When I have 3 children in my car is it safer to put the third in the front or in the very back (7 seater)?

[MaMight]

My own 2 children (aged 3.5 and 1.5) are in 2nd stage car seats (this sort of thing). We often give a lift to a little boy (also aged 3) who has a booster seat (quite similar to this).

I cannot fit all three children in their car seats / booster seats along the back seat of my car. My car is a 7 seater with a fold-away couple of seats in the very back. The extra seats are proper seats with proper seat belts.

I don't like to put the guest child in his booster seat in the very back because there are no headrests, and his booster seat just doesn't seem as safe and secure for a child of his size as a proper car seat.

So, I put one of my 2 in the very back. All properly fixed and safe. But I HATE the idea of someone rear ending us and my child being at the back of the car.

Was wondering if in fact they might be statistically safer in their 2nd stage seat in the front of the car (passenger seat). But what about the air bag?

Can't find anything useful online. Can anyone help or point me at some information?

What do you think?

How far back will the front seat go?

Quite far back because it's a big car. Does that make a difference?

Only insofar as they're further from the airbag. I'm not sure what the ideal solution is in this scenario. I had to put DS1 in the front when DD arrived for the same reason but he was 7.

Why do you have a 7 seater if you don't think it's safe?!

The report showing the back seats to be dangerous may well have come out after she bought the car...? IIRC it was only earlier this year.

Can your airbag not be disabled? The front seat would definately be best if this were possible. I hate using our rear seats too, although we have headrests & a little crumple room.
I have dd2 (currently rear facing) in the front seat because she travels better when she can see me & it is easiser to drop dd1 off at school & park so both dd's are on the side next to the pavement.

What report?

can only repeat daisymoosteiner's question - the back seats must be safe?

video

Having watched the video again, I think I'd go with the front seat, pushed back as far as possible.

Obviously that is a truck going at speed but I can't imagine the results from a car at 30mph would be much better.

Shit, that's awful. Definitely worried me, have a mazda 7 and either my 6 or 7 year old is always at the back. Need to rehink that now.

I am a realist. I would be happy to have my child on the back seat for occasional short journeys. However, I wouldn't use them on a regular basis and I wouldn't be happy to use them on long journeys involving more major roads than the local ones.

The front is the best place for forward facing seats with the seat pushed as far back as possible. It is rear facing which is extremely dangerous in the front even with the airbag turned off.

Scary video.

Making me think.

Right.

New information:

I was mistaken. Dh and I have just been out and furtled around with the car and found that we can fit all three children on the back seat, but with the one in the middle secured only by a lap belt. It feels as solid as the one secured by a full seatbelt, but then my feeble wobbling is possibly not quite as high impact as an rta.

So,
(a) 3rd child in the very back (boot)
(b) 3rd child in the front seat pushed as far back as possible
(c) 3rd child centre of the back seat with seat secured by lap belt.

I am leaning towards (c), followed by (b).

This thread contain information which is is extremely incorrect. This statement:

"The front is the best place for forward facing seats with the seat pushed as far back as possible. It is rear facing which is extremely dangerous in the front even with the airbag turned off."

A rear facing car seat in the front seat is as safe as the rear seat with an airbag deactivated by key/switch/or service location. This has been proven ages ago by research and real life experience. It's not even debated among researchers.

OP, are your own kids in rear facing seats? (especially the 1.5 year old)? It looks like they are sitting in Maxi Cosi Mobi rear facing 25 kg seat but I just want to confirm this. A Swedish rear facing seat can be safely used with just a lap belt.

If airbag can be deactivated it would be best to install a rear facing seat in the front seat and the others in second row. This would offer exactly the same safety as having all three seats in back seat.

Shit. I've got too many children. Will have to re-home one so that none of them ever has to go in the back seat for long periods. Just need to choose which one is going then.

Adventuredad, no, they are not in rear facing seats. They are both in Maxi Cosi Priori XP front facing 2nd stage car seats with tensioning levers.

the priori xp isnt designed to fitted only with a lap belt (there arent many that can be fitted with a lap belt only) so I would discount the middle seat as an option if it doesnt have a proper 3 point seatbelt.

Scary video!

Adventuredad both Maxi Cosi and Britax during the car safety training say that an airbag can not be guaranteed to not go off, even if switched off, as it is an explosive device. Dependent on the angle of the car being hit this can still be activated. Maxi Cosi have spoke to car manufacturers who will not confirm in writing that they can safely say the airbags will not go off even when switched off.

The video is scary, but I think it would be more revealing if it showed the car hitting something at the front after the rear impact (which is a more likely scenario, as in a traffic jam). I've a feeling if they did that, nobody would come out of the car very safely, no matter where they were sitting.

IIRC, they did this because the standard crash tests don't test rear impacts. The car will have gone through safety testing for a front (and side) impact already with the results being available on the Euroncap website. Cars have crumple zones to absorb a front impact.

I thought she was putting the friend's child in the middle on a booster with a lap belt.