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car seat safety/highlander

MrkyrainMrkyrain
in Nurseries and Baby Gear
Hi, Question for you all.  We have a Toyota Highlander 2012.  The problem is that there really isn't a rear center position to install our infant car seat.  What should we do?  My husband took the carseat to the local police station and they installed it behind the passenger seat.  Is this safe?  I believe they asked DH where he wanted it and he didn't know.  TIA
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Re: car seat safety/highlander

  • fraseyfrasey member

    yeah you cant do it in the middle of the Highlander. Read the car's instruction manual, and if it doesn't specifically say which side to use, the just choose what works best for you. There's no proof which is safer. We have ours on the driver's side. 

    PS, how do you like the Highlander? we're considering the 7 passenger version. Im worried its going to be too big. I drive an Escape.  

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  • MrkyrainMrkyrain
    imagefrasey:

    yeah you cant do it in the middle of the Highlander. Read the car's instruction manual, and if it doesn't specifically say which side to use, the just choose what works best for you. There's no proof which is safer. We have ours on the driver's side. 

    PS, how do you like the Highlander? we're considering the 7 passenger version. Im worried its going to be too big. I drive an Escape.  

    Thanks.  It's my husbands car.  It's a little big for me because I am used to my RAV 4.  We have the highlander with the optional third row of seating...not sure if they all have that.  It is a great car but size wise it takes a little getting used to.

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  • penguingrrlpenguingrrl member
    If the center seat is available then that is technically safest, but that doesn't mean that the outboard seats are  unsafe. My car until a month ago was a beetle, which only seats 4, so no center seat so my kids have never ridden center and I never worried about it. If PP is right that you can't use the center seat, then I would use the outboard seats without worry! As far as which side is "better" it really is up to you. DH is tall and I'm petite so we always put the RF seats behind me when we could (there was a bit over overlap when we had both kids RF, then we put the more upright one behind DH). It was what worked best for us.
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  • Pnut30Pnut30 member
    Is the problem just that you can't use LATCH in the center? In our ford escape you could only install using LATCH on the outboard seats so I read the instructions and watched a few videos on how to install using the seatbelt and we did this in the center seat.  I have not had it checked yet at the police station, that is next week, but I am confident it is installed correctly and the base barely moves.  I actually think we were able to get it in tighter in the center/seatbelt combo than outboard/LATCH. 
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  • fraseyfrasey member

    imagePnut30:
     Is the problem just that you can't use LATCH in the center? In our ford escape you could only install using LATCH on the outboard seats so I read the instructions and watched a few videos on how to install using the seatbelt and we did this in the center seat.  I have not had it checked yet at the police station, that is next week, but I am confident it is installed correctly and the base barely moves.  I actually think we were able to get it in tighter in the center/seatbelt combo than outboard/LATCH. 
    No, the Highlander's midde seat is kind of weird - it sort of folds away. Here's a pic:

     image

    Unless you're talking about the Escape - Id heard somewhere that you're not supposed to install a seat across a split, but I was just reading more, and apparently its OK to do that as long as the seats are level and so on....

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  • The_Jen626The_Jen626

    I drive a 2012 Highlander.  The reason you can't put a carseat in the middle is because it's not a real seat...you can fold it up and replace it with a storage thing if you want more storage.

    Anyway, I read something somewhere that if you can't do the middle, that the youngest baby should be behind the driver's seat, because you will instictively be more protective of that side.  Personally, I like having the carseat on that side because it's easier when running errands.

    And to whoever asked, I really LOVE my Highlander.  I was driving a CRV before this, and we bought this in January, I've been really happy with it.

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  • Pnut30Pnut30 member
    imagefrasey:

    imagePnut30:
     Is the problem just that you can't use LATCH in the center? In our ford escape you could only install using LATCH on the outboard seats so I read the instructions and watched a few videos on how to install using the seatbelt and we did this in the center seat.  I have not had it checked yet at the police station, that is next week, but I am confident it is installed correctly and the base barely moves.  I actually think we were able to get it in tighter in the center/seatbelt combo than outboard/LATCH. 
    No, the Highlander's midde seat is kind of weird - it sort of folds away. Here's a pic:

     

    Unless you're talking about the Escape - Id heard somewhere that you're not supposed to install a seat across a split, but I was just reading more, and apparently its OK to do that as long as the seats are level and so on....

     

    Oh sorry, I didn't know the seats split like that in this car.  I was just surprised by a few people telling me that a car seat couldn't be put in the center of their cars because there were no LATCH anchors. 

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