Would you be comfortable with...

[skiersnowboarder3]

someone riding in your front passenger seat with it slid the whole way forward? I am going to start sitting for a 2 month old in a few weeks so I went to try the radian RF in my car and the only way I could install it with enough recline was with the front seat pretty much the whole way forward. I did manage to click it back one click. I sat in the front seat and while there is 18" or so clearance until the airbag, there is less than 1" of clearance for my knees so with anyone who is tall, there would be no clearance at all. I don't think I'm going to leave the seat in there permanently because I won't be driving with the little one very often but just wanted to know what everyone else thought about the subject. :confused: I'm a little worried about smashing knees into the dashboard in a crash.

[BookMama]

someone riding in your front passenger seat with it slid the whole way forward? I am going to start sitting for a 2 month old in a few weeks so I went to try the radian RF in my car and the only way I could install it with enough recline was with the front seat pretty much the whole way forward. I did manage to click it back one click. I sat in the front seat and while there is 18" or so clearance until the airbag, there is less than 1" of clearance for my knees so with anyone who is tall, there would be no clearance at all. I don't think I'm going to leave the seat in there permanently because I won't be driving with the little one very often but just wanted to know what everyone else thought about the subject. :confused: I'm a little worried about smashing knees into the dashboard in a crash.

Do you expect to have someone sitting in the passenger seat often when you have the baby with you?

If so, personally, I would be more comfortable if you used a seat that would allow more room for the front passenger. A Scenera would only run around $45-$50.

[skiersnowboarder3]

Do you expect to have someone sitting in the passenger seat often when you have the baby with you?

If so, personally, I would be more comfortable if you used a seat that would allow more room for the front passenger. A Scenera would only run around $45-$50.

Thanks for the reply. No, I don't expect to ever HAVE to have a passenger while needing the seat installed. It was kind of a hypothetical what are your opinions question. It would be easier to leave it installed but I do have a 3 in 1 that I could use for more room. I'll have to think about it.

[southpawboston]

having knees close to the dash may result in higher injury risk than having them back further, but this may not necessarily mean the difference between life or death or minimal versus major injury. many cars that have very little knee room still get great crash ratings. the most important thing is not being too close to the airbag.

when we test drove the mazda5, one of the first things i noticed (and didn't like) was that as a passenger, my knees were just about touching the glove box, even with the seat all the way back. yet the car still got great crash ratings (in europe; they haven't been tested in the US yet).

[Misty-Bug]

do you happen to have a snugride? I agree with the scenera or just not going anywhere the days you have the infant. My concern is do you know that the infant fits the radian? Can you put the radian center and it sit between the two seats?
We had a toyota corolla, older model, that made the passenger kiss the dashboard. I was not comfortable with being that close to a dash board so I sat in the back with my son. We had no airbags either. With air bags I would be even more hesitant

[skiersnowboarder3]

The parents have a snugride so I could use that. I haven't tried him in the radian but I hear it fits infants really well. I guess my real intention for this thread was because I'm thinking about not using an infant seat for when I have kids and I was just wondering everyone's perspective.

Part of me thinks that the manufacturer wouldn't have made the seat go up that far if it wasn't safe. I read in the manual about the airbags and it gives the warning of how many inches you should sit away from the steering wheel on the driver's side but it doesn't give any measurement for the passenger's side. It only says that the passenger's airbag comes out with a greater force than the driver's airbag so you should be farther away from the passenger's than the driver's. But, the steering wheel sticks out so far that even with the passenger seat the way it is, I would still be at least 6"-8" farther from the airbag on the passenger side than the driver's side. (app. 12" on driver's, 18" on passenger's) The manual said nothing about knees. I guess my question is, is 6" farther far enough?