My son can't fit in car seat behind drivers side anymore

I am sure you have noticed this, but the rear seats in the v move backwards and forwards. Any chance it can go farther back?

 

My 3-year-old sits in a Britax on the middle seat, the safest spot in the car according to the CHP officer at my new parenting class. My 1-year-old sits in the rear facing carrier in the spot behind me. A 5th passenger can fit in on the other side of the bench seat. All this is done on the lift back. The bigger v should have even more space.


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Yes, the officer told me LATCH is no safer than seat belts. The reason for LATCH is that people often install car seats incorrectly with the seatbelt and do a better job with LATCH. You can only use LATCH for the center position in the configuration I described and must use the seat belts for the sides. If you are at all concerned, you should take the car to be inspected for free.

BTW, I had my newborn carrier in the center spot and my toddler at the side figuring if it was safer in the center, my youngest was most susceptible to trauma. But she's grown and the carrier has gotten really heavy and I can't stress my back lifting it out from the center of the car any more.


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I think the cause of the issue is the type of seat you are using projects way out from the seat eating up a lot of leg room. At 2yo you definitely want to keep him in a 5 point harness. Our 8 yo is in a Britax Frontier, which sits much lower / further back in the seat and still has the 5 point harness up to 53"/80lbs. He seems to be ok for leg room when I'm driving, and I'm 6'. Our 5yo is in a Britax Blvd, which is a convertible more like what you have, and he's definitely a little squished when I sit on that side.

We just ordered a Dorian Radian for our 5yo, a Britax SGL for the 8yo, and a Chico KeyFit as we'll need to go three seats across here in another month or so

If you go to a place like BabyRUs I believe they will let you test fit different seats in your car to see how well they will work. Only bummer is I don't think they carry the Radian in stores, which seems like a great seat for both safety and fit in smaller vehicles.

Good Luck!

Rob

 

Mostly its needing narrower seats to go three across. That's the main reason we traded my wife's 2008 Gen2 Prius in on the new v, so the cost of the seats doesn't seem so bad The 2 frontiers we have would have been fine until the older boys go out of seats altogether, but they are too wide to fit both of those and the infant seat even in the v.

You're correct, the Radian seats are made by Diono now, used to be Sunshine. There are a couple of models, we went with the RXT. Its a bit more expensive, but has better side protection and will work as a rear facing for the new baby once he/she outgrows the keyfit. The Radian seems to be not only narrow, but one of the least bulky convertibles so hopefully it will last a long time.

The SGL would probably be overkill for the 8yo for just another year or two, but the 5 yo will move into it when the baby moves to the Radian so we should get at least 4 years of use out of it, and then a few more years once #3 is big enough for it. After seeing how much our 8yo moves around in backless booster in my Gen2, I feel a lot better about him being a little more confined in a high back booster plus having the latch to secure it in place so its not sliding all around should be a plus.

I'll post some pics of how they fit once they come in later this week.

 

The Prius v only has LATCH on the outboard seats, not the center.

 

I have twin boys who are 4 1/2 y/o. We've recently switched from the Britax boulevard CS to the Britax Pinnacle 90 convertible booster seat to give them more leg room. The booster seat sits lower and further back. It is wider because of the side impact cushions. The middle seat is now a space for jackets or petrified snacks. Super easy install because of the click tight set up. I agree with the importance of safety and I will be pushing them to use the 5 point harness mode until they are 90 lbs.

 

Ok, here at last are the pics of our new Britax SGL and Diono RadianRXT in the v. Both are on latch, and front seat are all the way back. Test fits looks promising for getting the Chico KeyFit30 in between these for 3 across.

 

Thanks for posting pics of your set up. Nice to see it is possible to have 3 across. I had the britax car seat mat to protect the seats and was advised by the professional car seat installer at my hospital to remove them. They don't recommend placing anything under the car seats. Including the seat protectors/car seat mats companies sell. Just wanted to pass the info from one parent to another.

 

This is generally an obsolete guideline, though is still a topic for discussion among technicians. Unless it is specifically prohibited in the carseat owner's manual, it's usually fine to use a thin mat (say no more than 1/8" thick or preferably less) or single layer towel to protect vehicle seats from scuffs and spills. In fact, many fitting stations and events will supply typical rubber mesh shelf liner for this purpose.

Anything thick is definitely never recommended, with the exception of a rolled towel or pool noodle that can be used only to adjust the recline angle of some rear-facing seats. Some technicians are aware of an older advisory that noted that grippy mats and liners can possibly make it seem like a carseat is installed securely, even though it may only be the friction of the liner that is making it seem like it is not moving. An experienced technician would have no issues determining if the carseat is installed correctly or not, with or without a thin towel or mat. In fact, the Britax mat is one of the thinner and best designed ones on the market.

As for 3-across, the Radian is often used for this purpose. The Clek Foonf and Combi Coccoro are similarly narrow convertibles. For boosters, the BubbleBum booster is one of the narrowest choices out there and is often a good choice for small middle seats.