Minivan Captain chairs vs bench seats

Minivan Captain chairs vs bench seats

Hi All,

I have seen many questions about positioning of infant seats within your forum and the best position, in my opinion, would be the center position in the second row of a CAR. My question is, are there any definitive studies out there or resources that can convince me (actually my wife) that it is OK to place an infant seat (rear facing) on a captain-style chair (passenger side?) of a MINIVAN. We are currently in the market and first time buyers of a minivan. We are currently looking at the Chrysler T&C or the Sienna, which both models we like have those captain seats. The T&C has the option of the bench but the Sienna does not. I have tried to get side impact crash statistics correlating to infant seat safety but haven't had luck. I have even tried to look at nhts.gov , American Assoc of Pediatrics, AAA, etc just to name a few sources to get more information. I would really like assurance that captain seats are safe. The lack of specifically addressing this issue leads me to believe that it not a concern or lack of side impact injury/fatality studies to make it one. Any suggestions you can offer? Thanks

Crash tests and crash data....

Darren may know where the data is located (I can't remember off the top of my head), but I do know that the passenger side is *slightly* less likely to be hit in a crash. I have 2 children in the back of a car, so one of them must be outboard. I use the passenger side for that child.

Additionally, I suggest you look at some crash tests. See how the vehicles you are considering do in side impacts. That may help you some.

NHTSA (govt run) tests www.nhtsa.gov/NCAP/Index.html
Insurance Inst for Highway Safety tests www.iihs.org/vehicle_ratings/ratings.htm

Finally, many captains chairs I've seen are farther from the door (esp on the passenger side) than the outboard bench seat would be. This places them closer to the center and farther from the potential point of impact. Actually, the German minivan I rode in recently (a Ford Galaxy--not available in the US) had movable captains chairs, and you could actually put one of them in the center-middle of the vehicle. I have no idea if any US minivans let you do that, but it's worth asking about if you won't have other passengers riding in that row most of the time.

A little more-

There are no published crash tests for infant seats in side impacts. In fact, there are few side impact tests with instrumented dummies of any kind available to the public.

Generally, we consider any rear seating position safe for children. We do select the center first, since it is obviously a bit farther from a possible side impact. While side impacts are serious, they are also less common than frontal impacts.

As Ulrike said, the passenger side is very slightly less likely to be struck in a fatal crash, according to data from the NHTSA FARS database and Crashtest.com.

Also, like she said, many minivans give you a couple more inches on the side than would a sedan.

Next, the NHTSA does rate minivans and cars for side impacts. Minivans usually do well, and this may be in part because they ride a bit higher than most cars.

Rear-facing car seats do provide a reasonable degree of additional protection in a side impact over and above an adult in a seatbelt. Even harnessed front-facing seats provide a little extra protection since the 5-point harness is more likely to keep the child in place and the shell of the carseat is another buffer against intrusion.

Ulrike mentioned the Ford Galaxy. In the USA, the Mazda MPV and Honda Odyssey have a second row captains chair that can slide inboard to form a bench seat and then you would be able to position a passenger in the center of the second row. Perhaps either of those vans might be added to your list.

I have our young children in the second row of our minivan in the outside positions, and have no concerns about it.

Good luck shopping, and don't forget our minivan safety page:

www.car-safety.org/minivan.html

Darren

also, be sure to check LATCH and tether anchor locations....

The Sienna, in the past models, has not had a tether anchor location in the passenger side second row. I don't know what the situation is now, but do be sure to look carefully and ask the dealer about this.