HBB in front seats?

[bearwithspecs]

We have 2 HBB which we use in the rear of our cars. We often recently have needed to take 3 children some where so plan to buy another one for using when needed and will leave in one of the cars etc. I am very confused as to where to put it though for safety - in the middle seat in the rear or in the front seat? I often see people with DC in the front but am not sure they always have air bags off etc. Info on line is conflicting. Anyone help?

Middle seat in the back is safer than the front if you can fit three seats in the back.

Thanks Hollie - We can in one car, I am not sure about the other. We did choose highly rated but narrow HBB for this reason - and an adult can get in there too!
Some of the HBB were so wide that they would have taken up all the space etc

I would agree that all three in the back is safest if you can fit the seats in there safely.

If a child goes in the front you should move the passenger seat back as far as you can, but bear in mind that the red shoulder guide on the HBB should not be further back in the car than the seatbelt shoulder anchorage point. If the seatbelt has to go towards the rear of the car in order to feed into the HBB and then come forward it won't work properly.

Also you should have 55cm of space in the rear between the child's face and the back of the passenger seat. It's all very well moving the passenger seat as far back as you can, but not if you are then making it dangerous for the child sitting behind it!

Bit of a minefield! I do tend to turn the airbag off if I ever have a child in the front, but I did read somewhere that although it is absolutely necessary to disable the airbag if you have a rear facing seat in the front you don't have to do it if an older child is sitting there.

Thanks so much Alice - I have been looking at various web sites for advice. I hadn't thought about the fact that in one car our front seat goes far back (good) but then could be too far back (bad)!! We have 2 cars of different size so we may settle for a different solution in each. We have been car sharing more and more recently for parties / activities / sports and it makes sense to have a solution where we can fit 3 or even 4 DC in a car... until we buy a 6 seater !

Yes, we have three children and when I was pregnant with our third we bought a Peugeot 5008 that has three separate equal-width seats in the back (so three child seats fit easily) and two extra pop-up seats in the boot for all the 'extras' that require lifts to Cubs/football/Rainbows - the list only grows as they get older!