Children don’t need car seats?

[IcarusFlies]

Am I completely misunderstanding this? We have DC3 on the way and I’m trying to find a way to have three car seats in the back.

One will be 4.5yo, the other 6.5yo when baby comes. DC1 is over 22kg but under 125cm so, I thought, needs a high backed booster or a booster cushion from before 2017 / after growing to 125cm.

But the Gov website is saying “Children aged 3 or older can sit in the back using an adult belt, if there’s no space for a third seat”?? So I don’t need a third car seat at all, if the whole family of five travels together?

https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules/when-a-child-can-travel-without-a-car-seat

NOT debating the safety or wisdom of this, just trying to get my head around the regulations… Surely this can’t be right?

Can you not put the baby in a Joie tilt (one of the smallest non isofix car seat) and the other two forward facing? That's what I did in my Vauxhall Astra when my third was born. The other two were aged 5.5 and 8 and in high back boosters, they're still in HBB now aged 10 (almost 11) and 8, baby is 2.5. I bought the Besafe HBB for the older kids because our Britax are very wide and bulky. I can fit in the middle seat between baby and middle child which helps as well.
I'm surprised you're struggling as the Octavia are slightly bigger than the average 5 seaters.

We did upgrade to a 5008 last year but I hated driving diesel so we swapped for a five seater ID 5 as my nearly 11 will only need to be in a car seat for another year to 18 months (he's quite light at 36kg and 144cm) here you have to be in car seat until 150cm.

The aircross as mentioned above does have 3 separate seats so you are almost swapping similar cars and the C5 is a big car. Take the car to incarsafety and they can try different seats. Congrats and best of luck.

I think, looking at the pictures on FB groups of Octavia 3-across set ups, it's non isofix which is the key. The isofix points are likely set slightly further towards the centre seat.

With whatever seats you have you can likely do some trial and error with different set ups. Maybe ask around friends and family to see if anyone has a belt fitted seat you can borrow to see what the width is like. You'll find you get a slightly different fit on the left and right sides, due to position of seatbelt and you might also get a difference depending on which seat you fit first. I'd probably try fitting the middle seat first, but you can check.

Any high backed booster is allowed to be fitted without isofix even if it has the isofix connectors.

Multi-stage seats that do different jobs (e.g. rear and forward facing or forward facing and booster) are often very wide - there are a few exceptions e.g. Joie Tilt is slim as others have said (but it's probably not great for a newborn).

When you're trying different configurations it's worth thinking about stuff like can you actually reach the buckle to plug boostered child in, if baby seat goes on a belted base this may be fine in the middle, but if baby seat is belt fitted, then you might prefer this on a side so that you can leave baby on pram or place temporarily in front while you help older two into their seats, then strap baby's seat in last etc. If you have two buckles together, ensure that an older child doing their own seatbelt does not accidentally unbuckle the baby's base for example. (You could use a buckle guard for this which are available on amazon).

A lot of people have also mentioned the in car safety centre which is good for finding 3x seats which all fit together.

If you're not close enough to them to allow this another option is to look for an ERF specialist as most of them also sell high backed booster seats and will be able to offer the same thing. Most of them stock Axkid so you can use Axkid's retailer search:

https://axkid.com/uk/find-a-retailer-near-you/

Or just pick any popular brand, look for retailers and then start with any that is not a chain:

https://joiebaby.com/uk/store-locator

Thanks all! Am feeling very optimistic that I can have a play around and find an option that works for us… @BertieBotts you’re spot on. Thank you!

@IcarusFlies I'm pleased that the advice was more useful by the end. Good luck, remember non isofix and narrow bases are generally the key.

We don’t use isofix at all at the moment, actually. I think I’ll have a go with our three existing seats tonight once the kids are in bed…

My son has his 3 boys in Diono seats that will fit 3 across in his car. The seats he has are good until the kids are about 120#. They were also able to have one of them rear facing with the other 2 forward facing.

I would put the 6.5 year old in the front with me and if you have another adult travelling with you an odd time, I would either get them to squeeze in between the 2 car seats in the back or let my 6.5 year old use the adult seat belt. If my son, same age needs collecting from school and it’s a quick drive then he will be picked up with no car seat, use an adult seat belt and sit in the back.

Ive just recently got my son a new booster seat, and with his height and weight, he could have just had the booster but we decided on the high back for head safety. Maybe see if you can get a slimline high back booster or just have the booster if one will fit and put some cushioning on the side of the existing car seats hear his head.

OP - it's actually 135cm that a child should use a booster seat, not 125cm (I am blown away that you can legally get away with that if you have three kids too!). It's worth noting that in most of Europe kids need to be 150cm before they can go without a booster. My DC is 9 and a couple of cm taller than 135cm, but I really don't think the seatbelt fits him properly without a booster.

In terms of car seat advice I'd really recommend the In Car Safety Centre that others have already suggested. I found them really useful in helping me find suitable seats for various unusual situations! There also used to be a couple of really helpful Facebook groups with people who are great car seat problem solvers so worth looking into that too.

Unless the child is rear facing you shouldn’t turn airbags off. My daughter has sat in the front since she was 6 due to various medical reasons.

I was also going to say what about an adult in middle seat.. not ideal but at least you’d have all DC in proper safe seats and could feel happier about travelling.

We put our eldest (7yr old) in her car seat in the front (air bags off) then when we're all in the car together I squeeze inbetween the car seats in the back. Thankfully our youngest will be moving to a less bulky seat soon so I'm hoping for a bit more room! We have a Toyota Avensis estate.

We had the same problem OP but without the baby, DS4, SD4 and SD2 (at the time) we had to buy a different car. Went with Citroen Picasso and then when they were older we got a Vauxhall Zafira which was a 7 seater. Prior to that we had tried “slimline” car seats but it just didn’t work. So grateful they are now all out of car seats!

So if the two adults are in the back together, presumably one of the kids is driving? 🤔

I have baby in the front and 2 in the back. If all of us are in the car then an adult will sit in the middle seat. It's not really worth the risk.

may I suggest a brilliant facebook group "Extended Rear Facing (ERF) Car Seat Safety" they give some amazing advice x

Defo give in car safety centre a call they are so helpful… and new car seats are much cheaper than a new car!

In DH’s stupidly awkward car we ended up with a britax kidfix hbb and they are slimmer than some others in the market. I know people who have 2 kidfix in the outer seats and then a maxi cosi infant seat secured by a belt in the middle…. Obvs depends on your car and if your middle dc is mature enough for a hbb.

Might be worth asking friends what they have and seeing if you could have a try fitting any of their seats in your car.

We have the Citroen space tourer. It has 3 full size seats across the back which can all move forward and back independently of each other but it also has two more fold down seats in the boot. We rarely use them but in the meanwhile we appreciate the large boot space and pop them up when needed.

It's a bit like driving a car under the alcohol limit or being absolutely sure you're stone cold sober when you drive. We all know which is safer. We all know children are safer in car seats. The seat belts keep them uniformly strapped in over both shoulders and legs - so they will survive with far fewer injuries than child with one seatbelt fastened over just one shoulder. There have even been stories of children in car seats flung out of cars, who have survived with no injuries. When you're too big for a car seat, you get a booster seat. This is because it is safer to have the single seat belt covering your chest and not cutting into your neck. But above all, you're most likely to survive the crash if you are restrained. Just a single seat belt will do it. You may get more injuries. But the broken bones will mend eventually and you'll live to tell the tale. Just a single seat belt will ensure that 99.9% of the time at a speed limit of 30 or 40 miles an hour - everyone lives. It's insurance - you weigh up how much risk you're willing to take against practical considerations of space and financial limitations or whether you need to trade your car in for a 6 or 7 seater, with extra safety for the kids.

I’m afraid we upgraded to a seven seater when we had this issue.

I haven't checked the stats but I'd bet the bag of maltesers currently on my lap that the highest risk journey in your list in terms of the likelihood of an accident is the school run.

We have a vw touran can fit three in back, 2,4 and 6. It’s hard though!! 6 year old mostly infront as we live somewhere so rural and quiet that road safety isn’t the concern it is elsewhere. I guess in the middle the child is safer from side impact? So a booster seat might be ok? I think if you’re worried you have to update your car to give them all the seat you’d prefer to see them in. Rules seem crazy but then you can jump in a taxi with no car seat.

I'm dubious that you can fit 3 across the back in an Octavia. I've never actually managed it. I couldn't squeeze in between the car seats at my thinnest (size 8/10) either so larger adults definitely couldn't. We ended up upgrading one of our Octavia's to a Touran.

I've seen these advertised. They do a 4 seat version too https://www.multimac.com/p/multimac_1000_3_seater

Hahaha - DH was driving.

It was a comment in reply to a poster who took turns with her Adult DD / DIL being shoe horned sideways, into the gap between the kids car seats (presumably her DH was also doing the driving).

It's more comfortable and safer to have a one child in booster in the front and two adults sitting properly in the with the other child in carseat than to be sitting wedged in sideways between the kids car seats.

Adults heads and necks matter too in the event of a crash. The headrests and seat belts won't do their job of protecting people if they are sitting sideways in a seat.