Car Seat Position

Shortstack06 · November 2014

So I searched and came up empty on this particular topic. We have everything on the best vehicles with multiple car seats, to what brand of car seat, but not position in the vehicle of the car seat.

Where in your vehicle did you put your car seat and why? Did you go behind the driver? Did you go behind the passenger? Or did you put your car seat in the middle?

hellopartyof5 · November 2014

I've heard the "safest" is in the middle position. HOWEVER, car seat techs will tell you the safest place for your car seat is where ever you can get a good install. If you're on facebook I highly recommend "liking" "car seats for littles". They're highly knowledgeable, and looking at other peoples mistakes has really helped me. In addition, Lucie's List just sent out an email on how to install, I could either copy that here or PM you if you'd like

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diz1313 · November 2014

When my son was born we put the car seat in the passenger side so that the driver seat could go all the way back to provide space for my DH's long legs. I wanted to put it in the middle but we wouldn't have been able to put that seat back all the way back and DH had to be our driver as I wasn't allowed to drive for months.

kimba1976 · November 2014

We've always had ours behind the passenger seat in order to be able to put the driver's seat back far enough. We're a family of giants, so we need to have the seat back pretty far. I'm not sure what's going to happen in a few weeks when we have two car seats as I'd rather not use the middle spot.

erien · November 2014

We did middle but pp makes a good point about putting where it fits best.

[Deleted User] · November 2014

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hellopartyof5 · November 2014

They also say if you cant do the middle the baby *should* go behind you because a drivers first instinct is to protect their side of the car. However, that would be a bit difficult to see the baby in my opinion. Just some food for thought... can you tell I've been researching this a little too much? lol

colliebabe · November 2014

We put DD in the middle when she was an infant. She is now on the passenger side and the infant seat will go in the middle again or behind the driver (we have to see which fits best.)

Daneicy80 · November 2014

nauticallife said:

They also say if you cant do the middle the baby *should* go behind you because a drivers first instinct is to protect their side of the car. However, that would be a bit difficult to see the baby in my opinion. Just some food for thought... can you tell I've been researching this a little too much? lol

This is what I had heard as well and what I think we did when we had only DD. It's also easier getting in and out of the car with baby when they are on the same side as you. But honestly I don't think it really matters, put them wherever you get the best fit and what works best for you.

Daneicy80 · November 2014

@kimba1976 - I'm not sure the age of your older child but what we did when we had our second was move older child to FF and had her behind the driver, then put the infant seat behind the passenger... it gave us the most room to move the driver's seat back.

If you're still RF your older child then put them behind the passenger since a RF convertible car seat takes up more space than the infant seat/base.

Jessie333 · November 2014

We had to put dd behind the passenger seat because the car seat would not fit behind the driver seat with dh driving. He is too tall. We have since upgraded to a bigger vehicle so LO will go behind the driver side and dd will go behind the passenger side.

AllTheTeaInChina · November 2014

For side impacts, the middle is safer assuming you can get a good install there. Most vehicles don't allow LATCH in the center seat. RFing also provides great side impact protection, so even outboard baby will be well protected as long as the seat is installed and used correctly.

With DD1, I have her center in my car. DH has her behind driver so he could fold down the 40 section of the seat. When she moved into a convertible, I would sit on the seat to buckle in. That was nice when raining or really cold. Now with 2 car seats needing to fit, I still need to figure out where they will go. I'm thinking moving DD1 behind driver and putting DD2 center but haven't tried it yet.

AllTheTeaInChina · November 2014

jessblair101 said:
Hmm FTM but I've always been told that behind the passenger seat or drivers seat is safest! I was told never to put in the middle because then if your in a bad accident the child seat will most likely eject through the front window! But I think I will have to look more into this!! It's just what I've been told....

If the child isn't buckled correctly, ejection is possible but that could happen in any seating position.

LeviJeans · November 2014

We just met up with a car seat technician on Saturday to install our car seat and I asked her this question. She said middle is safest IF you are still able to have your seat in a position that you can safely drive and still be able to easily pass a piece of paper between the car seat and the seat. Otherwise, move it to the side so you can drive more comfortably, since driving uncomfortably would be a safet hazard. When I asked what side is best of middle doesn't work out, she said they recommend passenger side only because if you do a lot of parallel parking, you'd be getting baby out of the sidewalk door, not the street door. Otherwise, it doesn't matter which side.

Also, I know a PP already said it, but I wanted to say it again: most vehicles do not allow you to latch the car seat in the middle with the LATCH system, only on the sides (even if it looks like it should properly LATCH in the middle). The list of vehicles the car seat tech had that could use the LATCH in the middle didn't have any Hondas or toyotas on it (the two cars we have). So we installed ours in the center using the seat belt.

kimba1976 · November 2014

Daneicy80 said:

@kimba1976 - I'm not sure the age of your older child but what we did when we had our second was move older child to FF and had her behind the driver, then put the infant seat behind the passenger... it gave us the most room to move the driver's seat back.

If you're still RF your older child then put them behind the passenger since a RF convertible car seat takes up more space than the infant seat/base.

@Daneicy80 - This is a great idea. DD will only be 21 months when baby is born, but she is super tall (like, she's literally off the charts tall) and HATES being rear facing. I know they say to keep them rear facing for as long as possible, but I think she's big enough now that putting her FF behind the driver's seat is probably the best solution to make everyone happy. And having New Baby behind the passenger seat will make him/her more visible.

You've just solved this whole issue for us. Thanks!!! I would totally buy you a drink if that was at all appropriate.

byrne15 · November 2014

with ds#1 - he was in the middle (back seat)

once we had #2 they obviously went in the 2 back seats on each side.

now with #3 - ds#1 sits in the 3rd row in a booster seat, ds#2 is a car seat behind the driver and dc#3 will be behind the passenger.

AllTheTeaInChina · November 2014

Daneicy80 said:
If you're still RF your older child then put them behind the passenger since a RF convertible car seat takes up more space than the infant seat/base.

This is not true for most seats. RFing convertibles take up less space front to back compared to infant seats. With an older child, the install can be more upright.

@kimba1976‌ if your older child still fits, it's 5 times safer to keep her RFing until at least 2yr

hellopartyof5 · November 2014

AllTheTeaInChina said:

If you're still RF your older child then put them behind the passenger since a RF convertible car seat takes up more space than the infant seat/base.
This is not true for most seats. RFing convertibles take up less space front to back compared to infant seats. With an older child, the install can be more upright. @kimba1976‌ if your older child still fits, it's 5 times safer to keep her RFing until at least 2yr

Agreed.. also: A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention found that children under age 2 are 75 percent less likely to die or to be severely injured in a crash if they are rear-facing

news story: https://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/21/car.seat.guidelines.parenting/

Fossegirl1228 · November 2014

I have a 60/40 split so the middle really isn't an option for us. I think the current plan is to put her behind the passenger seat so DH can still drive. All three seats in the back have the LATCH option available.

RayRay007 · November 2014

With our first we put her on the drivers side at first. I didn't think about putting her in the middle as there were no anchors, and didn't think about putting it in with the seatbelt.

I chose drivers side at first because I figured the most likely side impact collision would be getting T-boned turning left in an intersection and didn't think the passenger side would be safest. When she got older i moved her to the passenger side so that the driver could reach her if necessary and when she got out of the car on the street she would be on the sidewalk.

Now that we have three across one row we have DD forward facing in the middle and the two infant seats rear facing on the outer seats.

pregnantinstyle · November 2014

The safest place for a baby in a rear facing infant carseat is the middle as long as your car could fit it in properly. I know if you're unsure if you've installed it correctly or not you can go to just about any fire house and ask a professional if it's installed properly. They'll check for things like safety straps secured in place and expiration dates. Yes, car seats do expires after a while. And if they deem your car seat as unsafe, they'll be able to give you one free of charge.

Shortstack06 · November 2014

I love all the feedback I got with this thread. Unfortunately being short and having a higher vehicle, the middle is not an option for me because I would have to climb in to the vehilce, unlatch then figure a way to climb out with the car seat. So I am definitely going with a side, just not sure which. The car seat installation guide didn't have a say in what side was a safwr choice.

brittandjp · November 2014

Technically, the middle is the safest. However, like PP's said, wherever you can get the safest install is best. We put DD's car seat in the middle of my SUV, which is where she stayed until she was 1.5 years old. I then (after joining the facebook for littles page---highly recommend!) learned that we had her seat installed incorrectly. We were using the latch bars from the passenger and driver side seats. This is a big no-no! Most cars do not have latch bars in the middle. Your driver's manual will tell you if it's safe to rear install using latch in the middle. Anyway, since we were wrong, we moved her to behind the driver's seat. She's there now, but we'll move her to behind the passenger once we install this LO's car seat. She's also still rear facing, but we plan to move her forward in a few months when she turns 2.

Meether · November 2014

We are not able to have a car seat in the middle due to our car manufacturer's manual. So we have my 4 year old dd behind the driver because she is forward facing, and dd2 will go behind the passenger because she is rear facing, and rear facing is safer than forward facing.

AllTheTeaInChina · November 2014

brittandjp said:
Technically, the middle is the safest. However, like PP's said, wherever you can get the safest install is best. We put DD's car seat in the middle of my SUV, which is where she stayed until she was 1.5 years old. I then (after joining the facebook for littles page---highly recommend!) learned that we had her seat installed incorrectly. We were using the latch bars from the passenger and driver side seats. This is a big no-no! Most cars do not have latch bars in the middle. Your driver's manual will tell you if it's safe to rear install using latch in the middle. Anyway, since we were wrong, we moved her to behind the driver's seat. She's there now, but we'll move her to behind the passenger once we install this LO's car seat. She's also still rear facing, but we plan to move her forward in a few months when she turns 2.

Although most cars don't have dedicated LATCH in the center, you still may be able to install with the seat belt. There is no safety difference between a seat properly installed with LATCH vs seat belt.

Also, 2yrs old isn't a magic number that it is as safe to turn forward. If your DD is within the RFing limits of seat it best for her to remain RFing.

MrsNash37212 · November 2014

This is an interesting thread as it seems people get different advice from different techs. I would think it would be more standardized? I was told last time that, all other things being equal, safest was middle, then passenger, then driver, the reason being that most side impacts are actually on the driver's side when the driver makes a righthand turn at the same time someone else in the oncoming traffic is switching into the same lane.

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