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Original poster

Car Seats and 3 children

25 replies

QueenFee · 12/12/2008 20:24

Sorry I don't know where to put this but guessed someone here may have some experience of this.
I have 2 children and pregnant. DCs will be 5 and 3 when the baby is born. I have a Skoda Octavia. This has only a lap belt in the middle of the back seat and an airbag in the front which can't be switched off. Skoda won't de activate airbag as they say they can still go off sometimes in a bad crash. I can get a britax seat which fits with a lap belt but is 9mth - 4 and not sure how long DS will fit in it.
Any suggestions?
Can I put DD in front with seat far back in her high back booster?
Even if it is possible is it insam#ne to squash them all u next to each other in the back (i.e. do you get anywhere without a fight
Sorry this is so long but it's driving me mad and I can't really afford a new car

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ChristmasFairySantAsSLut · 12/12/2008 20:31

Any chance you could get a different car.....we have got 3 Kids and have a Fiat Multipla...they are cheap to run (for their size), all 6 seats have proper seatbelts, and all seats are full sized seats....and even with all 6 seats in use you have a huge boot....and they are not that expensive to buy, neither...

however, mihgt not be an option....
no idea about carseats...with lapbelts, sorry

ChristmasFairySantAsSLut · 12/12/2008 20:35

oh, how about a seat like this looks like it can be fitted with a lapbelt, if I read the description correctly....

peanutbutterkid · 12/12/2008 20:51

We have been in similar position, altough we ended up getting airbag turned off.

We had a MaxiCosi Apriori (I think that's the model, anyway, it's a reasonable fit with just a lapbelt) in the middle in back for the 3yo size child. Later on we put the largest child in the middle in the back (with lap belt only). YES, I know lapbelt only is not ideal, but we only used the car this way about once a month, so it felt okay. Have also put largest child in front with seat as far back as possible.

Main thing is to work hard not to crash at all, any crash could be a bad one.

tots2ten · 12/12/2008 21:04

ChristmasFairy, i think with these car seats they can only be fitted with a lap belt when you are using the harness.

I wouldn't put a child in the front seat of a car that has a air bag even with the seat as far back as possible. I just wouldn't feel comfortable

Fillyjonk · 12/12/2008 21:10

ok no you can't do this, I have a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a baby and a skoda fabia. we wanted an octavia and dp took one to mothercare and tried literally EVERY combination of car seat

Why won't Skoda decativate your airbag? We have a switch to switch ours off . I am worried now.

the trouble is that even if you could technically squeeze them in, with say a backless booster? you would get the risk of buckle crunch as the seats are so close together. (buckle crunch is when one seat jams on the release mechanism of the neighbouring seat's seatbelt clip)

tbh ds goes in the front but I am not happy about it. We do travel in the car only about once a week, but I am still uncomfortable. We are accepting that we need a new car, bloody waste of money

lljkk · 12/12/2008 21:23

We had road safety man out from council to look at my 3 seats across (like peanut describes above), and he said it was ok. He explained buckle crunch to me, didn't sound like what Fjk at all. More to do with buckle being perpendicular to the direction of the car, buckle would snap if seat flung forward suddenly with huge force, sideways force or carseats banging a bit into each other not the issue.

MatNanPlusTINSEL · 12/12/2008 21:29

Can the airbag not be removed so no chanceof it going off?

Very few seats use just a lap belt and i beleive the seat mentioned first, the description meant it needs a 2 part belt as is standard not that a lap belt alone is all that is required.

The other alternative is a harness for use in the middle seat for the oldest child HSB 1 by Crelling which is also Airline Rated, used with lap belt

Original poster

QueenFee · 12/12/2008 21:35

I have been to mothercare and they fitted the britax one in the middle which was fine and worked with the booster one side and the carry car seat the other (britax website also confirms this as fine) we didn't think however that my normal rearfacing carseat won't fit next to it.
fillyjonk I think its because mine dosn't have a cut off switch or it would be fine?
Do you have problems with them all being next to each other?
will google the maxi cosi one.
I suppose by the time ds grows out of the middle car seat the baby will be old enough to put forward facing.
thanks for answering me anyone. I keep getting so much conflicting advice re this! I have put my DD in front before now with seat far back but don't feel comfortable with it tbh. I really don't like anyone in lapbelts let alone a child especially as it would be used regularly and sometimes on long journeys. My dh has company car with 3 proper belts so no issue there.

OP posts:

ChristmasFairySantAsSLut · 12/12/2008 21:41

tots2ten...but op's other Kids are 3 and 5, so, the 3 year old would be able to use such a seat with the harness a fair few years, yet....

tots2ten · 12/12/2008 21:51

ChristmasFairy.. didnt notice the ages

Fillyjonk · 13/12/2008 10:16

Like I say its the buckle crunch that is the problem

YES you can get 3 seats in.

But in a crash there is a real chance that one of the kids could be thrown out, at force.

I was really sanguine about the risk of buckle crunch til I read a bit about it, now it is something I'd go to great lengths to prevent.

My kids WILL all go in the back together but I really don't feel safe squashing them in.

Fillyjonk · 13/12/2008 10:19

dunno if this helps at all btw but we found that we could not even get ANY combination of even 2 x boosters + rear OR forwards facing seat in safely, ie without them all being really squashed together to a dangerous extent.

I suppose it might be possible if you were happy to use backless boosters for the 3 yo and 5 yo?

I know it is so very hard. ATM we are managing without a car that we can all go in, we use public transport if we all need to go anywhere and it is not that bad. I'd have said before dd2 was born that no way oculd we manage without a car fo all of us, but we do.

sorkycake · 13/12/2008 10:29

Is Dd your 5yo? My 6 year old had a high backed booster and rode in the front when Dh wasn't in the car, but we didn't have an airbag. Is that what's making the difference here?
You can take it to a garage and have it disconnected.

We managed like this until this pregnancy when we bought an old style Galaxy, would never go back to a squished car again.

Whe Dh's old car needs to be replaced we will have to get a one with 3 full seat belts across the back too.

Buckle crunch was an issue for us too, in a Mondeo! They don't come much wider than that and that was using 2 backless boosters and a britax.

ChristmasFairySantAsSLut · 13/12/2008 13:31

Fillyjonk....hmm...but a 3 or even 5 year old in a backless booster seat and just using a lapbelt is quite a risk to take, too....isn't it....

Fillyjonk · 13/12/2008 17:58

yeah we are going to have to get either a scenic or a picasso, they are the only ones that fit 3 across the back. Aside from the fiat multipla which ncap seems to think is a death trap

I am still mystified as to WHY skoda won't disconnect the airbag, surely it is better that the airbag might go off in a really bad crash than having a child in the front with an airbag that is pretty likely to go off in a reasonable crash.

Fillyjonk · 13/12/2008 18:01

I agree christmas fairy.

tbh if I had a choice between putting a child in a lap belt + backless booster + buckle crunch ANYWAY, or having them in the front with a non-disconnected airbag-I wouldn't take them in the car at all.

As it is, even with a disconnected airbag, I only take mine in the car if I REALLY need to, ie if we are going somewhere that is pretty impossible to get to by public transport (I don't mean a bit of a PITA, I don't mean "oh no we have to wait in the rain for 20 minutes", I mean as in the buses don't go there.).

But i am very keen on car safety, I have seen what can happen here

Fillyjonk · 13/12/2008 18:02

(don't mean to sound glib queenfee, I know you might really really need to have them in the car.

but I think its easy to get into a "must have car for all children" mindset, and honestly, we can't fit my whole family into the car and it is really not an issue yet.

ChristmasFairySantAsSLut · 13/12/2008 20:23

I thought the multipla got many good ratings including the safety issues...

and tbh it must be safer for Kids in carseats...because every seat is fullsize with 3 point seatbelts..so, you can fit all sorts of fullsized big carseats in...

QueenFeeUntoUsAChildIsBorn · 13/12/2008 21:21

I need my car mainly to visit my mum who lives 2 hours away. (has taken me 6 hours before by train )
I do use it locally but not a lot.
There was no issue with buckle crunch When Mothercare tried it the buckles were well clear of all the seats. (I used to work in claims dept for insurance co so know what sort of nasty things can happen)

ChristmasFairySantAsSLut · 13/12/2008 21:25

so, y ask here...you know it all...and maybe you shold take your insureres advice ...if it is claim you worry about...lifes might be a different story...eh

QueenFeeUntoUsAChildIsBorn · 13/12/2008 22:47

I don't know it all just that I know horrible things can get when children are hurt in cars
I was desperately hoping someone may have come up with something as it seemed crazy to me that there was no other solution. I was hoping I had missed something obvious.

ChristmasFairySantAsSLut · 14/12/2008 18:15

don't think there is every an obvious solution...other than changing the car...but of course not always an option...

and sorry for being grumpy last night...was a bit pished,

whonickedmynickname · 18/12/2008 20:29

I have used the Britax Renaissance with only a lap belt and find it fits tighter and therefore more securely with just the lap belt in place than it does with the 3 pouint harness - not sure why or how but thats just the way it was. Its more about weight of children than their age. If you're considering the britax renaissance then your child must be under 13kilos realistically

And btw for what its worth - a scoda octavia is probabyl alot safer than many of the 7 seater people carriers out there - the only exception being the espace. (and they're not that reliable)

missymoo2411 · 19/12/2008 22:25

the fiat multlipla was voted one of the safest cars around and ive a britax cars seat lap belt fitting from mother care from birth facing the rear and 9 month facing forward not sure if they still make it tho ..my dc didnt want a multlipla until i made him get in its great loads of room ..

KatieDD · 19/12/2008 22:46

The Multipla has an appalling Ncap rating. And the Britax rear and forward facing seats were not rated well by Which either, the worst of both worlds. Bucket seats are the only type recommended for babies.

Having said all that I saw a woman strap her baby into the baby seat in a £200 maxi cosy isofix thingy and then drive down the road on her mobile so you can't get much worse than that can you ?

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