How many owners drive their Prius with toddler or infant?

I don't have children, but if I did I absolutely would let them ride in the Prius.

I just wouldn't let them drive it.

 

OK... I only said "never" since my Prius is a company vehicle, and I'm not allowed to use it for kid duty.

Do I consider the Prius "safe" enough for toddler transport?
Yes.

Is it the safest form of transportation?
No.

If you're really REALLY anal about crash worthiness, you'd probably be better off in another vehicle, or avoiding vehicles altogether.

 

My most cherished cargo these days are my wife, my four married children and their spouses and my grandchildren. All of the above have ridden in my car with the exception of grandchildren and this only because I do not have a car seat base in my car. The car seat base is usually in my wife's car since she is the one that carries them around the most.

I have not and would not hesitate in letting any of my family ride in this car, including infants and toddlers. To me, it is a whole lot safer than a lot of other cars on the road today.

 

I drive mine with the steering wheel.



Tom

 

Especially if you have more than one child, get a mini-van. Besides the potential higher crash rating, the ingress/egress with a baby carrier and space for all the kid crap, errr..... stuff are nearly as important. Later on, the sliding doors become important when the little rug-rats want to "be big kids" and open their own doors. Your other car in the garage (or neighbors) will thank you. On long trips you'll gladly trade FE for a DVD/headphone system.

Once they're older, trade it in on a new Prius and keep that in the family until they start driving as their first car. :rockon:

 

wow .. may i ask whats the reasoning behind this question?

 

My youngest of my three children is 9 (the others are 11 and 15), and I have never thought twice about their safety in this car. While I agree with others it's not a Volvo or Mercedes, it's a lot better than many of the econo-box cars on the road today, and I think with the advanced technology in the car (in all version of the Prius, not just those the Advanced Tech package), we can often avoid many collisions.

I'm also very curious as to the thrust of our question?

 

I do not let my children ride in the Prius. When I take the out we use the M1 Abrams tank. You can never be too safe

 

Is this question regarding car seat space?

Or safety?

We have an 8 year old who rides comfortably back there, along with his friend who rides car pool with us some days. The Prius is as safe as any other car in it's class. This is our primary family vehicle and I don't feel unsafe in it in any way.

As for car seat fitment, I imagine that depends on how far back the front seats are. I think it would be tight for a rear facing infant seat which are very big these days.

 

What kinda mileage do you get in the Abrams?
Do you have the M1A1 or the M1A2?

 

Absolutely not. For my family it's an RV or nothing else. Nothing else is safe enough. Especially with, in any given year, the typical Prius owner having a 1/7 chance of a fatality from unintended acceleration or bad brakes. There is also the .02% chance each time you turn on the car that the battery explodes and everyone you've ever known in your life dies. Definitely not my kids! My wife drives it every day, though.

 

I'd be hesitant due to the 4 star crash rating. I would PREFER to have them in an all 5 star rated vehicle for mind's sake if I had a choice.

 

I would never let an infant ride in my Prius. They are slobs.

Has anyone figured out the purpose behind this question?

 

Yes, both my children have been in my car and will continue to ride with me. It is a safe car, and would not hesitate to have them ride in it.

 

@DTM255: I hope you and your family are OK some weeks after you got rear-ended
(Yes folks, see: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ar-ended-today-71-northbound-near-pomona.html)

Thinking about safety:
I was just browsing the 2010 Prius on New Cars, Used Cars For Sale, Car Prices & Reviews at Automotive.com. They report on things like: Thoracic Trauma Index (=chest) during a Side Impact, Front Impact (and other things, did not see rear-end impact (?!).
You could compare the Prius with anything else you have in mind, maybe a Highlander or a Sienna:

Side Impact, Thoracic Trauma Index (lower score is better, see also text all the way below*):
Prius: front passenger 33, rear passenger 64
Highlander: front passenger 30, rear passenger 42
Sienna: front passenger 34, rear passenger 42

Frontal Impact Femur Load driver side (femur is leg injury, lower score is better*):
Prius: 572lbs | 650lbs
Highlander: 365lbs | 589lbs
Sienna: 829lbs | 774lbs

One important note: although these are numbers and look "hard" it is not clear what a meaningful difference is in practical terms. What is the difference during the weeks after a crash in a car that had a "Side Impact, Thoracic Trauma Index" of 40, and how are the weeks after the same crash in a car that scored 60? There are many more factors at play than a couple of scores during a test... so don't take these numbers to "serious". That is why they sum it all up into a score ranging from 0-5 (stars). Although I wish they would change this scale since almost all cars today score 4 or 5.


Highlander does appear on a top 10 list: it's #6 of Least Reliable Cars, Sienna is on that list as #9... so there are lot's of factors to take into account for a car as a whole. Even "just" safety: there is probably not one car that is the best on all measures. The summary is given by the number of stars. Maybe these sources offer you some help in getting an educated guess on what a good decision is for another car. We own one car -- the Prius-- and my daughters are both below 8 yrs old, I feel safe enough to drive careful.
Good luck,


*The crash test results include three principal data points: Head injury (HIC); Chest injury (chest G); and leg injury (femur load). The lower the numbers are for the head, chest, and the femur load, the lower the potential is for injury in a 35 mph frontal crash.
AUTOPEDIA™: NHTSA New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) Information

 

Correct, the OP reported on 12/20/2010 that he was rear-ended while driving his 2010 Prius, with their 3 month old in the rear seat, which riding on the highway.

Based on their comments,. the baby was fine, as confirmed by a CT scan (thank goodness). After re-reading all of their posts, I am in the opinion that he is trying to determine haw many of us would allow our children to ride.

That said, I personally have zero reservation with my family riding in the car, or I would not have purchased it.

 

My girls are 9 and 11 and they ride in my Prius. In fact I tell them that when they start driving it likely will become their car - they think that is super cool.