Mazda3 + huge toddler! Help needed.

[jessicat]

Hi there,

I drive a 2007 mazda3 hatchback and have two children, a 3.5 year old who is currently installed behind the passenger in a Graco Nautilus and a 19 month old who is in a Britax Marathon (3 years old model) behind the driver. This configuration just barely leaves enough legroom for my husband and I (both 5'10") to fit into the car in the front seats, but is just OK.

My problem is that my "baby" is enormous and is already 35 pounds. The marathon that we have maxes out at 35 lbs so I need to get a new seat if he is going to continue to RF (which is my preference given that he is only 19 mon).

I've been reading old posts and if possible, would love to get a Radian, since they RF to 45 lbs. But it sounds like the install in the mazda3 is really hard and perhaps only possible with the use of the angle adjuster. Any current thoughts on this? Is the angle adjuster safe?

Or, should I consider a seat that will RF to 40 lbs, just for the extra 5 lbs? If yes - any suggestions on what might work best in the mazda3? That may or may not get us to age 2...

Finally - I called our local baby gear store, that has carseat techs, and talked to them about this. The advice of the carseat guy that I spoke with was a) just turn him FF (!!), and b) the radian angle adjuster is not a good product, because once the kids are more upright in the RF seats, there is no/little safety advantage to being RF and they think it would be the same, safety-wise, as FF.

I thought that advice seemed crazy, but, is there any truth to this? Any advice for me? Thanks in advance!

 

[EmmaCPST]

I haven't put a Radian in a Mazda 3, so I don't have any comment there, but the angle adjuster is safe. It was specifically designed by Diono FOR the Radian, and has been crash tested with the Radian. My own son rode with one and I had absolutely zero qualms about it.

The person you spoke to is just flat wrong. An upright rear facing seat is just as safe as a more reclined rear facing seat. The angle of the seat does not change the physics of the force exerted on a child's neck and spine. A 19 month old quiet simply would suffer a severe spinal injury in a crash forward facing, resulting in paralysis or death.

Most kids that are that big at that age slow WAY down in growth at his age, and hopefully he won't gain much over the next year. However, I would hedge my bets and go with a 45 pound seat rather than get a 40 pound seat and have to decide between forward facing a 2 year old or buying yet another seat.

What's his torso height like? How much space is there above his head in the Marathon?

Your options for 45 pound seats are the Radian R120 or RXT, Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 5-70, or the Clek Foonf. The Radian is the least expensive ($250 for a R120 and will last longer height wise but you'll want the angle adjuster and it may be a little trickier to install. The Peg is easy to install with LATCH, however it's an inch shorter than the Radian for RF (about the same height as your Marathon) and pricier ($330). The Foonf isn't available til the end of the summer, so you would need to do something in the meantime like get an inexpensive Cosco Apt that RF to 40 pounds, and it is expensive ($475) but will last the longest in height and has the 45 pound RF limit and a lot of other cool features.


Alternatively, if you wanted to bank on the fact that his growth slows dramatically, you could get a fairly inexpensive 40 pound seat like a Graco MyRide or an Evenflo Triumph ... they're about $130 for either, and see how long he makes it. Personally I'd rather spend the extra $100 and get a seat I know will get him to a safe FF age, but that's up to you.