Carseat placement question

almostjones · July 2010

I'm confused...and admittedly inexperienced...please advise. :-)

I swear I read that an infant in a carseat needs to be placed in the middle seat so that if there is side impact, he/she would be safe. This surprised me, because I envisioned the carseat flying out the windshield in the event of a crash because there wouldn't be a seat there to prevent that from happening...

But we are looking at 4 door crew cab trucks right now and the LATCH thingies are on the side seats, not in the middle. So, does that mean the carseat needs to be on the side and not in the middle?

Thanks for your perspectives!

Cajun_gal · July 2010

The LATCH is also on the side seats and not middle in our car. We use the seatbelt to put his car seat in the middle instead.

darva · July 2010

I think it also depends on the vehicle of whether or not that is the safest place. In a car, most definitely. In a 4 door truck, they normally sit up a little higher, so it wouldn't be *as* dangerous to not be in the middle.

That said, the safest place for the child is the place where you can securely and properly put the seat in, if that's not in the middle, that's okay.

MMS2007 · July 2010

our cars have those latch things too and we still put our first in the middle with the seat belt. since our second came along and it was difficult to put them next to each other, they each sit on the sides.

you can also take your carseat to a sheriff station and they'll put it in and show you how along the way to securely do it (they were really nice when i went several years ago). my cousin works dispatch at a police station and they are surprised how many of us do it wrong initially.

alliwalton · July 2010

The recommendation is in the middle, since the most deadly accidents by stats are side impacts. And after being in a side impact accident that totaled my 2 year old car, I will keep my child in the middle as long as I can. If the middle does not have a LATCH then you can use the seatbelt. One is not safer than the other. It is just preference of the person if they want to use LATCH or the seatbelt. Let me know if you have any other questions, I can go bust out my child safety seat book ( I am a certified tech).

Quizzle · July 2010

It's really where the seat will fit.

In my DH's car, we had to install it on the passenger side because he wouldn't be able to drive the car if it were in the middle. My car it's tentatively on the passenger side, but I may try it in the middle with the seatbelt, too, since we need to reinstall it anyway. Latch is a pain in my car because of the seat's clips, anyway.

melissa0312 · July 2010

Cajun_gal:
The LATCH is also on the side seats and not middle in our car. We use the seatbelt to put his car seat in the middle instead.

ditto this.

E&RMommy · July 2010

What does the car manual say about car seat placement??

almostjones · July 2010

Thanks, everyone.

E&RMommy:

What does the car manual say about car seat placement??

We are still shopping and I honestly didn't think to check the manual. I'm sure we'll be test driving more tonight so I'll check. Thanks for the suggestion!

Mrs.Weggy · July 2010

Cajun_gal:
The LATCH is also on the side seats and not middle in our car. We use the seatbelt to put his car seat in the middle instead.

This is what we do in DH's Tundra. The manual said it is okay to use the seatbelt in the middle.

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