Question safest/best Radian configuration?

DS (6 months, 20 pounds, 29") is at the limit of his infant seat (Chicco Keyfit 22, but he is tall and long-waisted and his head is near the top of the seat). I just ordered 2 new Radian XT SL's (RF to 45 pounds).

We also have a Radian 65 purchased in 2008 (RF to 33 pounds) and a Radian XL purchased in 2009 (RF to 40 pounds). DD (3 years old, 33 pounds) is currently using these rear-facing (one is in my car, one is in DH's).

I was planning to give DD the 2 new seats and move DS into the old Radians. Then I realized the Radian 65 does not have the side protection "wings" and he is a fragile little infant compared to DD . We use both cars equally, so someone will be in the 65 at least half the time. So which would be safer? 6-month old DS in the Radian 65 (RF, of course, but no head-wings) and DD RF'ing in an XT? Or DS in an XT and DD FF'ing in the Radian 65 (as she is at the limit and needs to be turned FF if she stays in that seat). And does it matter who goes on the passenger side and who goes on the driver's side? (i.e. if the passenger side more likely to get hit in an accident?)

If it matters, we have a 1999 Toyota 4-Runner where the car seats are allowed to touch the front seats and there are no airbags in the back. We also have a 2006 Corolla where the car seats are *not* allowed to touch the front seat. I think the Corolla has airbags in the back.

I'm also wondering if this is a moot point because I don't know if we can fit a Radian RF'ing behind the Corolla's driver's seat. I am 5'11"; DH is 6'1". We may have to turn DH FF'ing anyway If DD *has* to be FF'ing, should I for sure give her one of the XTs to FF in? Thoughts?

Until children are on the third harness slots (I think) the headwings have to be all the way up anyway, so there's a good chance your son wouldn't be able to use them yet if you were to put him in the XT. So might as well use those for your daughter, for now at least.

Shoot, I forget what your other question was. Oh, driver vs. passenger: neither side has a huge advantage over the other. The difference is really minuscule, and I don't even remember which is which.

If the seat won't fit behind the passenger can you put one in the middle?

What about putting the older child OB either side in the XT and the baby in the middle in the RN?

I am pretty sure that the Radian won't fit RF in the middle of the Corolla without touching the driver's seat (unless the seat is crazy far forward). IIRC when we first got the Radian 65 for DD we tried to put it there. My other concern is that DS is really into pulling DD's hair and DD is really into putting her fingers in DS's eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc. I'd prefer that they couldn't reach each other.

Good point about the headwings not mattering yet for DS. I had forgotten about that.

It's only the passenger seat being touched that you have to worry about. That being said, I have an 05 Corolla and I can put a radian upright enough that it doesn't touch the front seats at all with them all the way back, as long as the front swats aren't reclined any.

I am pretty sure my manual says that nothing should be touching the back of the front seats because it interferes with the airbags. Why would it be OK for the carseat to touch the driver seat but not the passenger seat? I will double-check my manual tomorrow, though.

Also, I have seen people mention the more upright installs. DH and I have tried to get it more upright on our own but not had much success.. is there a master thread or webpage somewhere that gives the tips on how to do it?

Thank you all so much for your replies and help!

I'm pretty sure car seats not touching the front passenger seat has to do with the air bag weight sensors in the seat. You don't want the car seat putting pressure on the front seat because it can mess with the sensor. I don't think front drivers seats have this censor. I have a small car, and I installed a RN behind my passenger seat. It "touches" the seat but doesn't put any pressure or weight on it. I lifted up the headrest, reclined the front seat a bit, and the top of the seat kind of hangs in that space. As for getting the seat more upright..I did it myself, but it works better with two people.

Push/recline the driver/passenger seat as far forward as it can go to give you room to work. Hook up the latch straps or the seatbelt, whichever you are using. Have one person push the top of the RN forward, while the other person pushes down on the seat part of the RN and tightens the seatbelt or the latch straps. You want to put the little feet on the RF base on the butt part of your auto seat, right at the crack between the two pieces of the seat, but not IN the seat byte (crack). It works alot better when one person gets at the seat from behind.

The Corolla manual says "Child restraint systems installed on the rear seat should not contact the front seatbacks".

Is this really important just for the passenger side? There is a special sensor on that side (because it turns on if I have a lot of stuff on the seat), but I would think if it just applied to the passenger side the manual would say so. A lot of the other warnings on the same page do specify just the passenger side, ie "Do not put objects under the front passenger seat", "Do not apply a heavy load to the front passenger seat" (warnings which I ignore from time to time).

Ironically, I do let the Radian touch the passenger seat right now, because no one ever rides in the front passenger seat of the Corolla (when all 4 of us go somewhere we take the 4Runner).

Toyota's warning in the owner's manual against touching the front seatbacks in Toyota models equipped with advanced airbags is applicable to both the front passenger seat and the driver's seat. Another member confirmed that with Toyota a year or two ago, although the Toyota rep didn't provide a detailed explanation of why it also applied to the driver's seat instead of only to the front passenger seat, and we'd all love to know more about the reasons for that. Even though there's always a driver present in the driver's seat while the car is under way, unlike the front passenger seat which isn't always necessarily occupied, presumably there's something about the driver's seat sensors that potentially affects the force at which the frontal and/or driver's seat side torso airbags deploy or otherwise Toyota wouldn't specify to avoid having a carseat touching both front seatbacks. :twocents:

Jeanum said:

Toyota's warning in the owner's manual against touching the front seatbacks in Toyota models equipped with advanced airbags is applicable to both the front passenger seat and the driver's seat. Another member confirmed that with Toyota a year or two ago, although the Toyota rep didn't provide a detailed explanation of why it also applied to the driver's seat instead of only to the front passenger seat, and we'd all love to know more about the reasons for that. Even though there's always a driver present in the driver's seat while the car is under way, unlike the front passenger seat which isn't always necessarily occupied, presumably there's something about the driver's seat sensors that potentially affects the force at which the frontal and/or driver's seat side torso airbags deploy or otherwise Toyota wouldn't specify to avoid having a carseat touching both front seatbacks. :twocents:

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When we bought our Sienna we asked about this. The seats do have sensors, in both, that detect the weight of the passenger in them and adjust the force the airbag deploys at accordingly. So for me, the front passenger airbag will deploy differently (I'm 115lbs) then it would for my husband (165lbs). The seat touching could cause the sensor to detect the wrong weight and deploy at the wrong force. There also is a warning to not put heavy things in the driver's seat back pocket for the same reason.

OK, tomorrow is the big install! We are going to try DS in the Radian 65 in the Corolla behind the driver's seat. Hopefully we can get it upright enough so it won't touch. DD will stay in the XT behind the passenger seat.
We will put the new XTSLs in the 4Runner.

After searching my attic in vain I realized that the 65 does not have any cushion/support that came with it. Even though DS is 20 pounds he is only 7 months old and could probably use the head support, especially since he falls asleep in the car a lot. Would it be OK to use the cushion/support that came with the XT or the XTSL for the 65?

OK, so carseats are being done today. As I mentioned in another post, lots of cussing and screaming and fist-pounding on the part of DH. Although we love these seats for their safety we have found them quite difficult to install.

Anyway, wanted to say I contacted SKJP and they said it is OK to use the support cushions from the XT or XTSL in the 65.

So far we've only installed the new XTSLs in the 4Runner. We are hoping to tackle putting the XT and the 65 in the Corolla this afternoon.

We ended up putting DD in the XT behind the driver's seat in the Corolla (DS is in the 65 behind the passenger seat). We did manage to get the seat pretty upright but it is a very tight fit and we had to leave the seat untethered. Even untethered, I am sitting more forward than I am comfortable with (for comfort and for safety reasons).

I am also feeling uncomfortable leaving DD untethered. I am tempted to tether the seat even though that would make it touch the driver's seat.

DH is at the end of his rope. It's been a rough day. I will go to a tech this week to get the seats checked out. I wish he could help with getting the seat even more upright, but he's already suggested turning DD FF so I imagine that is what he'll say again. Regardless, I'll have the kids with me when I go get the seats checked so I don't think I'd be able to help him reinstall.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit down right now (if you couldn't tell), but I'm glad the seats are in. DH and I were talking and we agreed we would eat beans and rice for a month to save money and pay someone to do the installs for us!