Please help me weed my seats and organiz what's left?

rodentranger

New member
I have too many seats. It really is silly. I will have 15 next week; three aren't even seats I can use for my kids ever again. No more infants for me, so I'm going to sell two of my infant seats and keep my SR22 for demo purposes.
I have
2 33 lb MAs. One expires next April, the other the following Aug (2013).
2 50 lb CAs. I'm not super comfy using them rf if I can avoid it until we get better answers from Dorel.
3 XTSLs as of mid next week.
Nautilus
Frontier80
Regent (I need a recline bar for it though)
High Back Turbo Booster

The kids are in my stats.

The vehicles are (in order of use)
2003 Pilot
1995? Accord (quick installs are best as these occasionally come out)
1996 Altima (need to be easy to install and use correctly)
2007 Sentra (once they're in, they don't come out unless I do it, so it doesn't matter if it's hard to install, etc)
1990 Camry (rare)
1990 Ranger regular cab with no headrests or airbags(occasional only)

I really only need 8 seats installed in the Pilot, Accord, Altima and Sentra. Which seat would you put where in which vehicle for which kid? Which seats to sell? Kids are on undivided highways at least twice DAILY for a minimum of 10 miles. They do torment each other if sitting side by side. RF seat pretty limited to passenger outboard I think. I will be ordering the recline bar ASAP.

Currently I have
Pilot-rf XTSL ob pass and ff MA ob driver
Accord-GN ob driver, rf CA ob pass
Altima-TB ob driver, ff MA ob pass
Sentra- FR80 center, rf CA ob pass
 
ADS

rodentranger

New member
Just the grandmas' cars? The Accord transports my kids 3-4 times a week, the Sentra is used a few times a month, but with a distracted driver.
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
Disclaimer - with the exception of the Pilot, I don't know these vehicles well, so this assumes no incompatabilities. If something is incompatable, let me know and I will rework the scheme. :)

----

I don't know that I'd change your current setup too much. I was trying to figure out why you need a change, and my best guess would be that you want to eliminate the RF CAs?

If so, I would start by just replacing the CAs with the Radians. Then I might use a CA FF in place of the FF MA (I am not a big fan of FF MAs.) Alternatively, I might sell a CA -- if you can get a buyer -- and use the MA to expiry, then move to a booster.

Pilot
Leave D in the Radian, move T to the Regent once you get the recline bar. I don't have much experience with the Regent, but it seems like a giant, comfy barcalounger and since you have the space, I think I would use it in his main ride.

Accord
Stick with the GN (it's always been an easy install for me,) and put one of the new Radians in here, assuming it installs easily. If the Radian does *not* install easily, your options are 1) use it anyways, 2) use the CA, or 3) get a new, easy-to-install-RF convertible. (I always hate finding that I have twice the seats I need, but I don't have *the* seat I need!)

Altima
Is it a typo that the baby is FF in this vehicle? If you have someone prone to misuse who is better with FF seats, I can understand that, but I just wanted to make sure.

I would probably go ahead and stick with what you have for now. Again, maybe replace the FF MA with the CA. As sketchy as I feel about the CA answers, I don't think it's inherently unsafe (especially FF) and my gut says low profile, non-MA FFing seat.

Sentra
Swap the CA for the remaining RN here. Leave the FR80 in. With a distracted driver, I would probably opt to leave the FF seat center, unless the sibling tormenting was so bad that it was causing additional distractions to the driver. In that case I'd put them both outboard, as the theoretical protection from putting the least protected center would be outweighed by the increased liklihood of crash by a very distracted driver.

Depending on how concerned you are about liklihood of crash, I might (*might*) turn T RF here. Not sure how you define "distracted;" all I can think of is my friend -- whose nickname is Random -- who I won't let drive me around she is so easily distracted, lol. If I had to put my babies in a car with her *cringe* I'd be wrapping them in bubble wrap first. LOL!!!

I'm only counting 14 seats, fwiw. So that makes:

two infant seats sold (12 left to account for)
one infant seat training (11)
Radian and Regent in Pilot (9)
GN & RN in Accord (7)
TB & FF CA in Altima (5)
F80 & RN in Sentra (3)

Leftover seats: two MAs and a CA.

HTH...
 

rodentranger

New member
I don't know that I'd change your current setup too much. I was trying to figure out why you need a change, and my best guess would be that you want to eliminate the RF CAs?
Yes, I'm not really comfortable using the CAs upright rf until we get better answers from Dorel as to why they acknowledge that upright is safer, but their seats MUST be used at full recline.
If so, I would start by just replacing the CAs with the Radians. Then I might use a CA FF in place of the FF MA (I am not a big fan of FF MAs.) Alternatively, I might sell a CA -- if you can get a buyer -- and use the MA to expiry, then move to a booster.
I'm not a huge fan of ff MAs either, but I was trying to make due without buying any more seats! lol And I absolutely adore the Speedway cover that I brought ODS home in.
Pilot
Leave D in the Radian, move T to the Regent once you get the recline bar. I don't have much experience with the Regent, but it seems like a giant, comfy barcalounger and since you have the space, I think I would use it in his main ride.

Accord
Stick with the GN (it's always been an easy install for me,) and put one of the new Radians in here, assuming it installs easily. If the Radian does *not* install easily, your options are 1) use it anyways, 2) use the CA, or 3) get a new, easy-to-install-RF convertible. (I always hate finding that I have twice the seats I need, but I don't have *the* seat I need!)
I'll try the RN is the Accord as soon as I have the time and can get MIL to come over for me to play without having to rush off to work. I definitely want YDS rf'ing, so if the RN doesn't install there, I will have to cry and suck it up and use the CA against instructions.
Altima
Is it a typo that the baby is FF in this vehicle? If you have someone prone to misuse who is better with FF seats, I can understand that, but I just wanted to make sure.
Yes, DH will occasionally take seats out for whatever reason and when he reinstalls them, there's room for improvement. I've seen rf tethered CAs, unlocked seatbelts, ff foot on the CA not used for a ff install, etc. He installs seats ff quite well though. :confused: Most of the time, I switch cars with DH if I know he's going to have the kids, but there's days where MIL comes over before I leave for work, then DH gets home and sleeps for a bit and MIL leaves; so DH has his own car and I have mine. I need a set of seats installed in his car. Or at least *in* his car...
I would probably go ahead and stick with what you have for now. Again, maybe replace the FF MA with the CA. As sketchy as I feel about the CA answers, I don't think it's inherently unsafe (especially FF) and my gut says low profile, non-MA FFing seat.
I like wings on my ff kids, too. You'd really keep the TB for the 4.5yo? He does pretty well in it and I know it's being used correctly, but it's till hard to swallow my kid in a booster! I got it for the same reason I kept the MAs...trying to keep carseat expenses down, but I needed an 8th seat. Then my SIL gave me the Regent.
Sentra
Swap the CA for the remaining RN here. Leave the FR80 in. With a distracted driver, I would probably opt to leave the FF seat center, unless the sibling tormenting was so bad that it was causing additional distractions to the driver. In that case I'd put them both outboard, as the theoretical protection from putting the least protected center would be outweighed by the increased liklihood of crash by a very distracted driver.
I have the FR80 center and the rf CA passenger outboard, and since they are both pretty wide seats, I intend on keeping any seats in that configuration. Mom is frequently fidgeting with stuff and not looking at the road. She's only been in one collision in the last twenty years, but it was totally her fault and she wasn't paying attention. I know cuz I was in the car too! She's also (medicated) narcoleptic. I try to not have my kids drive with her unless I have to, but when DH and I are both workng on weekends, she has them. She also lives with us and has a flexible schedule at work, so she's the prime candidate for emergency pickups.
Depending on how concerned you are about liklihood of crash, I might (*might*) turn T RF here. Not sure how you define "distracted;" all I can think of is my friend -- whose nickname is Random -- who I won't let drive me around she is so easily distracted, lol. If I had to put my babies in a car with her *cringe* I'd be wrapping them in bubble wrap first. LOL!!!

I'm only counting 14 seats, fwiw. So that makes:

two infant seats sold (12 left to account for)
one infant seat training (11)
Radian and Regent in Pilot (9)
GN & RN in Accord (7)
TB & FF CA in Altima (5)
F80 & RN in Sentra (3)

Leftover seats: two MAs and a CA.

HTH...

Yes, there is only 14 seats...I'm not sure where I got the 15th in my head.
All other things being equal (driver ability, time spent in the vehicle, etc), I'm more "okay" with less than best practice in the Pilot and Sentra because of their IIHS ratings, which are good for both frontal offset and side impact. I can't find ratings for the older vehicles, probably they didn't have them back then? I don't have rear passenger side airbags in the Pilot, the Sentra has them. I'd prefer best practice in the older vehicles, and if I thought I could get away with it, I'd have a fleet of XTSLs and keep both kids rf in all vehicles.
Really, I know I'm totally over-thinking all of it and should just assign seats to vehicles fairly arbitrarily. But I can't. Between the OCD, my babies, the undivided highways, the lack of SAB in the vehicles, the lack of Dorel answers and not being able to see crash test data for all of the factors involved....gahhh!
 

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