Question Car Seat Help in 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan (in Alberta, Canada)

U

Unregistered

Guest
Hi there,
We are expecting our third boy in October. We drive a Dodge Grand Caravan. Currently we have our almost 4 year old forward facing in a diono radian on one of the middle captains chairs and our 2 year old rear facing in a britax marathon classic. When the baby comes we plan to move our 4 year old to the back bench in the middle as that is the only tether location for the back. We just don't know how to configure the other 2 car seats. We hope to keep our 2 year old rear facing for another year and then obviously baby will be rear facing as well. But my 4 year old still needs help getting buckled and unbuckled and I won't be able to reach him with 2 rear facing seats installed on the middle captain chairs. We have thought of maybe removing one of the captains chairs and putting two kids side by side on the back bench but does anyone know of a way to make this fit? Our 4 year old will be getting a new seat (likely a britax pioneer) and our infant will be in a britax bucket seat. We just can't figure out the best way to fit everyone considering the fact that there are only 3 tether locations. Any suggestions or advice?
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lgenne

New member
Hi! Welcome to car-seat.org.

I see a few pretty reasonable options:

1) Skip the Pioneer, keep the 4 yo in the Radian. The Pioneer is wide, and the Radian is narrow. That'll give you a lot more space to put an infant seat next to it. That's assuming the Radian isn't expiring or being outgrown. Also assuming it's possible to get a good install in that rear center seat, which I've maybe heard isn't possible?
2) Install whatever FF seat you want for the 4 yo using the offset lower anchors. That leaves tons of space for the infant seat back there. This only works if the combined weight of the child and the car seat is below the LATCH limit.
3) Put the 4 yo in a captain's chair, with the toddler directly behind him. With the other captain's chair stowed, there should be quite a bit of space to get back there to buckle the RFer(s).
4) Instead of a Pioneer, get a Harmony Defender. It's narrower and lighter weight, and I think I've seen that it can be installed in that center seating position, and a lighter seat can use that offset LATCH for longer.
 

seb3244

New member
Welcome! Congrats on the upcoming arrival of your new baby!!

I am not as detailed as the last poster who did have some great suggestions.

Maybe try putting your rear facing 2 yr old behind the driver in a captain chair, 4yr old center back seat where there is a tether anchor, britax infant car seat base on the passenger side next to 4 yr old (hopefully your 4 yr old is gentle with the baby) so 4yr old can talk to the baby or give baby a paci. Then stow away the passenger side captains chair. This way you have tons of room to buckle everyone.

Good luck!!
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Before you decide see if you can even install a radian in the third row. I barely got it in an older one but i forget what year and it took every trick I know. In newer years it's impossible.

You could consider loading rear facers through the back?
 

Jacquie86

New member
Car seat Configuration for 3 in Car Seats in a 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan (AB, Canada)

Hi,
I am 27 weeks pregnant with baby boy # 3 and we drive a older model Dodge Grand Caravan. My husband and I are trying to figure out the best way to configure the car seats. We have a 4 year old who is forward facing in a diono radian, a 2 year old who is rear facing in a Britax Marathon, and baby will be in a Britax bucket seat. My husband wants to turn our 2 year old around, and have him and baby on the middle captains chairs and then have our 4 year old in the middle of the back bench. I would like to keep my 2 year old rear facing for at least another year but we're struggling to find a configuration that will allow access to all 3 of our boys when buckling in and out. Our 4 year old can buckle himself in but still needs help getting out. I am thinking of removing one captains chair, leaving our 2 year old rear facing on the other captains chair, and then putting the 4 year old and infant on the back bench side by side.
But is it safe to put an infant seat on the back bench? Our 4 year old has to be in the middle of the back bench as that is the only place on the bench with a tether anchor.
Is there anyone else who had a similar situation? Any other ideas or configurations?
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lgenne

New member
Re: Car seat Configuration for 3 in Car Seats in a 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan (AB, Canada)

Hi! Did you post this a day or 2 ago before you registered? If you didn't, someone else has a VERY similar situation, and already got some good suggestions here: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=279085

Congrats on 3 boys! If yours are like mine, they're a handful but awesome. [emoji6]
 

Jacquie86

New member
Re: Car seat Configuration for 3 in Car Seats in a 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan (AB, Canada)

Thank you! I did, but couldn't find the thread back so decided to try again. I'll go read the responses now! :)
And thanks, my two now already have me busy, and we're excited to add one more to the mix! :)
 

Jacquie86

New member
Thanks for the responses! We need to get a new seat for our 4 year old soon so that our 2 year old can move to the diono to ERF. He is a big kiddo and is quickly coming up on outgrowing the Britax. And we will use the Britax for baby once we get through the cold winter. I will do a bit more research into which seat we can get for him to allow for an infant seat beside. Unfortunately our van has no lower anchors on the back bench so it will be seat belt install directly in the center as our only option. And then we need to make sure the infant seat will fit beside. Although I don't hate the option of having both littler guys on the back bench and our 4 year old on the captains chair. Seems like we need to play musical car seats soon, to figure out what will even fit.
 

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