Safest placement of Forward Facing seat?

[Unregistered]

Hello all! Today is my son's first birthday, and we'd like to turn his seat facing forward. He has a Britax Marathon, and he more than meets the requirements for facing forward (he's well over 20lbs, I'm guessing between 28-30lbs, and his seated shoulder height is about 14", the requirement is 12" or more). My question is which seat is the safest for him to be in- in the middle, behind the passenger, or behind the driver? I drive an 07 Jeep Patriot. It does have rear side curtain airbags, and I don't know how far down they would inflate. I cannot find anything in my car's manual about carseat placement, just about the LATCH system (which it has across the whole backseat). I would assume that the middle is the safest, but my concern there is that with him forward facing, there is nothing between him and the windshield. My guess then would be the passenger side would be safer than the drivers side. If your child is forward facing, what seat is their carseat in? Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Julia~*

[Maedze]

Welcome to the forums Julia!


Happy Birthday to your little guy!

Now I'm going to tell you something that's going to surprise you.

Turning him forward is dangerous, outmoded and absolutely should NOT be done for a child under the maximum rearfacing weight limit.


The old advice said you could turn forward at 1 and 20. We now know that to be untrue, and that babies are being hurt and killed because of being turned forward at one year.

You sound like you're concerned about doing the safest thing, so let me assure you that the safest thing is to leave him rearfacing. Forward facing at one is EXTREMELY dangerous! Thank goodness we now have seats that let us rearface well past the first birthday, huh? :)

[Pixels]

The safest seat is rear-facing, as Maedze said. At his age, he is 500% safer being rear facing.

Being in the middle is about 35% safer than being on the side.

[joolsplus3]

Here's an article that *just* came out about rearfacing longer than one http://aapnews.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/30/4/12-a

The center is the safest, because it is furthest from all points of impact. The fear of your child flying forward to the windshield is a concern from the days prior to seatbelts and carseats: yes, if you aren't restrained, you are safer behind a front seat to keep you from flying forward out of the car, but once you are restrained, it's safe to be in that spot :thumbsup: Any spot in the back is very safe, as long as the seat is installed and used properly, and rearfacing as long as your Marathon allows (up to 35 pounds or till the head is an inch from the top of the seat). When your kiddo is too heavy to rearface, then be sure to put it forward using the seatbelt or lower anchors AND the top tether strap, it's a very important part of the installation.

:)

[Jeanum]

Middle would be safest, provided that you can achieve a proper installation there, and side curtain airbags in your Jeep Patriot do not preclude installing a child's carseat in an outboard seating position.

That said, for ultimate safety, an even bigger factor would be to keep him rear facing to the Marathon's maximum rear facing capacity. This would be the safest way for your little one to travel because of the physics of rear facing and crash dynamics, and your Marathon could potentially keep him rear facing for a long time, up to its rear facing weight limit of 33 or 35 lbs. depending on its labeling, or until there is less than 1 inch of the Marathon's plastic shell above the top of his head, whichever comes first. Early Marathons had 33 lb. rear facing capacities, while newer ones manufactured since approx. early 2008 are labeled to rear face up to 35 lbs. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends rear facing to the convertible seat's maximum capacity because it provides superior protection in a crash, particularly for the all important head, neck and spinal column. Forward facing toddlers are extra vulnerable to neck/spinal injury due to the large proportionate size of the child's head relative to the overall size of the child, and also because your little one's vertebrae have years to complete the developmental ossification process that provides more protection for the spinal column. A detailed explanation of the safety benefits of rear facing is at http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

[mish]

Happy Birthday to your little boy! This is a big milestone.

In my opinion, no matter which direction the seat is, the safest position is the one that the seat fits in the best. Which seating position do you have in in for RF? Or have you even used it yet?

The other advice I would like to offer is to read your manual! This is the most important thing you can do when it comes to installing your childs seat. Read it front to back before you even attempt to install it. If you feel you need help with the installation feel free to ask!

Good job for coming here for help. We all love car seats and are happy to help.

[shauburg]

I drive an 07 Jeep Patriot. It does have rear side curtain airbags, and I don't know how far down they would inflate. I cannot find anything in my car's manual about carseat placement, just about the LATCH system (which it has across the whole backseat).

Please note that only the two outboard positions actually have dedicated LATCH anchors. The centre position "borrows" the inner anchor from each of the outboard positions. The centre position can only accommodate LATCH-compatible child seats having flexible webbing-mounted lower attachments (the Marathon qualifies).

This also means that the spacing between the lower anchors in the centre position is "non-standard" or greater than 11" (13.7" in the Patriot). The child restraint therefore must also allow a LATCH install with non-standard spacing. The Marathon does allow installs with non-standard spacing of 11-20", so you are okay using the Marathon in the centre with LATCH, but I wanted to make you aware in case you ever change seats.

If your child is forward facing, what seat is their carseat in?

As to what we have done with our son in our vehicle (also a Jeep Patriot!):
-Until he hit the RF limits of his convertible seat (at 26 months old), our son was RF in the centre position
-Now DS is FF in the centre position. He would be outboard if we could not get a proper installation in the centre position.

As a mother, I want my child safe, and as a tech, I know that these were in fact the safest choices I could make for my son. Please let us know if you need any more help with your choice.

[papooses]

Another ditto for keeping the birthday boy rear-facing until the maximum RF size limit of the seat as per its instruction manual :thumbsup:

Being in the middle is about 35% safer than being on the side.That is the number in the curriculum, but University at Buffalo puts it as high as about 86% (at seatchecks, I tell parents the center is anywhere from about 35-85% safer, depending on numerous variables: the most important being correct use).

As long you can install the carseat correctly (according to both carseat + vehicle manuals) in the center then that's the ideal place.

RF rear center is most preferable. RF rear outboard is perfectly fine if you cannot get a secure/correct center install (assuming, as well, that you can get a secure/correct outboard install. If you cannot get the seat in correctly RF, then FF center is OK temporarily (make sure it's top tethered!) & last resort would be FF outboard (if it comes to that, then don't worry excessively, but do try to schedule an appointment with your local CPST for help achieving center RF install).

p.s. no guarantee that your local CPST has seen the AAP page that Jools linked you to, so do not let them talk you into FF yet :o