Need help with Special Needs seat

S

Susan

Guest
My daughter uses a Britax Traveller Plus special needs seat in the recline position. (She has cerebral palsy and cannot sit up by herself.) I am having a lot of trouble installing both this seat and my son's regular car seat into our van. We only have one seat in the back of the van to provide room for my daughter's wheelchair. In order to fit my daughter's car seat, I need to recline the back seat substantially. Her car seat is huge and used in the recline position, and this is the only way I have found to install it so it is stable and safe. The problem is that my son's regular car seat (forward facing Graco convertible) is then reclined as well, which means that the front of his car seat is about 2 inches off of the seat. His seat seems very secure, but I don't know if it is OK for it to be in this position. Both car seats are secured using vehicle seatbelts and tethers attached to floor anchors.

I cannot figure out any way to safely install both seats. Does anyone have any ideas? I need to find someway to make this work.
 
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U

Unregistered

Guest
Would a Husky/Regent fit next to your DD's seat? I would think that a Regent/Husky installed using the recline bar might fit very similar to your daughter's seat. If it fits, and you can afford it, it might be a good soloution.(?)
 

murphydog77

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
No, that doesn't sound like a good installation for either seat. The TP should be installed fairly upright using the recline bar--are you using the accessory supports to help keep her positioned? It sounds like it really is too reclined if the front of your son's seat is about 2" off the vehicle seat. The base of your son's seat should be completely flat on the vehicle seat.

Since you mentioned "stable and safe", I'd like to double-check how you have the TP installed. Do you have the seat belt coming around the front of the seat, then going through and behind the seat, then coming back through the front to be buckled? If you can post a picture, that would be great too. What make/model/year van do you have?
 
S

Susan

Guest
Thank you for your replies.

Regarding the installation of the TP...we have followed the "short route" of threading the belt as described in the manual because the van's safety belts are not long enough to do the long route. I believe the angle of the seat is correct. I first installed it with the seat upright using the recline bar, but this placed the car seat very far forward on the seat in order to accommodate the reclined back. When I had it in this position, it was easy for the entire TP to slip forward and down off the edge of the seat. We then reclined the back of the seat so that more of the TP is sitting on the seat.

Of course this then creates the problem with the Graco front-facing convertible.

I was not aware that the Husky reclined to the same degree as the Traveller Plus. I'm not sure it does.

We have a 1993 Mercury Villager, BTW.
 

murphydog77

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Well, the obvious solution is to win the lottery, buy a new van with captain's chairs so each child gets his/her own seat and then there are no worries ;).

A possible short-term solution would be to buy a new car seat that would accommodate your ds rear-facing. You didn't say how old he is or how much he weighs, but Cosco seats rear-face to 35 lbs. and the Scenera is around $50 at Target and Wal-Mart (and often on sale).

I think this is a problem that you'll want to have someone good look at in person. Do you know if you have a Safe Kids coalition in your area? You can look them up here: http://www.safekids.org . You'll want to find a good tech who has lots of experience, not someone who was just trained, and preferably who has special needs training. Riley Children's Hospital trains techs and may keep a list of people they train (couldn't hurt to give 'em a call if your local leads don't pan out): 800-Kid-N-Car .
 

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