Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Car seats

Confused about car seat regulations? Find baby car seat advice here. For Mumsnetter-approved essentials, sign up for Mumsnet Swears By emails here.

Original poster

3 in the back !!!!!!

61 replies

snala · 12/06/2012 14:47

Hi all.

I've got dc3 due in December. The only way I can fit all of them in the car is to have dc1 on a ' bubble bum' in the middle of the back seat or in a high back booster on the front seat with an airbag.
The air bag can't be turned off/ disconnected at all.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
Original poster
snala · 12/06/2012 21:29

The car is on finance and we were diddled Angry
We are stuck with it for now.

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 12/06/2012 21:40

the 5 year old could go in the front in a HBB if you can have the seat pushed back as far as possible.

not sure if that will give the child behind him enough space though.

bugger @ the finance! can you not transfer the finance to a different vehicle? i have NO idea how it works, and you've prob thought that all through already

Original poster
snala · 12/06/2012 22:59

We would be too out of pocket.

The baby would be behind the passenger seat in an infant carrier, so it is a possibility.

Thanks everyone Smile

OP posts:
Ihateparties · 12/06/2012 23:40

I have 3 in the back of an 11 plate Seat ibiza ST, the rear belts are really nicely placed with equal spacing, which makes it a whole lot easier. They also fitted more comfortably it has to be said in an 06 place Ford Focus. My Toyota Yaris was 1cm short in width to accommodate 3 without using a backless booster.

Currently have a Britax babysafe II SHR behind driver, a Graco Junior Maxi in the centre and a Kiddy Infinity pro on the passenger side. A Britax Adventure also fits but doing up the belts is harder because of the shape.

The Graco is 41cm wide, the adventure 43/44 I can never quite decide. The Kiddy is a little wider than a regular seat, 47cm at the shoulder but makes up for that by being more flexible about where it is placed on the seat that a belt fixed/5pt harness stage 1 seat. I would put the babysafe in the centre logically but the belts are too short so it has to stay permanently fixed in the car and the baby levered in every time!

Recent trip to local shop (quite strong advocates of ERF with good range of seats) we tried a couple of options and they agreed that although tricky it's perfectly possible with the right combination. It's likely I will end up ERF at least one of them, if not two when the youngest outgrows the babysafe. So I'd be inclined not to take Kiddicare at their word either, you may well find a combo that fits as the accord is a much larger car. Interestingly the shop owner noted that the size of the car often didn't make an enormous difference, 3 is almost always a squeeze and the seats will touch. Hope that helps a bit!

Original poster
snala · 13/06/2012 07:47

I will definitely look at other options but the problem with my back seats are that it's not flat. The seats behind driver and passenger are 'bucketed' leaving a kind of small hump in the middle.

OP posts:
WaitingForMe · 13/06/2012 08:08

We're in this position though fortunately the two eldest are my stepsons so it won't be a daily issue when the baby is born. It's fairly rare as it is for the four of us to all be I the car together as we live on the edge of town.

Because DSS1 is on a booster and the law says he can go without if we can't fit three seats in I told DH to define why he felt it was important (not in a bitchy way - so I could be creative) and he said it was just about height.

DSS1 has the skinniest arse known to man so I suggested we make our own slimline booster. We've looked at his existing one and plan to get a piece of dense foam cut to size that will wedge neatly between the baby seat and his brothers booster while allowing seatbelt access.

DH is satisfied and we're within the law. (Although we're probably going to hire people carriers for our holidays).

BertieBotts · 13/06/2012 08:16

The only issue with using a piece of foam as a booster is that it won't have the seatbelt guides which hold the lap part of the belt flat horizontally over the child's legs/hips rather than flat vertically over their stomach, which can cause internal injuries in a crash.

If he's tall enough for that to happen anyway I'm sure it wouldn't make a difference.

HSMM · 13/06/2012 08:20

www.airbagman.co.uk will install a switch, so you can switch the airbag on and off?

PrincessScrumpy · 13/06/2012 08:20

I was told dd (4) could go in my mum's 2 seater with airbag so long as seat was as far back as possible.

bronze · 13/06/2012 08:32

It's about getting the right seats. I've had three proper seats in the back of various cars including a 206 so it can be done.
It's normally the baby seats that cause most trouble so try to find the seat to go next to that next

WaitingForMe · 13/06/2012 08:34

We'll look into that BertieBotts thanks.

Moredofbumsnet · 13/06/2012 14:43

we had this problem to with a Peugeot 307 we were stuck with ( DH's work car, we can't get rid of it and we pay tax on the perk of it) . We have a britax prince in the middle, it has a very narrow base. Is that one of the seats that you have already tried? Before we worked this out I sat in the middle of the back seat and dc1 in the front in his HBB as far back as poss.
A ERF in the middle might be a soluiton too.

Original poster
snala · 13/06/2012 16:19

What is the width of the prince please?

OP posts:
gemma4d · 13/06/2012 18:38

T'interweb says 71cm x 45cm x 45cm (HxLxD) but as I understand it, its not always just a question of cms but how they slot together. hth.

Original poster
snala · 13/06/2012 19:00

Thanks, that's too wide. The gaps about 35 cmSad

OP posts:
bronze · 13/06/2012 19:58

Agree Gemma
Sometimes they overlap slightly. Baby seats are very often higher

Moredofbumsnet · 13/06/2012 20:00

The Prince is not 45cm at the base it has a very small 'footprint' and the seat itself is wider. It is in DHs car or I would measure it for you.Halfords do it so it is worth a try.Sorry meant to say it is a 9 to 19kg seat but maybe ok for your middle dc?
My theory about trying erf is that they take up space further to the front of the seat and leave the part by the seatback free for the other seats but we couldn't buy without a 7 hour roundtrip.

sazm · 13/06/2012 20:04

its more about how they fit together than how wide they are on 'paper' i've had 3 seats for the last 3 yrs and fit them in lots of cars,including a 3 door corsa,mgzr,focus,almera so it is possible, our britax eclipse fits very well beside a britax hi-liner/adventure as they kind of 'slot' together, before that we had a maxi-cosi cabrio in the middle with a britax hi-liner booster at each side.

gemma4d · 13/06/2012 20:53

I have previously looked at which are the narrowest car seats - after impulse buying a Britax Evolva 1-2-3, one of the widest carseats available!!

The Graco Junior Maxi, 41 cm (group 2-3), then the britax adventure (1-2-3) or Eclipse (group 1) at 43cm, also the M&P Moto, 45cm (1-2-3) but discontinued now I think.

The Britax first class is 45cm (its a 0/1, so rear faces a longer baby than a group 0)

So if you had a group 0 seat on one side, eg the maxi cosi cabrio at 44cm, (or a Britax 1st class) then a Graco Jr Maxi in the middle and a Britax Adventure on t'other side? I have never tried these mind, just from previously trawling t'interweb.

gemma4d · 13/06/2012 20:59

Must admit, I just measured in my car. I make my First Class 44cm and if I had 2 of those rear facing, I would have 35cm left for a HBB in the middle, which wouldn't be enough - so a rear facing car seat and a group 1 would certainly be very tight for the high back booster.

sazm · 13/06/2012 22:54

it does depend on where the seats ' touch ' each other though as to whether they will fit,our grace highback wont fit in as easily as our britax adventure because the base is so wide,but the actual back of the seat is narrower!
best thing to do would be go to the biggest carseat stockist around and try a combination,also try them in a different order too - ours fitted in better with the babyseat in the middle, didnt fit so well with it at one side,but could be done.

Moredofbumsnet · 14/06/2012 13:34

If you can find a seat that will fit the middle place you should manage to sort the whole lot out. I don't think you'll get any type of booster in the middle so try the baby seat or the 9 to 18kg (britax babysafe and prince in our car). Then try the other two seats in both sides remembering that they must not cover the seatbelt clasps.
Britax has a fitfinder(put in your car and year and click on the seating diagrams for all the car seats it comes up with) and it does say if the seat is going to block other seats from being placed beside it.

Ihateparties · 14/06/2012 21:44

I totally agree re how they slot together being way more important than the actual maximum width of each given seat. What ages of children do you need to accommodate OP, I seem to have missed that bit? The shaped seats are very annoying, makes it much more difficult. An ERF in the centre sounds like a good shout if you have anywhere near by to go get some fitted.

Does anyone know if shaped seats like this could be flattened using opposite shaped foam for these purposes or if that is a major no no for any reason... highly likely it is, I'm just wondering?

Original poster
snala · 15/06/2012 10:53

The gap in the middle is 36cm max due to the bucket seats.
Dcs will be 3, 5 and newborn.

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 15/06/2012 13:34

what weight is the 3 year old? will s/he be in a harnessed seat or a high backed booster

Swipe left for the next trending thread