Questions about Dodge Journey

[stayinhomewithmy6]

I'm trying to help an online friend of mine. She has a 3 yr old DS who is currently FF in a MR and is due with twins in just a couple weeks. I'm not sure what she has for infant seats for the twins. A few months ago they bought a Dodge Journey figuring that it would have plenty of room for their family, and now it is giving them a whole bunch of headaches. :thumbsdown: First of all, they went to see the "car seat lady at the fire department" who told them that their DS's MR couldn't be installed in the third row because there aren't tether anchors for that row. They went from there to the Dodge dealership to see if they could have TAs installed in that position and were told that a) no, it can't be done and b) even if it could, harnessed car seats cannot be used in the 3rd row, only booster seats can. They have tried getting the MR and the two infant seats across the middle row and they won't fit, and time is running out to figure out what they can do to fit everyone in and/or buy new seats. I told her that she can use the MR without the tether anchor if she needs to, but that doesn't do any good if the dealership was correct in telling her that the 3rd row can't be used for car seats. Can anyone verify that info for me or have other possible suggestions for her?

 

[Keeanh]

It looks like all the tether anchors are on that 2nd row. However, the back row should be fine for rear-facing seats, boosters, or, if absolutely necessary, a FF seat without tether. I looked at the manual for the 2012 model and saw no warning about the rear bench. I have no idea how wide that 2nd row is. Maybe a FF Radian would fit with 2 infant seats. Another option might be to fold part of the middle row to allow access to the 3rd row & put both infant bases in the back. Or RF the 3yo in the back row & buckle him through the trunk. Or get an anchor (an 86Y anchor, for example) and have a knowledgeable mechanic install it in a structurally-sound position.

That's a bit silly to have 3 anchors all in one row, especially when the instruction manual itself suggests harnessing children as long as possible. So do they really think every family that buys a 7-passenger vehicle only has 2 children under the age of, say, 7yo? (And yes, I know this isn't unique to this vehicle -- my van originally only had 2 TAs in the middle row. Just saying you'd think all the manufacturers woulda figured out we need back row TAs by now.)

ETA: Either you took a psychic pregnancy test, or you need to update your siggy . Congrats!!

 

[stayinhomewithmy6]

Haha, I do need to update my siggy, and my username! Thanks for the congrats! I also just got done reading through the car seat section of the manual for the 2011 and didn't see any mention of not using the third row for car seats. What I'm thinking is that whoever they talked with at the dealership thinks that LATCH is the only safe way to install a harnessed car seat, which is why they would have told her that you can only use booster seats back there. I have a Radian that we're not currently using and I'm going to try to get it to her (she's a couple hours away from me) so that she can play with it with the infant seats. I did ask her if it would be possible to put the babies in the 3rd row and she said that the outboard seat in the center only slides up to access the back, it sounds like you can't take it out or flip it up. I asked her about RF the MR in the back and she said it will only fit FF. Her DS has been RF up to this point, so I think she probably actually did try it RF back there. I am going to suggest that they think about installing an anchor back there, even though Dodge won't do it for them. We installed one in our previous van, but I had forgotten all about that until you mentioned it! It definitely made my life easier at the time!

 

[An Aurora]

She could probably do a RF Radian and RF My Ride for the infants and a narrow FF seat like a Maestro or Radian for the oldest. I drove a Journey as a rental when my car was totaled, and it was very small, but I was also using my second-tier seats as my main ones were crashed. I had an EFTA, TF and Turbo and put the EFTA and Turbo in the 3rd row and the TF RF in the middle row. There was no room for my FF kid's legs in the 3rd row, so I kept the seat in front folded down for access.

 

[stayinhomewithmy6]

Thanks for the suggestions! They met with an actual certified tech today and got it figured out!

 

[Unregistered]

Stayinhomewithmy6- My husband and I are having the same issue as your friend. May I ask what 'certified tech' they took it to to get their solution? Was it with the dodge dealership or somewhere else?

 

[jjordan]

Stayinhomewithmy6- My husband and I are having the same issue as your friend. May I ask what 'certified tech' they took it to to get their solution? Was it with the dodge dealership or somewhere else?

Welcome to car-seat.org! You might get better responses (more suited to your situation) if you start a new thread. This one that you bumped up is a couple of years old and the original poster might not notice it.

That being said - is your problem trying to fit 3 car seats in a Dodge Journey? If you post some more details (ages/sizes of your children, year of your vehicle, etc), then we can try to help.

You can find certified car seat techs using this thread. If no one is listed in your area, the first post on the thread has a link to a nationwide search.