Car seat on side or middle?

MissSilverlake

We just bought a Honda CRV. The vehicle recommends installing the car seat behind the passenger seat. But our Graco Snugride 32 says to install it in the middle. I think the middle makes more sense in case the car is hit on the side, and also makes the baby more accessible for both driver and passenger. Thoughts?

 Thanks ladies!

MeanMommyLady

Your vehicle manual trumps your carseat manual when it comes to safe positions for the carseat as there are some vehicles that just don't accept center placed carseats well.

doremi29

My state guidelines say middle is best due to possible side impact.  But my vehicle has the latch system on each side, so I'm going with behind the passenger seat.

decoglam42

The only thing I've heard is that the carseat should always go in the middle.......

MBandBud

Personally, if you can get it in the middle securely, this makes more sense to me given the side impact.  I think the vehicles say left or right based on the anchors.  I still think it can work just as well in the middle and be of higher safety standard; might just take longer to install.  Just b/c the car manufacturer didn't want to put in middle anchors is no reason to go with a side.  Just my 2 cents. 

synchrosally

That all depends on how your car is set up.  Are you using anchor points?  My Graco Snugride says middle is best as long as the anchor points are no more than 11 inches apart.  In my car, there are anchor points for the passenger and driver's side, but the middle would put the anchor points at more than 11 inches apart.  You can install it in the middle if you are using the seat belt.

Linds&Chris777

I think it also depends on if you are using latch or not.  For DS's infant seat we didn't use latch and the fire department advised us to put it in the middle for safety.  When we moved up to the convertible carseat the car manual said either passenger or driver side- not middle if using latch.

CrysBo79

We have a Kia Sorento and the traffic guru at the police dept (I used to work there) said in the middle was the safest and I trust him with everything!

MeanMommyLady

The issue quite simply is that the middle seat is TYPICALLY the safest place for a carseat, however, there are some cars with a center seat that just isn't shaped properly to be able to install a carseat properly.  The carseat can sometimes be rigged to fit with cut pool noodles, but there are some cars where even that method does not work well enough to get the carseat in properly.  Also remember, if you do not have center LATCH it is typically not recommended to use the two inside anchors from the outside seat LATCH systems to install the seat but is instead safer to install the seat with the seat belt (which is not less safe, just less convenient).

Kalamazaar

The car's manual is what you should go with, because there might be something about you vehicle that doesn't allow for the middle seat to be used safely. The middle seat is optimum for vehicles that allow it, but you'll want to go with the car manual for positioning.

justalittleabby

this may sound incredibly dumb, but i remember hearing somewhere that driver's side collisions aren't as frequent because of drivers' self preservation instincts. obviously doesn't apply if you get T-boned or something... anybody else hear something like that somewhere?

rissa06

Kalamazaar:

The car's manual is what you should go with, because there might be something about you vehicle that doesn't allow for the middle seat to be used safely. The middle seat is optimum for vehicles that allow it, but you'll want to go with the car manual for positioning.

this . . for our cars . . when we brought it to the car seat inspection place, said that side is the safest place. . based on our vechicles. . if you have doubts, bring it for inspection.

lms_bride

We put our car seat on the side behind the passenger seat.  It worked out great.  It is not difficult to walk around to the side that the baby is on if you are the driver.  The baby is easy to reach from the side door and you can look back diagonally when driving and easily see him/her.  I would probably follow your car's owners manual.  And if you have it in the middle, as your baby gets heavier, it'll get harder and harder to pick him/her up out of the middle, trust me. 

aldyn

The middle is safest.  I had my seat installed behind the passenger seat and the California Hwy Patrol moved it to the middle during my carseat inspection.

gatorchristie

MeanMommyLady:

Your vehicle manual trumps your carseat manual when it comes to safe positions for the carseat as there are some vehicles that just don't accept center placed carseats well.

ditto this!

 

mysticporter

Like the others have said, I'm guessing it *probably* has to do with where there are LATCH anchors.  Many vehicles have LATCH on the two sides but not in the middle, and it may not be safe to try and install using LATCH in the middle (you'd have to use the seatbelt).  Using the seatbelt install is just as safe as LATCH, it's just not as convenient to do.  So, because middle is the safest in a crash, if it can be installed properly in the middle with a seatbelt, that is safest.  Graco has a window thing on the side, I believe, to make sure the angle of the seat is good, and you could always have it inspected for safety.

That said, there are exceptions.  Our new Odyssey has a "plus one" seat that can be installed in between the captain's chairs on the second row to make a bench, and they don't recommend installing a car seat there for reasons that are obvious when you look at the car (the plus one does not make it a flat bench, the seat would obviously tip back and forth).  If the second row of the CRV is similar (either because of a removable portion or because there is some type of "hump" in the middle), that may be why they recommend not installing the car seat there.

Hope that helps somehow....