Safety of extended cab trucks

scatterbunny · Jun 22, 2007

What's everyone's feelings on this? We are selling Mark's single cab Ford F-150 and want to get a crew cab, but they are hard to come by, in our price range. I'm finding lots of extended cabs, though.

Head excursion room worries me. What do you all think?

I wouldn't go for anything with the super-tiny extra cab, like the Ford Rangers have, but something like what Chevy trucks have. I'll include a couple links.

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/car/356690227.html (NOT considering this particular truck, just using it to show the size of backseat)

http://portland.craigslist.org/yam/car/356363265.html

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/car/355205298.html

Connor's Mom · Jun 22, 2007

Good question as we are shopping for a "new to him" truck for DH and I was wondering if it was safe to install the seat in the extended cab area of a FULL size truck.

scatterbunny · Jun 22, 2007

Yep, we're only looking at full-size trucks with extended cabs or crew cabs, too. I like the looks of the Chevy/GMC extended cabs, they seem roomier than Ford extended cabs.

Connor's Mom · Jun 22, 2007

I agree. Plus I just don't like Fords in general.

Dh REALLY wants a Toyota Tundra so that is what we are leaning to while still looking at the Chevy/GMC.

scatterbunny · Jun 22, 2007

Oh yeah, the Tundra looks AWESOME! But our price limit is about $4000, so a Toyota is out.

scatterbunny · Jun 24, 2007

So can anyone who owns an extended cab weigh in with thoughts?

Connor's Mom · Jun 24, 2007

scatterbunny said:
Oh yeah, the Tundra looks AWESOME! But our price limit is about $4000, so a Toyota is out.

I think that we can stretch our budget to $10,000 maybe $11,000 so we can swing the used Tundras without all the extras. But, I am ganna try for the cheaper the better, lol, Hubby doesn't need power windows, seats, etc or at least I don't think he does, lol.

Anyone have any info for us? Anyone?

beebear23 · Jun 24, 2007

Well, we have a Regent in our extended cab truck. We had to go w/the Regent b/c it gave my short Cias leg room. That's something to think about too since Hayley is so tall.

Dragonflymama · Jun 26, 2007

My DH needs to drive a truck for work. We have DD in the center of the rear of a '99 Dodge Ram 1500 ( it has a bench seat in an extended cab, not a crew cab). No headrests. We have DD in the Radian65 in the center installation because the space between the two front seats is wider than the radian and should allow proper forward-movement in a crash instead of hitting the back of the front seats (excursion room does seem shallow behind the seats). (Note: in our truck, the center front seat portion folds down to make a center console).

We do not have a tether anchor installed and this is ok per the Radian specs, but I hope to get one installed before DD gains much weight. I'd love to replace this truck but options are slim. A full-sized crew cap will shorten the bed too much for DHs needs (or a very-long vehicle) and increase weight/further decrease the fuel economy. No easy answers when a truck is needed and kids to transport.

Loves2sing · Jun 26, 2007

We just picked up our Mega Cab this weekend and we love it. We were blessed enough to be able to buy new though, due to 0% financing. Have you looked at Dodges? They have great Extended cabs. The Mega cab will more than likely be out of your price range, but they are really good. The Quad cabs, (extended, but not as large as the Mega cab) are really good. They have outboard LATCH, 3 tether positions across the back, and we were able to fit Jenna's MA RF behind Ryan when he was driving. They also have awesome places for RF tethering. I know that your dd is older, so this is probably a moot point to you anyway. The Quad cabs only have headrests in the outboard positions, if that is a big deal when considering the amount of people you may need to cart around. HTH! We love our truck, and are proud to have a truck as our family~mobile! Considering when we have #2 we won't be able to take 2 kids at the same time in our sunbird! lol!

Loves2sing · Jun 26, 2007

double post! sorry!

Dragonflymama · Jun 26, 2007

One thing to note is that the Dodge Quad Cabs have increased in spaciousness in the past 8 years. The older ones (like our '99) are a bit more cramped and have less leg room. As I posted above, it is working for us with our Radian installed in the center position, but outboard installations would be tough in these older model years.

beeman · Jun 30, 2007

Well, the older you go, the worse they are. Ford and Dodge redesigned in 97 and Chev/GMC redesigned in 99. The back seat in my dads 95 Ford F150 is a little better than my friends 96 GMC 1500, but when it comes down to it, they both suck. One thing to watch out for on these is that the angle between the bottom and the back of the seat is less than 90 degrees, which could make a huge pain in the rear for installing a seat. If there's no headrests in the backseat (96 or 97+?) a booster or a seat with a high back will touch the back window. For $4000 dollars though you'll be hardpressed finding a newer truck with the bigger back seat that's in good condition. I guess my best suggestion is take the carseats along when you take them for a test drive and find one that the seats fit and Hayley's comfortable in.

Judi · Jul 1, 2007

The posted are all expired! Well, you know I have a Dodge Ram 2500, and had no problem getting the Apex back there!

Cathyliz · Jul 1, 2007

Dh has an '01 Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab and I've only put a carseat in it once (a Graco CarGo) and I've used BPB's in it. It does not have head rests, so that is an issue with backless boosters. There's only a lap belt in the middle, much to my 13yo's dismay because he always wants to ride there and I won't let him. I had no problem at all putting the Graco in the center seat and there was LOTS of room on each side of it. I'm sure you could probalby put three rather large CR's in the back seat of that truck without a problem. There's also a turn off switch for the passenger air bag. The only issue besides no head rests may be the lack of leg room for kids in CR's. I know when the little guy was in the Graco in the middle he kept putting his feet on the center console (folds up to make the truck sit 6, but we always keep it down). It was hard for him NOT to put his feet there because that's about where they ended up anyway! lol The driver's and passenger's seats though, are a little further forward. The center isn't adjustable.

easterbun · Jul 1, 2007

scatterbunny said:
So can anyone who owns an extended cab weigh in with thoughts?

Well we don't own one now, but we had a 2001 extended cab Silverado (w/ the "suicide" doors) - the room in the back was really similar to the ford explorer I was driving at the time... except that the whole vehicle was a bit wider. I sat in the back a lot when DD was little, and it was fine for me, and really my ONLY gripe about it was that I couldn't get out by myself (because the front door had to be opened first, which I coudln't do). Getting the kids in/out was never a problem though.

We had DD's Snugride and then later her Boulevard RF in the center with no problem (the BV didn't even touch the front seats).. never tried installing either outboard though (didn't have a reason to try it).

We decided that if we ever got another truck it would be a crew cab - becasue of the issue with the extended cab doors.

scatterbunny · Jul 1, 2007

Thanks, guys! Keep the info and opinions coming! I don't know if we'll be able to afford something too new, with $4000 as a budget. Hayley will be in a booster for at least another 4 years, longer if they make them tall enough for her.

So a lack of headrests isn't a dealbreaker; I plan on keeping her in a harness as long as possible. She uses a booster right now in dh's truck, but if we get one with a backseat it means she'll be riding in it more often than she is now, and I'll get an 86Y harness to use with her highback booster. As long as she fits heightwise in a booster, we'll use that 86Y/highback booster combo in the backseat of the truck. When she's really too big to have head protection, we'll upgrade to something with rear headrests.

vamom · Jul 2, 2007

I have a 96 chevy silverado ext cab truck. I have a husky installed in the middle. The front is two buckets with center console. Chevy installed two tether brackets for free. I have the husky in the middle because I felt that it gave him more room for head excursion without hitting something, he can rest his legs on the console, and I can reach him easily. Mind you his legs are getting pretty close to the console, and he is 44", mostly leg.

It is in there really solid with recline bar, lap belt only (and tether). He climbs through the middle and I reach through to buckle him.

Just as a sidenote, I can get just about any other two ff seats in with it!! Rear facing can be a challenge though - no room, but I haven't tried much.

When I have a seat installed with the shoulder belts, I don't like the way that the seatbelt works. I can't get it to lock right, so the belt always wiggles alittle. No budge in the middle, though.

abckidsmom · Jul 2, 2007

Here is what would stop me from having my kid in the back of a limited size pickup truck:

This was about a 40-50 mph front-end collision with at least 8-10 inches of intrusion into the passenger compartment. This accident was about 3 years ago, but it struck all of us at the time how the relatively minor impact just folded the truck right up.

In the second pic, you can see that the seats remained bolted to the frame with the correct angles, just the entire cab of the truck rotated around them. I know this one wasn't an extended cab, but I Dodge does make an extended cab, right? How different in construction is it?

Connor's Mom · Jul 2, 2007

abckidsmom said:
Here is what would stop me from having my kid in the back of a limited size pickup truck

This appears to be a single cab truck, not an extended cab or a crew cab.

OOPS, sorry just noticed that you posted that this was a single cab. My bad.

Safety of extended cab trucks

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