Safest set up?

[MorgieBear'sMama]

Help me arrange my kids the safest way possible. I had a dream last night I was in an accident and one of my kids didn't make it through it :crying:

Kids are in sig.
Cars are 2001 Mazda MPV and 2002 Chevy Trailblazer (only one rear row of seating)
Seats are Monterey hbb, Cleck Olli, Graco backless tb, 2 Diono 120, 2 Recaro ProRIDE, and 2 Safety 1st OnSide Air.

Rf seat must go in center of trailblazer, seatbelt does not fit dd in booster.

Ashley- Mom to Morgan 2/25/04 riding in SK Monterey and Cleck Olli, Jackson and Colton 11/1/10 riding in Diono R120's and Recaro ProRIDE's

 

[lovemybabies924]

Honestly whatever fits the best is going be the safest. I am not familiar with the seat shapes and sizes of your cars so I'm no help

Sent from my iPod touch, sorry for any auto-correct typos!

 

[ElfJewel]

Honestly whatever fits the best is going be the safest. I am not familiar with the seat shapes and sizes of your cars so I'm no help

Sent from my iPod touch, sorry for any auto-correct typos!

:yeahthat:
Are you keeping the extras for spares? I would probably use the onside airs and backless turbo as spares and use whatever fits the best in both cars (maybe the Monterey in the car she is in the most). I think with the little ones RF and your DD in a well-fitting booster they would all be very safe.

 

[Carrie_R]

In the MPV, I would put the boys in the captain's chairs, and your DD 3rd row center (is there a lap-shoulder belt back there?) I would use a backless in that position, since she's center and doesn't need the SIP as much.

If there's not a lap-shoulder belt in the center (and it looks like there's not, from the pics I'm finding online,) I guess you could consider stowing one captain's chair, putting both boys RF in the 3rd row, and putting DD in whichever seat is placed further from the door. Vans tend to have a gap between the door and seat, whereas in the Trailblazer she'll be right up against the door.

In the Trailblazer, I would put DD outboard in the Monterey, on whichever side buckles to the outside, and the R120 in the center. Then either the other R120 or ProRide outboard, whichever fits.

Whatever isn't being used in the Trailblazer can then go in the MPV for the boys -- perhaps if you opt to put them in the 3rd row you can put the ProRide behind DD with the R120 center, so that you can use the gap created by the removed captain'[s chair to have plenty of room to have them climb onto the rear bench and across the seats -- then sit on the rear bench to buckle them.

To be 100% honest, though -- because your DD is unable to sit center in either vehicle, any crazy rearranging you do is (IMO) unlikely to give any safety benefit that is significant enough to outweigh the convenience factor. The long and short of it is that your 8yo is still boostered, your toddlers are still RF, all in properly installed and properly used seats. They are very, very safe and there's not a practical way to make them safer. Without knowing what crash any of us will be in (example: if I knew you would be hit on the driver's side, I would say go passenger captain, passenger 3rd, center 3rd,) we are playing the odds and pray that it is good enough. We don't have to look further than Anne & Rachel's crashes to know that "good enough" is very, VERY good. There ARE unsurvivable crashes, but you have done an excellent job of doing the research that will keep your kids safe in the vast majority of survivable ones.