Question Help! What's the Best Way To Arrange 2 Car Seats (one RF, one FF)?

msuarez919

msuarez919

New member
I have an older car (a 1998 Honda Accord) which has no rear side airbags and have the car seats installed next to the doors. This worries me to no end. Is there a better way to set up the car seats (especially for my FF 4 year old) that might be safer?

Here's my info:

10 month old RF in a Britax Advocate 70 CS (it will be here on Wed! :D)
4 year old FF in a Britax MA

seat belt install (no latch in my older car)

no tethers (I'm thinking about taking it to my local Honda dealership to see if they could retro fit one)

pretty spacious backseat

Might it be safer to have the FF 4 year old in the middle of the backseat? Since RF 10 month old is going to have the extra side impact protection (the Advocate 70 CS) and she's RF, she would be safer on the side, right? I think I would have enough room for them to be next to each other as well. Does any of this make sense safety wise or am I crazy? :confused:
 
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rachelandtyke

rachelandtyke

Well-known member
Yes, that makes sense. It is recommended to put the least protected child in the most protected spot, so that would mean the ff in the center and the rf outboard. You have a little more flexibility in doing so with the seatbelt install as the spaces aren't as fixed as with LATCH.

I would definitely look into retrofitting tethers in your car. Some companies will do it for free, you just have to pay the cost of the parts, IIRC. The techs on here would have more info on that. Having the top tethers decreases the amount of head excursion (the distance forward that the head moves) in the case of a collision.

If for some reason the seats next to each other don't work out, overall, the rf is more protected than the ff, even in a side impact iirc, so you could consider putting the rf in the MA and the ff in the Advocate.
 
msuarez919

msuarez919

New member
rachelandtyke said:
Yes, that makes sense. It is recommended to put the least protected child in the most protected spot, so that would mean the ff in the center and the rf outboard. You have a little more flexibility in doing so with the seatbelt install as the spaces aren't as fixed as with LATCH.

I would definitely look into retrofitting tethers in your car. Some companies will do it for free, you just have to pay the cost of the parts, IIRC. The techs on here would have more info on that. Having the top tethers decreases the amount of head excursion (the distance forward that the head moves) in the case of a collision.

If for some reason the seats next to each other don't work out, overall, the rf is more protected than the ff, even in a side impact iirc, so you could consider putting the rf in the MA and the ff in the Advocate.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll start the rearranging when I get the Advocate on Wed. :thumbsup:
 
Carrie_R

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
Be aware that although the FFer in the center, with the RFer outboard, is the ideal situation, the Advocate is a VERY wide seat and they may not fit that way. If they do not, each child outboard is also acceptable. Just retrofit the anchors (with the info Mae provided) and tether the FFer. :)
 
J

jjordan

Moderator
One more thing, didn't notice if anyone else mentioned this - if you do get the seats installed side-by-side, make sure they are independently tight. So, not only do they feel tight when they're both in there, but one still feels tight if you remove the other. To do this install one tight, then install #2, and then remove #1 and make sure #2 is still tight.

Good luck!
 

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