HELP! 5 seats in a Sedona

jessclear · Oct 28, 2009

My friend drives a 2007 Kia Sedona, 7 passenger. She has 2 children of her own who she would like to keep in the 2nd row, if possible. She does childcare for 3 other children and needs help fitting 3 in the 3rd row. Is it possible? Please help me find a solution for her. Right now, her 3yo is in a booster in the front seat. Last week, her 18mo was in the front in a harness. I want to be able to make this work for her. Please assume average size, I wasn't able to get stats yet. All but the infant are FF. Not sure if I could her into RF any of them.

Her kids:
3.5 yo
18mo

DCKs:
3mo
16mo
2.5 yo

Seats she has:
Evenflo booster
Safety 1st combo (I think Vantage)
AOE (I think, could be another Vantage)
Graco Pedic Comfort Sport
Safe Seat

Seats I could loan to her:
MA
DC
Uptown
Snugride (22lb)
Keyfit

Any ideas?

Pixels · Oct 28, 2009

Do you know if it's long wheel base or short wheel base? They are different back seats.

There are several entries in the 3-across thread that contain a Nautius, MyRide, or EFTA (or a combination of those). It seems like it shouldn't be too hard to find something that works. Have you tried playing in her van? I'm thinking try the ComfortSport, MA/DC, Uptown, and SR22 or Keyfit in various combinations.

jessclear · Oct 28, 2009

She hasn't let me play with her seats and van yet. She isn't happy about the help, definitely didn't ask. I just can't watch her drive one more time with her 3yo in a booster in the front or her 18mo in the front in a harness. Either way, I want to make this work. I will ask her if I can come over this week and play around a little bit. I'm not sure about the wheel base; I'll try to find out. I will also check out the 3-across thread. I'm sure it's doable, but wanted some direction as to where to start.

Thanks, Pixels!

Gypsy · Oct 28, 2009

It's easy to tell the difference between the models.

The short has a 50/50 third row.

The long has a 60/40 third row.

agurlsride · Oct 28, 2009

If its a short base its gonna be really tough. I was able to SQUEEZE in a PW, ff'ing Scenera, PW. It was tight with hardly any room to buckle. I'd say maybe try the MA, SR, DC. OR Uptown, MA, SR. I think she'd need to use the infant seats w/o the base.

libranbutterfly · Oct 28, 2009

If she is resisting that much, I dont know that she will keep them like that, unless she would like to have another adult sit in the front. Especially if she has to use the infant seat baseless

I will probably be in a similarly touchy situation soon, as I will NOT transport the children I babysit in the expired AO and backless booster that they ride in with mom, dad, babysitter, aunt, etc. (When mom drops off in the morning, she usually has no clue who is picking them up in the afternoon. Their seats are always sitting in the front hallway at the center. I am hoping she will be receptive, but who knows?

swtgi1982 · Oct 28, 2009

I would definitely try talking her into RF the 16 mon old and her 18 mon old. It would make space in the third row easier since you could put two RF outboard and FF in center. You might be able to make them fit in better that way. Hey and heck the kid would be so much safer that way!

jessclear · Oct 28, 2009

I believe it is a 60/40 bench, so that is more workable, right?

She has never asked for help, even though I offered to help her find a 3-across if she had trouble. I never from her, so thought she figured it out. Until, she showed up to playgroup with 3yo in front in a booster. I asked if I could help her figure it out. She said "I tried everything". Well, I doubt she knew how to really try. I went out there to take a look when she was on her way out and had to lock all of the seatbelts - she didn't know they were supposed to lock. I didn't get a chance to tighten anything.

The safe seat is without a base anyway. She did ask for clarification about how to route the belt (lap belt vs. lap/shoulder) and I used that opening to show her how to lock the belts. So, I'd say she's opening up to the help. She just doesn't want us "judging" her. She's sensitive about any parenting tips. She thinks we are judging her on all kinds of advice.

She knew the front seat should be all the way back and she turned off the airbag.

So, I'm not letting this go, but will have to be gentle.

spokaneCPST · Oct 28, 2009

The Sedona has a front airbag switch?

jessclear · Oct 28, 2009

spokaneCPST said:
The Sedona has a front airbag switch?

She told me the airbag was off. I don't know if the sensor says it's off because of the weight in the seat. I doubt she actually has it turned off.
I did make sure she had the seat as far back as possible.

agurlsride · Oct 29, 2009

no there is no switch for the airbag in the sedona but it does have a sensor.

jessclear · Oct 29, 2009

Just wanted to update that she was receptive to an e-mail I sent her and has agreed for me to come to her house and work something out. She seemed grateful in the instead of reluctant like yesterday. Yay! I am taking my spare seats over there. I'll let you all know if we can make it work with our available seats.

Mommy2Marcus · Oct 29, 2009

Good Luck! I am glad that she was receptive & I hope that you can make something work out. Let us know.

Unregistered1 · Oct 29, 2009

OK Jess, here's me thinking out loud.

Given that you said she'd like her two in the second row, then you're probably going to have two FF seats and the infant seat in the back (unless you magically convince her to RF, but judging by previous receptive-ness... I'm not holding my breath). Maybe try one of the kids in the vantage outboard, one in the comfort sport center (probably the younger one in the comfort sport) and the safeseat on the other side outboard. Since the cs sits a little higher up maybe it will leave more room for the safeseat. Otherwise the snugride is a bit narrower, so you could lend her yours if you really don't mind.

Then in the second row you could put her younger dc in the AOE/vantage (is the second row a bench or two captain's chairs? If it's a bench you might take the base off to get a bit more room) and her older DC probably in something borrowed from you, since none of those kids are really old enough to use the booster.

If that doesn't work... something might puzzle with a Britax convertible because it sits up on the base, but how big is the 3 y/o, because if he's over 40 lbs (I thought you said he was) then he'd need the higher weight seat and she wants him in the second row. Uptown and CS might puzzle if the arm rests on that vantage make it difficult.

It's so hard to tell when you're not actually crawling around the car, LOL. But you've got a good mix of seats, I'm sure you'll get it. Just don't forget to keep one or two for Hannah

jessclear · Oct 29, 2009

Thanks Katie! She has 2 captains chairs. I was thinking of getting you in on the action, but realized you are working/schooling full-time. I will definitely call with any questions/problems.

Does anyone know the internal width of the back row on the long wheel base? I was thinking of working with my seats a little bit before I go over there. Knowing the width I have to work with would help a lot.

I will definitely be keeping one seat for my car and one spare for DH and/or car pooling for play group. I hate uninstalling the seat in my car all the time.

I am thinking that I will let her borrow my Decathlon for her DS. I'm pretty sure he's at least nearing 40lbs, but I'll have to ask her. That and the Uptown, I don't care about as much. IF something happened to them with her, I wouldn't weep about it. The Keyfit, I might weep, so I hope the snugride will work if the safeseat won't.

I WILL NOT LEAVE HER HOUSE WITHOUT WORKING IT OUT! I just can't!!

Defrost · Oct 29, 2009

As I recall, (and Gypsy will correct me if I'm wrong) the long wheel base is what she has, and we determined that every time we got a 3-across in it, it was the Radian in the driver's side outboard that did it.

A keyfit might work as well, I'm not sure.

jessclear · Nov 2, 2009

Well, I worked in her van for about 3hrs today trying to figure out a 3 across that was not only workable for me, but that she could recreate as she takes the seats out when she shops at Sam's and such.

I ended up with a FF Comfort Sport driver's side, RF Intera w/o base in center, and FF Scenera pass side. I made sure they were each installed independently. The Intera was the toughest to get rock solid due to the ceiling belt (at least that's what I thought it was). I am concerned that she will have trouble recreating that install, so I will be checking her seats after she moves them again.

She was receptive to all the information and appreciative of the help. We just have to make sure that the 3mo fits in the Intera IRL (he wasn't there today). There is also a girl that wasn't there today and we have to make sure the harnesses are the correct height for her. I showed her how to do all of that, though, so I hope she was paying attention. I also had her install her son's seat herself to make sure she knew how to do it and get it tight. I installed the rest, because she was still doing daycare inside the house.

Anyway, I think we did it. I'm pretty sure this is workable. If you can think of something else or have concerns with this set up PLEASE let me know.

Thanks!

Defrost · Nov 2, 2009

Congratulations!

It's a great feeling of accomplishment, isn't it?

I will say the trouble you had with the Interra was likely more due to it being baseless (although that seat belt isn't exactly fun, either.) Getting a baseless infant seat "rock-solid" is nearly impossible - they're just not made to get that tight, yk?

ketchupqueen · Nov 2, 2009

Defrost said:
Congratulations! It's a great feeling of accomplishment, isn't it?

I will say the trouble you had with the Interra was likely more due to it being baseless (although that seat belt isn't exactly fun, either.) Getting a baseless infant seat "rock-solid" is nearly impossible - they're just not made to get that tight, yk?

I don't see an infant seat in there... Am I missing something?

Defrost · Nov 2, 2009

ketchupqueen said:
I don't see an infant seat in there... Am I missing something?

Isn't the Interra an infant seat?

Or am I confusing it with another seat?

ETA: Huh, google is my friend. How very strange... I swear there's an infant seat called Intera!

HELP! 5 seats in a Sedona

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