Packing a car safely

catchthewind

New member
Not sure where to put this, but I'd love some thoughts. Once or twice a year we go to Calgary to visit family, which is about a 12 hour drive overall. While I found this forum before DD1 was born and have been huge on car seat safety since then, it never occurred to me to worry so much about everything else in the car. :eek: Such as a loose dog being a projectile, or not packing stuff around a car seat. It's always been a bit of a concern in the back of my mind, and one of the reasons we sold our last car even though we loved it (a Honda Fit) was because we had trouble fitting everything in with one kid and a dog, let alone with two. We had to pack stuff in and around the car seat and I realize now we were probably really lucky we were never in an accident.

Now we have a Kia Sedona. I think when we go to Calgary next month, we're going to take one of the rear seats out. I'm not sure what exactly I want to know, but I guess really how to pack a van safely. I've read that as long as everything is below the top of the seats it's fine, but now I'm wondering it that's really true. Also, is it safer to have the dog in her crate in the spot where the removed seat would be, or to have her belted in a harness on the other back seat? We have to bring her crate regardless, but I guess one way it could be taken apart,which is a pain, honestly I'd rather she was in it and it was together but not sure if that makes the crate a projectile? Not sure if there is a way to keep it in place. Anyway, any tips? It seems like a stupid question on one hand, but there are so many little things I read in other threads about packing cars I wouldn't have thought of. :rolleyes: What is safe to have packed in the third row (right behind where the kids will be) since there's not much room in the very back behind the third row.
 
ADS

Angela

New member
Not much help to you... but I have the same question! We have a Kia Rondo and we take at least 2 12-13 hour drives a year. What do we do with all our stuff? :)
 

canadiangie

New member
Even though using one increases our centre of gravity, I still prefer a roof carrier to having a bunch of stuff in the cargo area. Whenever we go on long trips I have dh attach it to the roof and most if not all of our stuff gets stored up top. This leave a stroller tied down and a dog tied down in the cargo area.

Going back to centre of gravity and risk for rollover, we probably own one of the more dangerous SUVs out there in terms of rollover -- both because of the MY and make. It's certainly ironic that I make the choice to further increase our risk for rollover by strapping stuff above the roof, but I really do feel we're at a high risk for rollover to begin with, roof carrier or not, and my mind spins just thinking about a bunch of loose luggage in the event of a collision, which could very well lead to a rollover in our case. Hope that makes sense.
 

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