Wheelchairs in cars

Someone on another board is wondering if she should get a new 5 point harness seat for her CP child who will always need a 5 point harness or how safe it is to use the tie downs for her wheelchair?
I suggested looking into the Frontier 85 since it has the tallest harness and her daughter is pretty small so i figured it would work for a good long while but she was wondering about installing tie downs for the wheel chair and how safe it was for not only her daughter but for her other children and passengers in the car.
TIA

Does she have a wheelchair that is approved for vehicle use? There will be marked anchorage spots.

I dont know if she does or not she has her in a Radian right now. She is pregnant with #3 right now so she was thinking of either getting an infant seat for baby or getting a van with the anchorage system and passing radian to the 2 yr old and the scenera to the baby but none of us knew how safe it was for her or the other passengers.

It is safe for the other passengers. If it safer for the girl with CP to be moved into a regular car seat.

Yep. It's always safest to transfer when feasible/possible. When not possible, there are better and worse wheelchairs/tie down systems.

It is always safer for everyone to be riding w/a seat belt or child restraint.

Even if the w/c is transported (power w/c) with tie-downs, it is still preferable for the user to ride in a child restraint/seat belt than in the chair.

The decision to transport in the w/c comes when the child is too large (heavy/tall/awkward) to safely transfer between vehicle and wheelchair. Using tie downs also involves purchasing a vehicle with a w/c lift - not something that is done on a whim. There are tons of options for vehicles, lifts, and tie downs.

I would think that as long as the child fits in a "standard" car seat (Nauti, Frontier, Radian) there would not be a need to transport the child in a w/c. It really depends on what the caregiver can manage as well as what the child can do to help with the transfer. An expectant parent might not be able to manage the transfer of the child or the set up (in/out/unfold) of the w/c. Therefore it may make sense to transport by w/c (at least until after the new sib arrives).

My young friend with CP has been transported in her w/c since little brother #2 was born (she was 7 at the time and had almost outgrown a MA). There isn't room in their van for 3 across AND her power w/c. However, she continued to use a CR for several years in other vehicles.

I am the person being talked about in this post

First off, thank you OP SOOOO much for posting this and providing me with more info.

My husband and I still haven't had 2 seconds to get together and look into the info and her wheelchair or any of that, but I wanted to say thank you all for giving me a place to start. We already have the van and I know if we go this route we will definetely have to have modifications made, and I agree, it shouldn't taken lightly! Just from reading your few responses I think we may just hold off and continue to keep her in the Radian for now. I will probably be back with more questions though!!!! Thanks again for the input and advice!

We'll be glad to help answer them!

Just so you're aware, once she outgrows conventional car seats, if you are still able to transfer her without too much difficulty there are special medical car seats that offer higher height and weight limits, including some with low sides designed to make transfer from a wheelchair less trouble. Since they are safer than a wheelchair, it might be worth looking into if you're still able to make the transfer at that point. These seats can also offer pommels, head caps, and other supports if necessary to help make sure your daughter is comfortable.

There will come a time when you can't transfer any more, but the safety difference is big enough that it's worth transferring to a car seat as long as you possibly can. Good luck in all your decisions!

Have you converted the van yet or would that be something that you need to do? My SIL got a converted van when my nephew was 7 or 8, I think. He was to the point where her dh was having trouble transferring him when his back was acting up. They weighed the pros and cons of having the conversion done when they did. The state payed for the conversion, but it was a one time thing. Once they got one conversion any others were up to them and at 20K+ for the conversion, they knew it was something that they wouldn't be able to do again.

Until they got the conversion van, and even after when they were able to easily transfer him, dn was in a Britax Husky. If he were in need of a seat now, they'd have gotten him a frontier and used it whenever it was possible.