Best car seat for six year old dd who sits in the very back of vauxhall zafira?

[used2bthin]

I am worrying about my six year old who goes in the back of my vauxhall zafira, its so close to the end of the car. There is no other option as we had to get the car because she attacks baby dd if they are next to each other( she has autism) So I need to think about the safest car seat in the event of a rear collision? Any one know?

[Indith]

I don't know. We rarely use the rear seats in ours as I don't like the safety aspect. Can you put her in the front? My 6 year old is in the front as we can't get 3 car seats in the back so 2 kids in back, one in front and second adult if there is one sits between the car seats at the back.

[used2bthin]

Thanks, would it be safer to have her in the front than there then? I think I will have to ring the car safety centre tomorrow as they gave great advice a while back. We only bought the car for the seven seats though and tbh couldn't really afford it, it's affected our possibility of moving house but I was so worried I would crash due to constantly turning around and being distracted stopping dd from hurting the baby.

[used2bthin]

Oh just thought, I think xp tried putting dd in the front and she kept grabbing at the dash board and he found it unsafe

[Indith]

Oh that's a pain. We were told eldest child in front with the seat as far back as possible was better than the rear seats. Still the car safety centre will be able to sort you out with the safest possible for your circumstances.

Just a thought.......unless the new zafiras are different I know you couldn't turn the front airbag off (to be able to put baby in front) but I think you could get Vauxhaul seats that would trigger the airbag to be turned off if fitted or something like that. Can't check, dh has gone out in the zafira so can't check manual!

I sympathise. I couldn't but my perfectly NT children next to the baby when he was tiny, he was fed strawberries, had his nose and mouth firmly covered to stop him crying and all sorts til we shifted seats round. Driving was far too stressful!

[mikkii]

We have a Citroen grand Picasso and I know I can turn off my passenger airbag using the key inside the glove compartment. I admit I tend to use the back row seats in preference to putting a child in the front. My DD is 6 and in the middle row she uses a britax isofix booster seat, it does fit in the back row, although I tend to use booster cushions in the back row.

If you are turning off the airbag, can you not put baby in the front, who will not be grabbing the ash board? My Picasso has isofix in the font seat but says only to use it for a rear facing seat with the air bag turned off.

[used2bthin]

Thanks indith. Yes complete pain and scary to be driving very distracted by injuries etc in the back, horrible!

Miikki I have just ordered an extended rear facing seat for baby dd so possibly could do that thanks. Although we bought this car because of the extra seats so it will be depressing! I quite like the car in a lot of ways though I suppose.

[Indith]

hope you find a solution. the extra seats do come in handy for occasional use and they are pretty decent, fairly economical, cheap to service long lasting cars so it isn't a complete waste some people do use the back seats full time too. I'd go by what the car safety centre say, they are the experts.

[used2bthin]

Thank you will update when I speak to them in case anyone else is worrying x

[Indith]

Please do, useful information :)

[StatisticallyChallenged]

different car but we have judtt been through the great car seat hunt for our small 7 seater which also has seats almost touching the window. The recaro young sport and the graco nautilus were the best fit-the recaro was the best as it is narrower and got a good tight fit. they're group 123 seats

[used2bthin]

Thank you, still not called car safety centre but that is good to know and I think her booster does need replacing. Do you use the seats at the back all the time? Dd actually isn't in my car that often, just at weekends and once a week for a class after school plus once a week hospital but regular enough I guess.

[StatisticallyChallenged]

Not yet- DH has just started childminding so we will be using the car for that (hence trying a lot of car seats!)

Whoever is in the back will only be there for relatively short/lowish speed journeys in ours i.e. school runs and outings. It's not ideal but short of buying an actual bus.....

[smokinaces]

My mum had a hbb in her car which had a seatbelt feature which stopped the kids leaning forward etc. Would she be able to reach baby if she's unable to move around in the belt if they're at different ends of the middle seat?

[used2bthin]

That's a bit like dd I suppose in that the most I go with her is 3miles on 20-30 roads generally. But then I still worry. Will look at those car seats though thank you.

And yes unfortunately she still can reach but maybe I need to look into a sn seat for her again, we had one but she could still reach although not tried in this car that was in ford focus.

[StatisticallyChallenged]

It's tricky - the very back seats aren't the safest place in the car but the chance of her having a worse injury in the event of a crash (due to being in the back row) has to be offset against the increased chance of actually being in a crash because she's hurting the little one (or the dash) and distracts the driver too much if she is further forward.