielleM2010

ekh2081 said:

If it's in the middle and the middle has no headrest, that means no place to put the mirror, correct?

Paging @mrsgrumpygills‌ because she's my car seat expert- is it only the ff seats that require a headrest or rf infant seats too?

amom2four

mrsdanielleM2010 said:

ekh2081 said:

If it's in the middle and the middle has no headrest, that means no place to put the mirror, correct?

Paging @mrsgrumpygills‌ because she's my car seat expert- is it only the ff seats that require a headrest or rf infant seats too?

Only adults and no back boosters need head rests. If the kids are in car seats that have head rests then no need for one in the car.