RV question

[tl01]

My friend wants to rent an RV for her family and I told her she had to make sure that the seats are bolted to steel frame not the wooden frame for her car seats. She also told them that she cannot use side facing seats. This was their response:

The carseat would be able to be secured on the dinette benches.

Does this sound reasonable?

Thanks!

 

[skaterbabs]

No way Jose!! That's asking for a multiple funeral. Car seats cannot be installed on side-facing vehicle seats - RV seats are not crash tested at all.

 

[tl01]

She told them she won't use a side facing seat. Do you think she can assume they will not be side facing seats? Are the dinette seats ever bolted to the frame?

 

[Connor's Mom]

I would never use the dinette seats. Ever. And, depending on the type of RV, the table will not fold down making it imposable to put a car seat in.
She *might* be able to use the captains chairs in the living room area if the RV comes equiped with them and they turn forward facing.
But I would check, safe use requires a chassis-bolted seat belt in a forward-facing seat and most RV seats are only afixed to plywood in the flooring.
I spent alot of time traveling with my gradparents when I was younger. My grandfather custom designed his moter coach (ie like the stars have) and had the captains chairs built to car seat safety standards for my cousins. But, I know that financially this is not an option for most.
How many kiddos does she have in seats?

 

[tl01]

Just one child. Can one assume the captains chairs in the living room area are bolted down appropriately?

 

[Connor's Mom]

Like I said above, more than likely not. Most RV seats, including the captains chairs, are only afixed to plywood in the flooring.
My grandfather had to have his coach CUSTOM built with the captains chairs apropriatly afixed for car seat use.

 

[tl01]

They are telling me that the dinette seats are bolted to the steel frame and that the table stores out of the way. I wonder if this info can be trusted. The seats are also not side facing. I checked the layout online.

 

[Victorious4]

Even if this is true (to my knowledge it is not) ... there are just so many risks with RVs (top heavy leads to easy roll over, countless projectiles including other passengers, etc.) that my child will never ride in one.

The only seat to safely secure a carseat is the front passenger co-pilot seat & then only if there are only a total of 2 people in the vehicle altogether -- an unrestrained 100# person (or someone whose belt is not boldet to the core frame) becomes about 3000# of force upon your child in a 30 MPH crash.

It is safer & sometimes less costly to tow a camper behind a truck.

 

[beeman]

I'm going to agree with Tiffany about the towing. And my :twocents: , RV's are underpowered and are a nuisciance pest to our highways, due to there slow speeds, difficulty to pass, and lack of driver training required to opperate.

 

[Starlight]

We'd love to RV some day, but we'd never consider putting the kids in a motorized RV - eek, the risks.

 

[jen_nah]

This is us too (our's is a 34ft'er 5th wheel) but I do know how to drive it but dh still does most of the driving.

My parents had a custom motor home for many years but once we had the girls and my refusal to allow them to take them in it for trips. They down graded to a 36' 5th wheel RV. My dad already had the truck to be able to tow it so he was actually rather happy to get rid of the motor home as it is much easier to store the 5th wheel and then they have a vehicle to sight see when they get to their desentation.