Lap belts only, expired shield booster & a 5 year old...

[April]

E-Z-ON makes some products that will work for him. As the PP said, you will have to check with TC. If you lived closer, I would give you a booster!

lol, you're sweet. After I just SOLD you one! Maybe he has a birthday REALLY soon and I can get him something.

 

[abacus2]

Do you have the Safe Rider Travel Vest in Canada?

 

[Judi]

Except that I don't want to part with that one! All my others are U.S. though.

 

[Defrost]

The safest thing TOMORROW is a lap belt only in the center of the back seat.

:yeahthat:

I'm with Gypsy on this one, though I'd leave it up to mom to make the final decision.

Is there any way she could get KDM foundation to put her at the top of their list, STAT? Or even let her make payments on a GN? (KDM will move parents to the top of their waiting list if the need justifies.)

The only other thing I can think of would be to get him a Britax Laptop - they're nearly all expired, but a slightly expired Laptop would still be preferable to the front seat, IMO. Again, that would be a parental decision.

 

[wendy1221]

We had a Plymouth Voyager when I was in high school. I think it was like a '92 or around there. No airbags. HTH!

 

[wendy1221]

Well, according to this Wikipedia page, the '92 van had standard driver's side airbag only, and not till '94 had optional passenger side as well. Ours didn't have a driver's side aribag, either, so it was either a '90 or '91 model. Pre-'91, no airbags at all, if you believe Wiki. HTH! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Voyager#1991-1995

 

[Defrost]

We had a Plymouth Voyager when I was in high school. I think it was like a '92 or around there. No airbags. HTH!

Airbags or no, the front seat has a 40% greater risk of severe injury or death - and that's for ALL passengers, regardless of their age or size. The younger the child, the higher that risk.

40% is a lot when we're talking about children in cars.

 

[wendy1221]

Airbags or no, the front seat has a 40% greater risk of severe injury or death - and that's for ALL passengers, regardless of their age or size. The younger the child, the higher that risk.

40% is a lot when we're talking about children in cars.

Yes, but until she gets something else, like the 86Y, which is worse, riding in a booster in the front seat, or riding w/ a lapbelt only in the back?

 

[carseatcoach]

Yes, but until she gets something else, like the 86Y, which is worse, riding in a booster in the front seat, or riding w/ a lapbelt only in the back?

I know this has been debated here before, and I'm pretty sure that there wasn't a consensus in the end. I think that if I had to make that decision, it would be an eyeball situation -- which *looked* worse, depending on the child and car and where the lapbelt hit and all sorts of other stuff.

 

[Defrost]

Yes, but until she gets something else, like the 86Y, which is worse, riding ina booster int eh front seat, or riding w/ a lapbelt only in the back?

Statistically - the back seat is still safer, even with just a lap-only belt.

Link:

Rear seats also afforded additional protection to children aged 5–12 restrained only with lap belts compared with lap/shoulder belted children in front seats.

 

[wendy1221]

I'm not even sure what I'd do in this situation. I was just letting you all know that there were no airbags, since so many were asking and I did know for sure there aren't.

If it were a full-size van, I'd have no problem putting the kid up front, temporarily of course. But since it's a mini-van, and from what I remember, not the safest "feeling" mini-van I have driven, I'm not sure which I'd do if I were the mom making the choice.

Can a shoulder belt be retrofitted? I seem to remember ours had at least 2 shoulder belts in the back, but I might be misremembering. I almost always sat in the front or was driving when we had that van.

 

[Gypsy]

Statistically - the back seat is still safer, even with just a lap-only belt.

Link:

Yep.

Debbie and I went in circles over this one, and I finally caved after reading more on the statistics. Intuitively it *feels* like the front seat with a booster is the better choice, but statistically it's not - and when we talk about safety those statistics are important when making difficult decisions like this.

 

[Gypsy]

Shoulder belt retrofit will cost more than an 86Y or a hwh seat.

 

[April]

Shoulder belt retrofit will cost more than an 86Y or a hwh seat.

That's what I figured. I saw her on Saturday and she's got him in the front seat in the 3 in 1 as a booster. She didn't have him with her so I couldn't see how he fit in it. I did give her all of the info and opinions about that situation vs. the lap only belt in the back and she said she wasn't comfortable with it. She said without the expired shield booster the lap belt is near his belly button. He is pretty little. More the size of a 4 yo I would say.

So I talked to her a little more about saving up for a hwh seat and about our options in Canada right now. Highest slots would be a Radian but no way she can manage that. Next would be the Apex but again, no headrests. So that leaves the Frontier which is so ridiculously out of her price range. I told her about the Nautilus coming *hopefully* by the end of the year. She said she's going to contemplate making the "parental decision" to buy a US one (we're 10 minutes from the US border) to keep him harnessed and hopefully she'll have a different vehicle by the time he outgrows the harness.

I told her it's illegal, and she responded with the fact that she's been driving around with an expired seat for over a year anyways, and she's more concerned with his safety than getting a ticket. I told her it was her call, but honestly in my mind I was thinking that an accident is probably statistically more likely than a ticket for having a US seat. I told her to measure his torso in the meantime and get back to me. The GN would be PERFECT for him though I think.

I'll update when I hear more.

I'm loving all the feedback on this thread ladies, keep it coming