2 adults 5 under 5 yrs. I cant fit them in my van!!!

A

Anger

Guest
We have a Plymouth Voyager, 7 seater. Our youngest just turned 1 and needs to be forward facing. Here is our situation before...
The fire departments car seat techs used what they had available and had come to the conclusion that it was better the kids would not be able to buckle out in the event of a crash, I mentioned how the vehicle might be on fire but they disregared that. They even said to put our baby in the front and have my wife ride in back. What about airbags I said.

So here is what we had, Me and my wife in the front. A 4 year old and a 2 year old, behind us on a half bench seat (two seater with built in child seats) We have one in a high back booster with a 5 point harnesses and the other in a high back booster using the vans 3 point shoulder belt. In the back we have our twins in booster seats and a base for a rear facing child seat. We got lucky with the base as when it is attached it will lift up as the vans lap belt is like a hinge. Thus we were able to access the twins belts and fasteners. So the twins would get in the van first and buckle up, then we would push the base down and slide the baby in.

This is the only way we could get it to work and still access the fasteners. Now that the baby will be getting turned around and put in a high back 5 point harness, which when in place are significantly permanent. So then the twins will not be able to buckle in or out. The fact is I won't be able to buckle them either.

I think the manufactures of cars and of car seats, need to get together with the law and figure out just how big is a butt and follow those guidelines.
 
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joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
A one year old does not have to be turned forward facing unless s/he is too heavy or tall for a convertible seat... I'd turn that baby back rearfacing as soon as possible, especially if it works better in your car.
:twocents:
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
I am a little bit confused...

How old are the twins? Where in the van are their seats? Are they both outboard in the third row seat?

Where is the baby's seat? Is it in the center of the third row?

The other two children are in the second row? Is that right?






Could you put the baby, RF in a convertible seat, outboard, with the twins in their booster seats in the other two seating locations in the third row? You may have to load the baby from the hatch, but it would hopefully help with the "getting past the seat" problem.
 

thepeach80

Senior Community Member
Do both built in child seats have 5 pt harnesses? If they do, the 4yo is safer in the harness as opposed to just a seatbelt/booster. Like others have said, it's safer for the baby to stay rearfacing and often helps when having 3 across. Here's a good video that helps explain it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psmUWg7QrC8How old are your twins?

Here's some seats to look into purchasing. The Sunshine Kids Radian is the narrowest on the market and would rear face to 35# and then forward face till 65#. The narrowest booster is probably the Fisher Price one and is on sale right now. http://www.albeebaby.com/fisher-price-safe-voyage-booster-car-seat-tan-tech.html

You could put the 4yo and baby in Radian (if you can afford several new seats), leave the 2yo in the built in (though I've heard these are not very comfortable and have no side impact protection), then buy new boosters for the twins. This would keep a rfing seat out of the back seat so the twins could better access their boosters and the harnessed seat could be installed w/ just the lap belt.
 

mominabigtruck

New member
I'm a little confused, what do you mean by the fire dept used what seats they had available? What year is you voyager? Its basically the same as a caravan and I can tell you from experience that you can definitely get 5 carseats in one. How old and what size are all of your children?

If you still have your baby in an infant seat and its not a safe seat then I would definitely imagine that its been outgrown and is not safe for use. But they still shouldn't be foward facing. All convertible seats on the market now rear face to a minimum of 33lbs because babies smaller then that do not have the head, neck, and muscle control to survive a crash forward facing.

From what you've said you have a minimum of three children that should still be in a carseat with a 5 pt harness. I would put all of them in the back, puzzling the rfing seat in the middle and ffing seats outboard and then the booster seats in the middle making them easier to access.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
I've had five seats in a Dodge Caravan, so I know it's possible. All forward facing. I doubt I would have been able to buckle boosters in the back, though, so if your twins are small enough you may want to look into five point harnesses for them. That way you buckle them from the front and there's less chance of unbuckling something important (like the carseat) or not buckling up properly. You just install the seat and use the harness.

The one year old should definitely NOT be forward facing.

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx
http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=13&topic_id=44503&mesg_id=44503&page
http://www.aap.org/family/carseatguide.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRP7ynNI8mI
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916868
http://www.motionbox.com/video/player/7494d2b5161bf0/#1
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071211/LIVING01/312110006/1006/LOCAL

As for the techs, they sound like complete morons. A one year old in the front seat. Please. Have they even been trained??? They very specifically say that IF a child MUST be in the front seat it should be the oldest harnessed child with the seat pushed all the way back. It's right in the curriculum.

I would also recommend that the four year old be in a harnessed seat as well. Most four year olds are not mature enough to safely sit in a booster safely for the entire ride. They reach out of position, put the belt behind their backs, and generally don't understand the extreme importance of what they're doing.

The two year old, provided the integrated seat fits should be fine. Just keep in mind that the integrated seats are generally harder to make sure they're tight, they don't have very adjustable harnesses, they normally I think go to 40 pounds, and they don't offer any additional side impact protection than what the harness offers. You also wouldn't have a spare seat if for some reason you can't use that vehicle. So they're great if he fits and you have a spare just in case, but otherwise I'm a bit wary of them.

You'll likely need to register to respond back to us. If you could post the ages and weights of all your kids, and what seats you have for them (specifically since you're going to be in a tight situation and knowing if you have wide or narrow seats will help us out), that'd be great. You've come to the right place to get this cleared up. :)

Here's when I put five seats into a Dodge Caravan. I was driving several kids for my daughter's field trip, so I rented the van (yes, I mostly just wanted to have an excuse to put most of my seats together in one vehicle. LOL)

The big Britax inbetween the two Radians probably would have fit just fine rear facing. So it is perfectly possible to have five kids in there, without having a precious in front of an airbag.

1538549832_b1222377eb.jpg

1538518788_f1f7767115.jpg

1538569588_fd4c8d8c57.jpg


HTH! Please post back to us.

Wendy

Ok, strike everything I said about the integrated seat. I see that you have them, but you're not using them. I still don't like them, but they don't apply to you. :)
 
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strollerfreak

Senior Community Member
Is this an older Voyager w/o headrests?

If so, then I can understand why you would use high-back combo boosters....otherwise there are several other options, some of which have been mentioned.
 

mamaofthree

New member
No suggestions but wanted to point out to those trying to help that the title says "5 under 5", which means the twins should prob still be harnessed.
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
A one year old does not have to be turned forward facing unless s/he is too heavy or tall for a convertible seat... I'd turn that baby back rearfacing as soon as possible, especially if it works better in your car.
:twocents:

I agree.

Also, if all of your children are harnessed, buckling will actually be easier.
 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
My friend has a ('97 I think) Plymouth Voyageur and I *know* for a fact that you can fit 5 seats in there... it's just a matter of which seats.

I can tell you that I installed our Radian in there FFing (generally a difficult install) and it was a *breeze*. :) It's one of the narrowest seats on the market and you could easily have three of them across the 3rd row if needed.

I would put the baby in a RFing convertible behind the driver's seat in the second row. Just because you have built-in seats does not mean you have to use them. ;)

I would buy at least one Radian to put in the 3rd row middle position with the twins in narrow boosters on either side of it. The 4 year old can go in the Radian.

That leaves the passenger side 2nd row built-in seat left for the 2 year old... provided the 2 yr old fits well in the built-in seat. :)
 

HEVY

New member
What I would do if price wasn't an issue, would just get 5 Radians, they'll fit and serve the purpose for some time.
 

jlr9882

New member
After Christmas, my sister and I took 4 kids to the zoo. There were 3 adults in the dodge caravan. My sister and her husband up front. Myself and my RFing 15 month old in the middle. It was easier to get him in and out in that spot. In the back was one backless booster and a highback booster on the outboard and a FFing Graco covertible seat in the center. I can say from experience I wish they were all in a harness seat (mostly because of safety) because it would have been so much easier to buckle them all in. I was worried that when I unbuckled the two boosters I would accidently unbuckle the carseat. My hands didn't fit in between the boosters and the carseat too.
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
I have a Caravan and it is the same as a Voyager.
I have put 5 kids in the back of my van. I've even put 3 kids across my third row so that myself, my husband, my brother in law, and my sister in law could all fit in there with my 3 kids.

the best bet to fit them all in there just going on ages...
would be to put a Radian in the middle of he third row for the baby with two narrow boosters (the Britax Parkway or Fisher Price Safe Voyage Booster work) on either side.

This will work. when I put my niece and nephew in the van with my kids, I did a parkway on one side, Radian in the middle, cosco highrise backless booster (good for after the parkway is outgrown) on the other side.

In the middle row, I had my other Radian and the backless cosco prospect for my niece.

It was really quite easy with the right seats.
 

cdncasper

New member
I have done 5 kids in my old van which was a 99 Caravan. We had RF MA and FF Bolero (or FF Bolero & FF AOE) in the middle bench and 2 FF Radians and a snugride in the rear bench. We could have done the Bolero and Radians on the rear bench but I only had 2 top tethers. With the snugride back there it wasn't too bad.
 

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