Rethinking car seat placement

niccig · Sep 26, 2008

DS usually rides passenger outboard in a Safeguard seat, my car has side curtain airbags, and I didn't worry about him being there and not in the center. But we were on the highway here in LA and a car in front of us over corrected during a lane change as he was too close to the car in front and he moved sideways spinning across 4 lanes and then spun back towards us, again crossing all the lanes (I was in the 2nd lane from the right). I slammed on the brakes and he missed us by a couple of feet. If he had hit us, I think we would have been pushed into the truck in the right lane beside us. We were OK, he didn't hit us, he actually didn't hit anyone, luckily there wasn't much traffic on the highway.

It got me thinking about where DS should sit in the car. When he's center with the top tether to the roof, my rear view is blocked. As he gets taller, I'll have to raise the headrest and I'll see even less. I do have a back-up camera, so I can see when reversing. I don't like not seeing out the back. But neither do I want to compromise DS's safety.
THoughts?

MissAllyLou · Sep 27, 2008

While the center position is safEST, outboard seats are NOT unsafe. If having his seat in the middle position blocks your view out of the back window, then it makes sense for your son to be outboard. Some parents have taught themselves to use their side mirrors more than their rear-view mirrors, some have just gotten used to not seeing out the back window. Either way, he is safe if you are using his seat properly. Accidents always make parents wonder if they are doing everything they can do to keep their little one's safe, and it sounds like you are. :twocents:

emandbri · Sep 27, 2008

I would put him outboard. I was moving seats around and Daniel, who is 9, said he wanted to sit in the middle center next to Elizabeth. I put him there in the monterey and made it about 1/4 of a mile before the fact that he was blocking my view was driving me batty. Since he really wanted to sit there I let him use the monterey without the back and I could see much better. I figured with him in the very center of the var, and the fact that he is 9, being in a backless booster wasn't all that bad.