Child Seat in front Passenger seat?

George · Oct 21, 2004

I have an 89 Jeep Cherokee. My wife and I have two kids; a 22 month old, and a 1 month old. Both of there seats are installed in the back long seat (designed for 3 adults). So the only adults that fit in the vehicle at this point are my wife and I, since the whole room in the back seat is taken up, including the space for a third adult. In about a month my dad is visiting from Mexico, and we need to be able to get around, but he wont fit in the car, unless we move the biggest child seat to the passenger side. Then we could free up two seats in the back. We do not have a passenger side airbag, so that is not a factor, however, my question is, in regards to my wife's concerns, how risky is it for my son to be in the passenger seat for the period of time that my dad will visit. A rental is out of our budget, so any advice on this is much appreciated. Thank you

Victorious4 · Oct 21, 2004

My guess is that since you don't have an airbag to worry about, the rear-facing seat would be the safer of the two for going in front

Maybe you have a convertable seat that your 22mo can sit RF in??? That would probably be the safest option -- my toddler just loves sitting backwards. Many convertable seats are for up to 30-35 pounds rear-facing & not too expensive. Even if you bought one just for this occasion, it would come in handy when the infant outgrows his/her seat.... http://cpsafety.com/articles/ConvertibleShop.aspx

joolsplus3 · Oct 21, 2004

If you can, try to find a local cps tech who can help you install your seats side by side (try the link above or www.seatcheck.org).
Does your jeep have shoulderbelts in the window seats? If so, I would install one seat in the center with the lapbelt (Lapbelts are safe for installing car seats, but should be avoided whenever possible for adults or older children, as they offer no upper body protection...this link has more info http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/lapbelts.aspx), put one car seat in the front (since you don't have an airbag) and put the adults in the window seats in the back.

Well, that's what I would do if there was no way to get the car seats side by side in the back, anyway.

Best of luck!

Victorious4 · Oct 22, 2004

I was guessing they'd already tried getting them next to each other ... a friend of mine has an 88 jeep & the local tech couldn't get the seats secured safely next to each other ... but then again that tech advised me that my 2 year old can use a Turbo Booster even though she is not the 3 years or 30 pounds ... so another tech might be able to get that safer configuration to work out better!

Child Seat in front Passenger seat?

George

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