FF in middle or better install OB

jewlsvern

New member
I just turned DD FF'ing. She has been begging for months and I told her when she was 4. She will be 4 in 3 weeks and since I had to take the seats all out this weekend I decided to turn her now rather than fight with the radian RFing again. I originally put her in the middle but the seat leans to the right. So I swapped her and DS putting DS RFing in the middle and her FFing outboard. The seats are all rock solid and I can fit a Scenera in the other OB position for when I take her friend to school. With her in the middle the Scenera did not go in well either.

Is this okay? I am worried about her being FF in an outboard position. She is 4 and 30 pounds. Is she going to be okay? I have the seat tethered with the safe stop on.
 
ADS

Mommy2Marcus

New member
My son rides outboard in both DH's & my car. I know his seats are properly installed, he is strapped in properly & that his seats are top tethered. I feel perfectly safe with him in the outboard seats. :twocents:
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
she's safest in the seating position where you get the better install... so she's safer outboard in this case.

AND... since you need to fit all 3 seats, that's the way it has to be anyway.... but everyone is safer if everyone's seats fit. :twocents:
 

Palee

New member
Slightly OT here, but I'm so glad to read this consensus! I just installed my son's RF MyRide65 and had to put it outboard because we could not get a snug install in the middle!
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
Any seat in back is quite safe if the child seat can be installed and used correctly there. The middle seat probably has a slight advantage, but only if it results in a similarly good installation.

There have been a few studies on middle vs. outboard. All are old enough that they don't adequately factor in recent vehicles that do much better on side impact crash testing and newer carseats with side impact protection features.

Some studies also didn't consider that although you gain some benefit from the middle vs. being on the side that is struck, this can be partially offset if the carseat is on the opposite side that is struck.

Plus, being correctly installed and used in a newer car with a newer carseat is likely to reduce the risk to a child so much that the choice among rear seating positions is likely to be the difference from an extremely low risk to a slighly lower than extremely low risk...
 

jewlsvern

New member
Thanks for all the replies. I do feel a lot better about where she is now. We do drive a 2010 and she is in a RNXT that is only a few months old so I know we have many of the safety features available. I know she is safe but I just had it in my mind that she would be in the center. I never considered having to put her on the side. It will, however, be easier at preschool drop off and pick up.

She has been RFing for so long it feels weird to have her FFing.
 

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