Question two car seats in front seat of truck with bench?

Unregistered · Oct 16, 2009

Hello
I am desiring to purchase a truck, but I have not decided what kind to purchase. I am on a budget of around $6-$7k. I need to fit two car seats in, one for a 20 month old and one for a 3.5 year old. I can purchase new car seats (like the Radian) if necessary.
1) I want to know if two Radians or other narrow seats (suggestions?) can fit safely and comfortably in the FRONT (center and passenger) of a bench seat truck with airbags turned off. This will be our primary vehicle.

2) What v6 trucks would fit this configuration, if any? F-150? Tundra? Sierra?

3) Does this seating arrangement eliminate the possibility of having a manual transmission?

Thank you

Maedze · Oct 16, 2009

The 22 month old will need to be rear facing, and I think in many vehicles a rear facing Radian in the front seat won't be feasible. I'd look for a low profile seat for the little guy like the First Years True Fit, the Safety First Avenue, or the Safety First Complete Air.

Space wise, I'm willing to bet the vast majority of bench-only truck front seats can comfortably accommodate two child restraints.

WRT to a manual transmission, that may not be feasible. Either the gearshift will be covered by the back of the rear facing 1 year old, or the forward facing three year old will be able to kick it :thumbsdown:

I'll let the trucky people make specific recommendations. I can think of trucks that are good, but I don't know enough about them to know which ones can be had for your price requirements.

carseatcoach · Oct 16, 2009

Driver-side airbag cannot be disabled, and may intrude into the center seating position, so no RFing there.

Maedze · Oct 16, 2009

Good point. Three year old, then, center position forward facing, and 1 year old rear facing outboard, in front of the disabled airbag.

Kaede's_Mom · Oct 16, 2009

Since all manual cars/trucks can be shifted with out engageing the clutch I would stay away from manuals. I can just see you driving down the road in say 4th gear and the 3 year old accidently kicking the shifter into nutural, yeah could be a bad thing (my DD did this once to my father in-law) Add to the fact that not all trucks have two seprate seats (think split bench vs. a full bench) if you are needing the seat closer and it is a single full bench it may put the childs legs even closer to the shifter.

safeinthecar · Oct 16, 2009

chickabiddy said:
Driver-side airbag cannot be disabled, and may intrude into the center seating position, so no RFing there.

Ford F-series driver airbag does not intrude on the center position. Not sure about other trucks though. You can get a pretty decent truck for your price range. Small pick-ups (S-10, Ranger, Frontier, etc) have a really small center position and be difficult for two car seats. Full size trucks won't have an issue, but you will be pretty much limited to Ford or GM. Depending on the purpose you need a truck for, you may have more flexibility and options looking into an SUV.

Question two car seats in front seat of truck with bench?

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