Van bench seat widths(which ones are widest)?

Curious for those that have vans, how wide are the bench seats? We are trying to find a vehicle to fit our family(5 kids in March), and I'm curious if there are any vans with wider bench seats than others?

I am not sure if there's any resource online that would have a chart that told vehicle bench seat widths or not.

Thanks, Sara

I think they are all pretty close to the same.

Can you tell us what vehicles you are looking at?

If you can list the children's age/weight/height and what seat they are currently riding in, we can help you either make the seats you have work or tell you what seats will work in the vehicles you are considering.

I've been able to put 5 carseats in various combinations in Odyssey's and Grand Caravan's and I know others have done the same in other models.

aidensmom02 said:

I think they are all pretty close to the same.

Can you tell us what vehicles you are looking at?

If you can list the children's age/weight/height and what seat they are currently riding in, we can help you either make the seats you have work or tell you what seats will work in the vehicles you are considering.

I've been able to put 5 carseats in various combinations in Odyssey's and Grand Caravan's and I know others have done the same in other models.

Click to expand...

Something cheap!! We have about a $3,000 tax return coming, so that's all we have to spend. I have heard good things about the Windstar, but Scatterbunny(or something close to that) said her bench is under 50" wide, so I don't see how we would ever fit 3 across.

Here's our stats though:

7 year old daughter(she'll be 8 in May) in a Britax Regent, 6 year old son in Britax Regent, 3 3/4 year old son(he'll be 4 in April) in a Britax Blvd FF, 1 year old daughter in Radian 65 RF, and then the new baby. We have a Graco Safe Seat 1, so I'm guessing we'll just be using that, though if we needed to get a convertible car seat instead of the infant seat, I would not be opposed to that, as I"m not a huge fan of the infant seats.

Right now we have the 3 olders all FF in a bench seat, and the 1 year old RF in a bucket seat, and we figured the new baby would go in the other bucket seat.

We currently have a 1995 Ford Econoline/Club Wagon van, that is huge, and we can fit one more row of little ones in, but it's got over 207,000 miles on it and it's just having issues. We don't normally have any extra $$ to buy vehicles, so it's tax time or never.

I would really love for the 2 olders to stay harnessed....that's the whole reason we spent over $200 on Regents for them.

Sara

Oh, I forgot heights/weights!!

7 3/4 year old daughter, about 48 1/2" tall and about 50 pounds??

6 1/4 year old son, about 45 1/4" tall and about 44 pounds?

3 3/4 year old son, about 39 1/2" tall and about 34 pounds?

1 year old daughter, about 29 1/2" tall and about 19 pounds.

And the new baby is due in March, so I'm not sure how tall he is!!

Sara

If you exchange the Blvd for another Radian, you can do three across the back seat of pretty much any 3rd row.

This is my '03 Grand Caravan with 3 Radian's across the back row...


This is with a Marathon, Radian, Parkway...


As for third row, I would set up the vehicle as follows...

Van with bench...
RFing Radian, FFing Radian, SafeSeat1
walkway, Regent, Regent
Passenger, Driver

Van with captain's chairs...
Safeseat1, RFing Radian, FFing Radian
Regent, walkway, Regent
Passenger, Driver

In either case, it will be a little tricky to ge the SS1 into the 3rd row (through the lift gate might be the best way), but it needs to be that way because of the rear facing Radian. The Radian RFing in the 3rd row needs to have an open space in front of it because it extends slightly too tall into the seat in front of it... that's why the seats are set up like that in the third row.

Once the baby is out of the SafeSeat, everyone can move up a seat and your then 10 year old'ish can go into a booster.

Vehicles...not sure if they came with Captain's chairs or not, but either way you should be able to fit two Regents on the 2nd row bench if you got that option. These model years all came with the option (or pre-installed) tether anchors in *all* 3 positions in the third row. You'll need that once the kids are FFing.

1996 - 2001 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan

2001 Plymouth Voyageur

1999 - 2003 Ford Windstar

I have no idea what their prices are but that should give you somewhere to start. Hope it helps.

One more thing... you'll want to read this thread for install tips when putting the Radian in forward facing.
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=28939

aidensmom02 said:

If you exchange the Blvd for another Radian, you can do three across the back seat of pretty much any 3rd row.

This is my '03 Grand Caravan with 3 Radian's across the back row...

This is with a Marathon, Radian, Parkway...

As for third row, I would set up the vehicle as follows...

Van with bench...
RFing Radian, FFing Radian, SafeSeat1
walkway, Regent, Regent
Passenger, Driver

Van with captain's chairs...
Safeseat1, RFing Radian, FFing Radian
Regent, walkway, Regent
Passenger, Driver

In either case, it will be a little tricky to ge the SS1 into the 3rd row (through the lift gate might be the best way), but it needs to be that way because of the rear facing Radian. The Radian RFing in the 3rd row needs to have an open space in front of it because it extends slightly too tall into the seat in front of it... that's why the seats are set up like that in the third row.

Once the baby is out of the SafeSeat, everyone can move up a seat and your then 10 year old'ish can go into a booster.

Vehicles...not sure if they came with Captain's chairs or not, but either way you should be able to fit two Regents on the 2nd row bench if you got that option. These model years all came with the option (or pre-installed) tether anchors in *all* 3 positions in the third row. You'll need that once the kids are FFing.

1996 - 2001 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan

2001 Plymouth Voyageur

1999 - 2003 Ford Windstar

I have no idea what their prices are but that should give you somewhere to start. Hope it helps.

One more thing... you'll want to read this thread for install tips when putting the Radian in forward facing.
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=28939

Click to expand...

Jen, wow! YOu are a miracle worker!! :thumbsup: Do you think that it would be any better to put the new baby in a convertible car seat and just skip using the SSI? I am not a huge fan of the infant car seats anyways, so I wouldn't be opposed to doing that.

Thanks again, Sara

The Astro's benches are 53".

I know it's not a popular van (and I completely understand why, having owned one for ten years) but if you can find one in your area, check it out. For as many kids and carseats as you have, it's got the most room and the most seating options. I am 95% certain I could fit Husky/Radian/Husky with no problems. Legroom won't be an issue in the Astro, and there's plenty of cargo & storage space.

If you want to use a convertible from birth, then I would still get a second Radian.

The Blvd will fit rear facing very nicely next to the rear facing Marathon. The Blvd will be a more upright install. Put the baby in the RFing Radian and put the 1 year old in the more upright Blvd. Once the baby can handle being more upright, switch them back again.

The Blvd is very similar to the Marathon. You can see in the picture how the Marathon overlaps the Radian... it does that both FFing and RFing... as long as both seats are facing the same direction, they puzzle extremely well together.

Although I do love the carrier just for the constant in/out I had to do with the older kids, so it might still be a better option... you decide what works better for you.