Where is your car seat?

unaveragejane · September 2012

We put ours behind my seat for no particular reason. I'm thinking it would be safer to have him in the middle, but I am also wondering if it will be killer on my back trying to maneuver him that far. FWIW, I drive a 4-door sedan. (I'd love to get a small SUV now that I have a reason, but I'm not sure I can quite justify it since we just paid of my car and I'm a SAHM this year.) Anyway, in what position is your seat, and why?

drbethc · September 2012

unaveragejane:
We put ours behind my seat for no particular reason. I'm thinking it would be safer to have him in the middle, but I am also wondering if it will be killer on my back trying to maneuver him that far. FWIW, I drive a 4-door sedan. (I'd love to get a small SUV now that I have a reason, but I'm not sure I can quite justify it since we just paid of my car and I'm a SAHM this year.) Anyway, in what position is your seat, and why?

in the middle... I have rear airbags..middle is safest.

jamiah18 · September 2012

I put mine behind the passenger seat so I can reach back if necessary, plus I love checking out her tiny feet, haha.
Did you check your owners manual of your vehicle? Mine instructed me not to place the car seat in the middle.

JessieCupcake · September 2012

It's behind the passenger seat. It's easier to get him in because that's the side that the curb is on. I'd rather not walk out into the street with him.

I've read the middle is best but honestly with my little chunker + the weight of the carseat, it would be a PITA to get him in there.

drbethc · September 2012

JessieCupcake:
It's behind the passenger seat. It's easier to get him in because that's the side that the curb is on. I'd rather not walk out into the street with him.
I've read the middle is best but honestly with my little chunker + the weight of the carseat, it would be a PITA to get him in there.

I have a chunker too...and my poor back is killing me.

acbfreire · September 2012

middle

parenthood4 · September 2012

We have him in the middle in our small SUV. It's kind of a pain, but not too bad.We'll move him to the side if it gets to be too hard.

jess9802 · September 2012

Behind the passenger seat. Putting it in the middle rendered the backseat virtually unusable for my teenage stepson.

naybird · September 2012

In the middle. We have a small SUV and it works just fine. Not too hard to get in and out.

KarmB · September 2012

middle is the safest so thats where ours is.

MrsC968 · September 2012

I have a '07 Civic and the carseat is in the middle. It is a pain in the ass getting it in there, especially since I'm 5'1 without a lot of arm strength. But it is the safest place for her so I will deal with it.

In DH's car, a Mazda 3 hatch, the seat won't fit in the middle. So it is on the passenger side.

khill86 · September 2012

I have a full size sedan. I initially wanted the middle for safety, but when we were installing the base DH was the one to bring up how heavy it would be for me, not to mention that I'd barely be able to get it in and out without kneeling on the seat. We decided to put the carseat behind the passenger seat.

mkflower3000 · September 2012

Behind the passenger seat in DH's car, and in the middle in my car. Mostly for us it has to do with how the seat belts are set up, but I honestly MUCH prefer the way that it is in DH's car - it leaves a lot more room in the back seat for other passengers or for our things. Not to mention that when we travel and need to make BFing stops, it's much easier to do if there's more room to sit in the back. My car is really small, though, so that's part of the issue.

sam19 · September 2012

Behind the driver's seat. My 3 year olds car seat is behind the passenger seat. If I were to put the infant seat in the middle, my 3 year old would probably end up torturing the baby for any drive we did.

Gismo123 · September 2012

Middle....it's the safest place in the car.

amberleeb · September 2012

I have a Yukon Denali XL with 2nd row bucket seats DD#1 is behind the driver and the baby is behind the passenger seat.

Daisy22 · September 2012

I have three cars eats in my Honda pilot. Ds2 is behind the driver, ds3 is next to him in the middle of the 2nd row and ds1 is in the 40% split of the 3rd row. Ds1 was always behind the passenger and then behind the driver. The cop that helped us at the local safety village that does car seat checks said as long as it was properly installed it didn't matter where you put the car seat

ladygeek83 · September 2012

Our primary family hauler is a 2009 Toyota RAV4, and we have it behind the driver side. We pretty much can't put it in the middle, because the seat belts in the back are poorly designed; the middle passenger overlaps with the driver side passenger. My husband originally put it behind the driver side because he thought it would be safer than the passenger side, but I can't remember the exact justification. But with the RAV4 I've found it's much more practical to have it on the driver side - first, because it's easier to get LO out on the same side as me, and second, because the RAV4 has a swinging back door, and the opening faces the driver side, making it much easier to get the stroller in/out.

Our other car was a Mazda3, and the only place the carseat fit to make it somewhat comfortable to sit in the front seats is the middle, so we installed the base there. However, we recently got a 2005 Saab 9-3 convertible to replace that car (long story), so we moved the extra base to that car and installed it behind the driver.

strawberrytree · September 2012

The safest place is where the seat installs correctly. Our car is a 2000 model that only has a lap belt in the middle and the seat doesn't install tight enough there, so it is behind the passenger side.

Meery82 · September 2012

MrsC968:
I have a '07 Civic and the carseat is in the middle. It is a pain in the ass getting it in there, especially since I'm 5'1 without a lot of arm strength. But it is the safest place for her so I will deal with it.

This, except I'm 5'9" and it's kinda tough for me to haul him in and out of there, so I bet it really sucks at 5'1"!

SugarhillHnA · September 2012

If your sedan has a fold down cup holder/arm rest (like my Camry does) in the middle, then you need to put baby behind driver or passenger seat. In the event of an accident the fold up arm rest/cup holder could be forced down pushing the car seat forward as well. We have two LOs and have captain's chairs in our mini van, so they are behind each of us. In our Camry they are on either side. When it was just DD, she was always behind me when rear facing as she fit better with DH's long legs (leaving the 2+ inches required between carseat and front seat).

diehld@uindy.edu · September 2012

behind the passenger in both cars because thats where she fits... other wise she doesn't fit... in DH's main car my knees are in the dashboard and her seat touches the back of my seat... I think we just need a bigger car...

jasminelorraine20 · September 2012

In the middle.

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