Rear Facing Car Seat In Trucks

JBOYLES121 · Apr 27, 2006

Is The Seat Any Safer In The Front Of A Standard Cab Pickup Or In The Back Seat Of An Extended Cab Truck?

Victorious4 · Apr 27, 2006

New CPST awaiting my official ID#

In general the backseat is safest:

front seat passengers of all ages are 40% more likely to suffer serious/fatal injury than are back seat passengers
children under 12 are much more likely to suffer serious/fatal injury in front of an airbag....
Rear-facing carseats must NEVER be used in front of an airbag!

However, there are often limitations which makes it necessary to use the front seat:

Do the seats fold down off the sides towrads the middle?
Less than 20% of the carseat base can hang over the vehicle seat edge
Infants require a 45 degree recline angle

Some things to consider:

What is the year, make, model of the vehicle(s)?
Does the vehicle manual say not to use any particular location for installing carseats?
Is there an airbag and/or shut-off switch?
Is there another passenger that needs to use the front seat, pushed all the way back?
What is the age, weight & height of the child(ren)?
Which carseats are currently being used -- make, model & date of manufacturer?

Jeanum · Apr 27, 2006

Assuming the vehicle seats are forward facing (not side facing) in the back of the extended cab pickup and can accomodate a carseat, the back seat in the extended cab would be safer than the front seat in a pickup, or any other vehicle's front seat for that matter. The back seat is the safer spot for any passenger. HTH.

jen_nah · Apr 28, 2006

Not sure what truck you have but we had a '99 GMC Sierra when we had our first dd. Her Graco Snugride fit perfectly in the center. Our front seats where bucket seats so it gave use a little more room in the center.

Rear Facing Car Seat In Trucks

JBOYLES121

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Victorious4

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Jeanum

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