Safer Car or Safer Car Seat in this Weather?

[4thTimeIsTheCharm]

Need to take DD2(4) out today and DH and I can't agree so thought i'd ask here.

Weather still pretty bad here, roads around are flooded but generally passable. We live in the sticks so it's lanes which are muddy as well as flooded.

DH's car is a 4x4 with high spec tyres, it has the ability for all 4 wheels to work completely independently of each other so will have no problem with the road conditions. The car seat available in that car is a high back booster using the 3 point car seat belt to secure DD. DD has never travelled in a HBB so far.

My car is a van style 8 seater. The tyres are good quality but the design of the car is such that the wheels are very small for the size of vehicle. It struggles a lot with mud. The car seat in my car is a 5 point harness isofix seat (DD's normal seat).

DD weighs exactly 18kg so is the minimum weight for the HBB in DH's car and just on the max for the 5 point in my car. She is only just turned 4.

The 5 point seat cannot move to DH's car as he has no isofix in his.

Which would you use?

YABU - 4x4 with HBB
YANBU - Van with 5 point Isofix

And can I ask, can the car seats be moved between cars, surely?

We do this all the time with our cars. Surely a combination of the best car seats, and the best car for the conditions, would be the answer?

Ah just read the 5 point seat can't be moved.

OK I think the best option is to put your child in the safest seat IF you can get out of where you live.

If the only car that will get you over the mud is your DHs? Then it's going to be his car or nothing.

Cant you put the isofix in the 4x4? I used an isofix sest without the base, its a faff to fasten it in with the belt, but its secure.

gindaddy the 5 point is isofix only, not option to secure with a seatbelt.

My car will get out and i expect will manage the journey. DH's is better equipped for the conditions.

Obviously if moving the 5 point was an option i would! it's an extended rear facer and the only way we could afford one was to get the isofix only one as its half the price of the other ERF. it is seat and base in one unit so cannot be secured with a seatbelt.

Primary prevention before secondary.

Safer car first.

Safer car definitely, better to have less chance of having an accident surely. . Plus if she is at the max limit of the other seat there probably isn't much difference in safety between the seats

Milkydare has it.

Go with the safer car, less likely the car seat will be put to the test!

How far are you travelling? If it’s a relatively short journey then I would go with the car most able to cope with the conditions. If you are involved in an accident as a result of your car not coping then it could result in injury or death of you. Less likely to be involved in an accident full stop in the 4x4.

I don't get this obsession with ERF - surely if your car is slipping and sliding about, putting it more into the chance of an accident, then it doesn't really matter if the car seat is the latest wheeze from the industry etc?

I agree with @milkydare, just take the best car for the conditions. Once upon a time the seats in your DH's car were the best thing, and we all survived etc.

journey is 35-40 mins.

i weighed her this morning so have only just found out she is at the max limit for her normal seat. She is bigger than my previous DC at this age (they didn't hit the weight for moving to 3 point until they were over 5!!)

She feels so young to be ready to move to 3 point!

gindaddy she uses it forward facing now, just explaining why the seat has no seatbelt secure option on it.

Seems like most agree with me! Yay!

Me and my DF both think - safer car to lower risk of car seat being needed to protect.

DH and my DM both think safer car seat so DD is safer in event of an accident.

Safer car. That will also be safer for you and DH! If she is on the weight limit for the 5 point car seat it will be time to move into HBB soon anyway.

If your dd is 18kg and that's the max limit of the harness in the "safest" seat, in an accident the harness buckle might not hold becoming unsafe she really needs switching out of it now.
I'd go with safest car then safest seat, but the car seat with the seat belt sounds like your safest seat now anyway.

Safest car everytime.

I went to a first aid workshop by a paramedic the other day and someone asked this. He said it is important to consider the whole family’s safety and the safest vehicle is a higher priority than seat.

Golly, if there's this much risk and therefore discussion involved, I'd question if you actually are to go out?

*have to go out not are!

maggie i do tend to overthink car safety due to tragic family circumstances.

I'd go with the 4x4

I'm sorry to hear that OP, but I didn't think it was unreasonable to ask if the journey was necessary given the conditions sounded terrible. Hope you have a safe journey.

What car seat was she using previously in the 4X4?

Put her in the safer car OP. If she's actually at the max weight for the 5 pointer it's debatable if it's actually safer at this point anyway :)

cyber she doesnt travel in the 4x4 - we have 4 DC all still in some form of car seat - we don't all fit in the 4x4 so mine is the family travel car. DH's car only gets used for club pick ups for the older ones.

She is exactly 18kg - so bare minimum for the HBB and at the top for the 5 point.