Need current carseat for older truck -95 F150

[Unregistered]

I am looking for a car seat recommendation for the skinny back bench seat of a 1995 F150. I have seen several old threads with similar questions, but unsure what worked, and if that is available now. It has semi-bucket front seats and the middle front seat/flip down console. Only 2 doors, with no side access to the back seat. I can't really see anything I would call a tether, and the owner's manual is no help, other than saying to use that extra clip. My son is a big 20 month old, and would like to get a combination FF to Booster if one would the truck.

 

[wendytthomas]

Unless your son is over 45 pounds at 20 months, you're not going to get a combination seat recommendation for him. That's a harness to booster seat. At 20 months he's not yet at the bare minimum age to forward face, and most of us would rear face well beyond the minimum.

Do you often ride with more than your son and the driver in the truck? Do you have a seat for him now that doesn't work? What does he ride in in any other car? And how heavy is he?

Wendy

 

[Keeanh]

Yes, he should definitely be rear-facing at his age, unless he is over 45lbs. I had a '98 F-150 and was able to fit rear-facing seats back there.

However, if you're planning to keep this truck for another few years, I would recommend getting the tether anchors retrofitted now, for when he does forward-face in a couple years. You need at least 2 anchors (centre & outboard) for the tethers to work, since the tether strap goes through one and clips onto the other anchor. You should get them now because Ford's tether retrofit program has already been discontinued in Canada. Who knows how long it will be available in the US.

 

[Nisha]

In our 1994 F-150, I had the best luck with Sunshine Kids brand Radian car seats. (Now Diono brand seats.)
They are tall enough to grow with your son for quite some time, and the newer ones convert to a booster.
Rear facing is definitely the safest option for his age, but in your truck the only position that will work is in the center since the console will have to be folded down.
Also, rear-facing in that truck, I strongly recommend a seat that will tether rear-facing, since the glass is right up against the seat, you can use any non-moving part that is bolted to the floor - a seat leg works great!

We've sold our 1994 F150 but feel free to message me with any questions regarding fitting a seat in that truck - with that skinny back seat they are VERY tricky! You're lucky you have the console in yours - ours was a solid bench seat in the front so NO car seat would fit rear-facing in the back seat!

 

[mylittlet]

I would totally look at the radians. I like having a rf tether on seats that are rf that close to the glass. We had 2 ra rf in an older truck before. It was a gmc I believe. The radian will last you longer rf and ff then te ra did.

I also recommend rf until at least 2y.

 

[Nisha]

Since 80% of the car seat has to be sitting on the vehicle seat, the Radian is one of the few seats that is shallow enough forward facing to fit forward facing.

Here it is in our 1994.

 

[Sarahroseb]

Nisha,
Just to confirm...we also have the bench front seat. You said that you could not find any car seat to use rear facing in this truck, is that right? Our little guy is 30" and 24lbs. He's too small to FF. what did you guys do?

 

[Keeanh]

I had Century convertibles, and Century & Cosco infant seats RF behind the passenger seat in our '98 3-door F-150. I'm thinking a Coccoro, Evenflo Tribute, or Britax convertible might fit.

ETA: Just looked it up and the F-150 was redesigned in '97 so my rear seat may have been larger. Sorry

 

[Nisha]

Nisha,
Just to confirm...we also have the bench front seat. You said that you could not find any car seat to use rear facing in this truck, is that right? Our little guy is 30" and 24lbs. He's too small to FF. what did you guys do?

When we used the truck when DS was too small/young to FF, we put him RF in the front center seat since there was nothing that fit RF in the back. DD just had to climb over the seat to access the back seat.
Front passenger seat would be more ideal since there is no air bag on the passenger side of that vehicle, but when we needed to put a passenger there, we felt like like the passenger needed the lap/shoulder belt, and the driver side air bags are SUPPOSED to be out of the way of the middle passenger.