When we had ours fitted the guy said that you should always have it behind the passenger side as then you have the seat back firmly against the seat and the stabilising bar firly agains the back of the back seat and it will not move = we had a 4wd hit the side of our car about a month a go and hit the passenger side and DD and the car set did not move an inch - you can push on the car seat and it will not move as the sabilising bar and the pass seat are holding it firly in place as well as the anchor.
[QUOTE=Kafer_Girl;1684186]When we had ours fitted the guy said that you should always have it behind the passenger side as then you have the seat back firmly against the seat and the stabilising bar firly agains the back of the back seat and it will not move = we had a 4wd hit the side of our car about a month a go and hit the passenger side and DD and the car set did not move an inch - you can push on the car seat and it will not move as the sabilising bar and the pass seat are holding it firly in place as well as the anchor./QUOTE]
The installation books (and the fitter we used) say that the front seat should NOT touch the baby seat. There should be at least 2 finger widths between, so that is really interesting.. Makes it so hard when you are looking for answers to know who's advice to follow..
Its very interestiong Heather! On our car seat there is a sticker on the side that says that the passenger seat shouldbe firmly against the seat and the stabilising bar againts the rear seat - I cant type the actualy wording as my car is in the shop getting fixed and my mum now has the car seat but when I get mums car tomorrow I will make sure thats what it says.
Thanks for the info - hard to know what to do with all this conflicting info!
The reason many people put it on the side (behind passenger) is because the majority of all side collisions is on the drivers side of the car. This way it puts two seats width between baby and the most likely collision. This is true - however it doesn't ever negate the very real possibility of someone running a red light on the passenger side, which actually happened to my brother (thank god! He wouldnt have walked away from a drivers side collision).
Truth is, with 5 kids in the car, this whole scenario provides little comfort because side impact is going to hurt SOMEONE. The car seats major bonus in the middle for me is that the centre belt (lab belt) has a static adjustable length. It can only go as far as you let it. The side shoulder belts can pull out further (which is probably why certain books recommend having the front seat resting against it). I was lucky as the Jackaroo came with child seat bars built into the back of the centre seat in all three positions and the two rear seats also have restraint bolts fitted to the rear of the car (although whoever wants to lean over that bugger to put a baby in is freaking crazy!).
Don't think it would make a difference though. The only way I woould fit the seat rearward facing behind mine is if I didnt mind getting stretch marks on my nostrils from having my knees up my nose. I have found that frontward facing, the kids really do prefer to be in the middle in the chair because then they can see right out the front window.
Childondaway- What a good question to ask. My FIL is a paramedic, and he said behind the passenger seat is the safest. I always thought behind the driver would be safer as u always give way to ur right. If another car doesnt give way to their right, they hit the passenger side of the car. BUT FIL says the passenger side is safest, so thats where Logan will go, and the boys will go in the other 2 seats.
We too have a 4wd and there is no way that I would be able to lift bubba over the boys seat to put him in his car seat.
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