Caravan '06 and car seat placement - please

We just got a Dodge Caravan '06.
Middle row is a bench, and the seat belts don't lock on their own, neither at the latch-plate. So for the TF it's fine, and the others need a locking clip. (I haven't tried with latch - need to see if it even has the option.)

Will get more TA installed in the future, but need to use the car now.

The seats aren't installed yet, this is what I'm considering. Only the TF middle is in.

Middle row:
TF - RF behind driver
Radian - FF in the center

Back row:
TF - RF Behind driver
FF seat center. New seat needed:

7 yr. DS, 38 lbs., 14" torso. What would be recommended in the not highest price range? It needs to be comfortable enough for sleeping too. I'm short, so not a tall shell. I don't need a 65 lb. seat, since my kid will probably be past booster seat at that weight, and I have enough HW seats to play with.

Thank you very much!

An '06 vehicle should definitely have locking belts. I'm not sure exactly what kind of locking mechanism it will be though. I know some Caravans had leightweight locking latchplates, which slipped fairly easily. If that is the case, you can buckle the seat, tighten it up, then unbuckle and flip the buckle around so it is backwards. This will keep the latchplate from slipping.

Ok, as for the tether anchors, in vehicles that come equipped with anchors, it is not usually possible to add more. Could you tell us the ages and weights of your kiddos, also where all your tether anchors are?

Sorry, I meant Top teather to add more, not the anchors in the seat itself. My DH actually likes the seat belt better than anchors, the few times we rented cars. Where I wrote TA for the FF seats, I meant TT.

7 yr. old FF - in th back row. New seat needed for him.

sunflower said:

Sorry, I meant Top teather to add more, not the anchors in the seat itself. My DH actually likes the seat belt better than anchors, the few times we rented cars. Where I wrote TA for the FF seats, I meant TT.

7 yr. old FF - in th back row. New seat needed for him.

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Yes, we were talking about the same thing top tethers=tether anchors. The ones in the seat are called UAS (universal anchorage system) or LATCH anchors. I don't think it is possible to add extra top tethers to your van, but I could be wrong. Normally the ones it comes with is all you get. That's why I was asking for ages and weights of all your kiddos, and location of all the top tethers so we can find the safest way to transport all your kiddos.

What seat is the 7 year old outgrowing? Or was his seat passed down to a younger sibling? For a cheaper seat you could try the Evenflo Maestro. More expensive options would be the Graco Nautilus, and the Britax Frontier.

I have a 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan so it should be the same body style. The 2nd row seat belts do lock at the latch plate but like the PP said, sometimes they can slip. Flipping the latch plate portion over 180 degrees does fix the problem.

Is your van's rear seat the stow and go style? If so, adding more TA's is pretty easy. Here is a link to a thread about it. Look at post #13 http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=163927 and follow her links. Also, search for more posts from jourdysmom or PM her. She has been putting together some information about adding TA's to the Caravan/T&C's. She is in the states but I think she knows of others in Canada who have done what she has done.

If your van does not have stow and go there is another thread about adding TA's to the removable bench. Here is the tread http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=92105 and this one is in Canada.

As for seat recommendations...do you want a booster or a harnessed seat? The third row of the caravan can be difficult for boosters because the shoulder belt comes out slightly forward of the van's seat. I have used a Turbo booster and been happy with the fit.

Have you successfully installed the Radian? They can be tricky, but absolutely doable in a Caravan (I have three).

Thanks to everyone who's been helping out.

We just got the minivan from someone,who got new cars for his business, so I don't know the ins and outs of it. I own (owned) tons of car-seats, but have no knowledge of the cars, since we never owned one. I don't think it's a Stow and go - it's a really basic, basic car.

We have 3 TT: 2 center bench, and 1 in middle of back bench, but I discovered today that it's a lap only belt, when I tried to put in the Radian there. (The Radian will go into the middle row for the future.) It would not stay in one place, even when I turned the latchplate. The belt does not lock anywhere. I can't get the locking clip right in the second row with a Scenera, so my DH will have to do it.

(The Frontier is too tall for me to look over. He had a radian too, but it got ruined, and it was annoying to deal with. The first generation RN with 48 lb. limit to it.)

Each row will have 1 RF, and 1 FF child. Middle row 1 TF RF, and 1 RN FF
Back row: 1 TF RF, and ?? FF.
My 5 yr. old and 7 yr. old both weigh 38 lbs., and are short.

Is the Maestro comfortable for sleeping? My DS slept well in the Radian. Does it fit well with the RF TF?

I could give the TF FF for the 7 yr. old, and get another convertible for the 4 yr. old, which will be RF. Also short - and less than 35 lbs.

From what I have understood from previous threads, is that it's possible to add more TT at dealers. Different years and types of Caravans had it done.

Thanks again.

I promise you that your seat belts lock and that you do not need locking clips. It is just a matter of getting the seat belt and the belt path of the car seat to get along. Do you know the trick of twisting the female end of the buckle down to shorten it? You can twist it a full three turns which will shorten it enough that the latch plate of the seat belt will make it around the "corner" of the car seat's belt path so it can stay tight. When tightening the seat belt belt you have to hang on to the buckle to keep it from untwisting until you get the seat belt tightened. It works wonders!!!

Here is a link to an incredibly helpful thread about installing the radian in a caravan. http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=28939 When I got my first radian (2007 so the old one) I had a hard time installing it in any position. It would drive me crazy because it would feel tight from side to side but the bottom would slide out every time I tried to tighten the harness. Then I learned the tricks in the thread that I linked and now I get super installs in my caravan. I have two in the rear seat (FF center and outboard drivers side) and one RF in the center of the middle seat. These tricks should work for any car seat in the caravan.

Good luck.

Will keep trying. I need my DH to do some work. We are both short and thin, yet he manages much better at the seats than I do. I did turn around the buckle in the FF seats, and the back RF TF, so that it would not get into the path of the lockoffs of the TF.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

That link was great! I got my Radians installed in center row with UAS, and back with the lap only belt. I never got it so solid. And I did it on my own! It was harder to drag the radian to the car, than to install!

I appreciate everyone's input!

sunflower said:

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

That link was great! I got my Radians installed in center row with UAS, and back with the lap only belt. I never got it so solid. And I did it on my own! It was harder to drag the radian to the car, than to install!

I appreciate everyone's input!

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:thumbsup: that's great!