Suggestions, please.

Mark · Jul 4, 2006

My wife will be having a baby in September and we need to buy a new car. This will be our fifth child. We also car pool a lot. That is why we need a new car. Some things I want...

Side air bags
Seating for at least nine people.
Lap/shoulder belts in all positions
Headrests in all positions
At least 4 top tethers

LATCH is not important to us. Are any cars out there with these things? We do not have any price limit (thankfully we are very well off). If there are not any vehicles like this, we can do with less headrests and a couple of lap belts, but I really want to avoid having to purchase any of those vests.

Thanks to anyone who can help.

SafeDad · Jul 4, 2006

The 8-passenger Sienna meets everything but is short one passenger.

A standard roof Dodge Sprinter 2500 van seats 10 and has a full set of headrests and lap/shoulder belts. Not sure how many tether positions, though. In any case, it's probably a much safer bet than the other full size vans right now.

Beyond that, you're limited to full Size SUVs such as Suburban or Expedition that seat 9 if you get the optional bench seating. I'm not familiar with the 2007 models and how many headrests, shoulder belts and top tethers they have.

Unregistered · Jul 4, 2006

Congratulations on the new baby. The Dodge Sprinter comes with 10-passenger seating and has headrests and shoulder belts for all seating positions. Not sure about the number of top tethers but there are Sprinter message boards on Edmunds.com and loads of info. there if you care to research it further.

If you went 1 passenger smaller, the 8-passenger '06 Honda Odyssey and '04 and newer Toyota Sienna minivans would meet all of your other requirements for headrests, shoulder belts and at least 4 top tethers. The 8-passenger Odyssey has a very narrow middle seating position in the second row so it may only fit a very narrow booster seat there.

There are a few larger SUVs that can handle 9 passengers but they tend to have three rows of three seats each with only a lap belt in the front row center spot, and not sure about their headrest and shoulder belt configurations either. Others on the board here may know more about full sized vans to suggest for you.

Good luck and happy vehicle shopping.

Mark · Jul 4, 2006

Wow, thank you! After I posted here I started to look and I, too, kept coming back to the Dodge Sprinter. Since we sort of need a new vehicle ASAP (right now we drive a 5 passenger vehicle so we can never go out together. Plus we always have to install and uninstall seats depending on who is going.)

I definately like the looks of that vehicle. Now, if I can just figure out the number of tethers and see one in person, it seems like the way to go! (I also like having the ten seats. There are seven people in the family as of September and five will be in car seats so we will need the extra room. Plus my wife has two children from another marriage who visit us on school vacations and six weeks in the summer. Can you guys believe that since 2003 we have not all gone somewhere together that isn't within walking distance?!?!?!)

Now I'm going to let my wife post in the car seat area to figure all that out....

Suggestions, please.

Mark

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