Car seat conundrum

[Reluctantadult]

How can we all fit in the car... Dd and ds have high backed boosters, the maxi cosi one with isofix. Dd is just about over the weight and height to be able to have a plain booster. We need to fit 3 adults in the car to go on holiday. We have an estate. The issue is the lack of space in the middle. It feels like tetras
Am I missing something. How do people do things!

Would using them without isofix free up a little room? Our isofix points are very close to the middle seat.

Actually it's the joie trillo high backed booster we've got. Not sure if that'll make any difference to anyone. I'll look up if they can go in without isofix. But I don't know how much space that'll free. The backs/shoulders are so broad.

I’ve got this problem except my two are still in toddler seats. I am going to use a narrow high back booster for the eldest who is old enough and heavy enough. And a high back with a harness for the youngest. Both seats use the seat belt and will leave enough room to squeeze a thin person in the middle seat.
we have the smaller seats to fit in another more agricultural vehicle we sometimes have to use.
the other option is one child in the front and then hopefully two adults will fit in the back. This won’t work for me as I have one fat adult and one thin one to fit in

Yeah I'm wondering about putting one of the kids in the front. But not sure who, I'm order to make it safe. The front seats don't have isofix, and the high backed boosters don't look like they fit in that well. But putting Dd into a plain booster and then also in the front just feels scary. She's 7.

We bought our current car after googling 'cars with 3 rear seats'.

I realise this doesn't help with the OP's immediate holiday unfortunately.

The problem may start with car seats but as dc grow older they don't take up less space.

V v happy with our Citroen 😄

You can fit the seats without isofix. That should free up enough room to have an adult either in the middle or on one side.

We've never had to take 3 adults before! Fil died so first time taking mil with us.

Buy a narrow high back booster from halfords?

Thanks for that idea, I didn't realise they were such different widths. My friend can lend me a narrower one. Could possibly do 1 booster in the front. 1 narrower booster in the back. Will do a test tomorrow.

Don't put a 7 to in the front, and especially not on a low booster.

Squeeze the parent in the middle and mil in the front.

Definitely do not put child in the front. It’s not safe.

How old are your children OP and what car do you have? Also you could look into something called Rivemove which lets you use the isofix but moves the seat closer to the door..but I agree you may find belting the boosters in gives you just as much space. I wouldn't put a child in the front, in a booster, if I could avoid it. If they were rear facing that would be different as you can turn the airbag off.

What's that based on? Genuine question. I will look it up myself.

Absolutely no where near fitting an adult in the middle. I'm not sure it'll work even with narrower boosters. I think we'll have to take 2 cars.

Kids are 5 & 7 and car is an MG5 estate.

Just read up and won't be putting any of the kids in the front. Will have to take 2 cars.
Understanding more why people with 3 kids struggle! We haven't got a small car by any means.

You could try a mifold in the middle seat.

It might be cheaper to hire a car that's big enough than to pay to take two cars?

Too late for you now but you can get a thing that fits over your back seat and can space the seating out better or even convert 3 into 4 seats. It cost about €1000 when I looked into it a few years ago but definitely cheaper than buying a new car.

www.multimac.com/home

here is the website. I just realised that might not be any use to you either as it’s for children really.

She would probably be safer with no car seat than one that doesn't fit in the seat correctly. We have bucket seats in the front so can't put the car seats (therefore the kids) in the front.

Who is the third adult? I'd be suggesting they make their own arrangements.

I can only manage this if one of the three adults is my 5' 2" size 8 mother. She fits in the middle back seat fairly comfortably. I wouldn't reckon anyone else could do it.

I think without the isofix you save a lot of space. As can then fix seat with seatbelt and child in, then push seat a few extra cms towards the door.

you need to have the weight of child in seat to test this

I'm a childminder & use the Halfords own brand high backed boosters-they are narrow but I can fit 3 in the back.

The middle back seat is safest so I'd put a child there. My mindees used to argue about getting a window & I once then told them that the middle was the best as it's safest. A few weeks down the line I couldn't understand why they were bickering about wanting the middle & I said 'Leah you go by the window', she then burst into tears & said 'but I don't want to die!'

Not sure what it says about my driving!

You just have to keep trying different combos. Sometimes the side seats are different widths. The Trillo LX is pretty narrow especially if you take the side impact blocks off (you can do this as they are just to reduce the space between seat and door).

If you do put a child in the front I'd use a full high back, tallest child, seat as far back as it can go. The problem is an airbag is set at adult chest height but it's like being punched in the chest. If a child's head is there instead, that's potentially an issue.