More Routan/Grand Caravan woes - HELP!

OK, so dd came by today. Hannah is back to outboard in the ill fitting seat belt and Matthew is using the center latch both in the 3rd row, sure latch on upside down. Latch is kind of off center. Big kids are off to school as soon as they get to my house.

I suggest trying baby in 3rd row, so we do that, outboard passenger. Great seat belt install with base. But we can't get the carrier in through the back or over the captains seat with it tumbled forward. Plus, the little walmart backless booster doesn't even fit in the middle position, and I can't imagine her being able to buckle in the middle next to him. There's that funky middle seat belt that comes from the ceiling then down to that buckle thing. The middle spot is tiny.

Anyway, what would YOU do! How do you even get the carrier in to the 3rd row? She's not ready to give that up, he's only 2.5 months with poor head control. I'm beyond frustrated. And also, no top tether in either outboard 3rd row position for Matthew's seat.

I didn't realize, her van is the 2009 Routan. Any suggestions would be welcome. Any booster with a back isn't going to last Hannah long, She's 10, but smaller than Brett. Both are more on the long torsoed side.

Sorry for the book. If anyone needs more info, internet is spotty for some reason. I'll get back on when it allows!

It's too bad that Routan doesn't have Stow n Go in the captains chairs. It's just beyond me why they'd choose that particular feature to not have.

I know I've read a "Routan hack" on a VW forum where people have removed a captains chair to gain better access to the 3rd row.

The 3rd row just isn't that seat friendly, really. If it were me I'd choose lightweight highback boosters and use them for as long as possible. Keep the baby in a captains chair.

There's 4 kiddos so both captains chairs are needed. Did you mean to stow just to stick baby back there? Baby and harnessed 5 year old have been in them previously, then the 9 and 10 year old in low back boosters outboard in back.

Hannah fits well in the middle in her Harmony booster - low back. The passenger side seems to be the widest which was where I tried Matt's seat. Maybe someone just always has to stay home!

Brett had outgrown the Nautilus as a high back booster. I'll have to check if that's one of the higher ones or not. We have Monterey's, but I think he has outgrown that too.

Looking over the spreadsheet, Air Protect has 22.5 in belt guides. I wonder if that would work for them back there. Also Frontier 85 is 23.5 in and Frontier 90 23 in. Pricey for just a booster especially if they won't use it.

I hadn't realized there was four of them - sorry.

Ok, so...

I pretty much don't have a solution. The 3rd row belts are really bad with backless boosters, and I completely understand how difficult it would be to get an infant seat to the 3rd row.

If it were me I probably would keep the backless boosters in the captains chairs so that I could easily toss them out of my way to fold flat a captains chair for access to the 3rd.

Keep the baby and harnessed boy in the 3rd row. Assuming the bigs go to school during the day I would probably leave the captains chairs folded while they're gone. Heck I might even consider a second KF base to throw into the captains chair between 8:30am and 3:30pm m-f. I'd basically 'make it work' IF I had to keep the van, which is rather unlikely I would if things were super inconvenient.


It really is a hot mess, those vans. I try so hard to stay opened minded about them, but as time goes by I feel like Chrysler is just completely out of their mind. They have to know by now how crappy the 3rd row is...

We can't get the captains seat to fold flat. It reclines or it tumbles forward, the whole seat. Is it supposed to fold flat towards the front? Because that would make things much better. If it weren't for that, your plan would be my plan. Would it bother you that there is no top tether for Matthew in the 3rd row? Could one be added I wonder?

Okay, looking at the manual, it should fold flat. That's going to have to be the plan. I guess Matthew could use the Nautilus or the Secure kid in the location without the top tether? Would you go with the Nautilus?

What does Matthew weigh? And what seat are you thinking? In order to use the tether in the 3rd row his seat needs to be installed in the off-centre latch spot (if his weight + CR don't exceed 65lbs), OR the middle seatbelt.

If he can't have his seat installed with LATCH he's going to have to be in the middle (if you want to tether) which means baby won't fit beside.

Which means you're back to square one. And switching him to a hbb isn't likely the solution either, given the poor belt fit and his young(ish) age.

It's maddening.

Actually, the latch is kind of offset, (I see now you said that!) so I think it might actually work with the Keyfit on the passenger side. We'll have to play with that and see. He weighs about 41 - 42 lbs. I think he could only use latch with the Secure Kid. I forget now what the seat weighs. I think it's 12 lbs maybe? If so that would probably last awhile. Baby's convertible could be seat belted. Matthew is not booster ready. I think he'll last in the Secure Kid quite awhile yet. He's just about at the 2nd to the top slots. In one of my searches someone said the Vivo works, so maybe that could be a future plan that would take them awhile longer.

I think this plan would last them a couple of years anyway. Thanks for your help!

cookie123 said:

Actually, the latch is kind of offset, so I think it might actually work with the Keyfit on the passenger side. We'll have to play with that and see. He weighs about 41 - 42 lbs. I think he could only use latch with the Secure Kid.

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Right. The only way you'll get baby beside him is if his seat is installed with latch (yes it's offset, but far enough over that baby will fit).

What does the secure kid weigh? Does your dd already own one?

canadiangie said:

Right. The only way you'll get baby beside him is if his seat is installed with latch (yes it's offset, but far enough over that baby will fit).

What does the secure kid weigh? Does your dd already own one?

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I *think* it weighs 12 lbs. Yes, we already have one. Off to check! I checked the database. 12.4 lbs. He can gain 11.6 lbs. Hopefully that will take awhile. He seems to gain slowly. Thanks again for helping me solve the problem.