SUV cargo area seating?

Unregistered · Aug 29, 2005

Is anyone familiar with this? I have a 96 4runner(which I love) and 3 kids (who I also love!) and not enough room! Buying a new and bigger car is not an option right now. There is a bench seat that fits 2 with lap belts and bolts into the cargo area floor. It is easily removeable and it is rear facing. I probably wouldn't use it much except for when I pick up a neighbor's kid from school. My kids think it would be cool to ride back there but my husband questions its safety and I can't find anything from consumer reports or anythng to rate it. The different sites that sell it say that it is meets or exceeds all applied vehicle standards. Any thoughts or help would be great!
Thanks
Michelle

Victorious4 · Aug 29, 2005

Do you mean this > http://www.littlepassengerseats.com ?
Here's a summary of the response by Stephanie Tombrello of SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A.

For many years, these products have been sold and to my knowledge, no research has been conducted on their safety. NHTSA doesn't monitor after-market items. However,many times [Paul Butlern from Ford, now retired] has pointed out that one of the problems with add-ons is that the vehicle may never have been tested with that kind of extra weight in that location. [Overloading] has also been one problem with 15-passenger vans. As always in life, one has to weigh the risks vs. benefits. That can be very personal. To my knowledge, there is no good research study on any of the third seats. At least the most recent time that NHTSA was asked about whether or not the rear-facing third seats in some vehicles were safe, the representative said he had no data but wasn't inclined to use them. I believe there simply weren't enough vehicles with persons in the 3rd seats to do a satisfactory study.

Unregistered · Aug 29, 2005

I would question the statement 'all applied vehicle standards'. I bet the standards applied to a rf lap belt only seat are different from the standards for ff seats!
C.