Lap belts in cars - are they safe for car seats?

[VivalaDiva]

Just bought an MPV second hand, and the middle seat on the second row has only got a lap belt rather than a 3-pointer or whatever it's called on a normal seat. Is it still ok to put a car seat or high back booster there? It somehow doesn't seem that safe but I guess it must be as it's been designed with large families in mind. Is there any way I can make it safer? Thanks.

we put ds1 in that.
he is ok
its not ideal.
ther are lot os threads on it
newer zafiras haev three point ones there.

If the seat says it is suitable for use with a lap only belt it is fine.

I wouldn't use a booster (or no car seat with a lap only belt. In and accident a lap only belt can be more dangerous than no belt as the belt itself can cause serious internal injuries as there is no restraint on the top of the body. It does depend on hte crcumstances of the accident though of course.

Is there any way of adapting them?

no there is no way of adapting them. I use the birtax renaissance in our lap belt it will def fit a child up to the age of 4.

You can get 3 point seatbelts from Halfords whcih can be used to adapt some models.

SIL brough a 4 point harness to replace it which I think is more universal. Basically has 2 shoulder straps which are bolted to teh chassiss of the car in teh boot and come over the shoulders and are anchored by the lap belt.

Not sure if they are still around as this was aa few years ago.

Thanks - I'll investigate and in the meantime only use it when necessary.

theres a few stage 1 and 2 seats available, but dont use a normal seat or a highbacked booster unless you have checked they are compatible.

the britax renaisance (group 1, 9kg - 18kg) would work quite well because it has a belt tightner thing

i personally dont think you cant get most seats that supposidly can fix with a lap belt only on tight enough, but the belt tighner would make this one one of the tightes

Im pretty certain there are no group 3 / 4 car seats that are safe with just a lap belt though

Oh that sounds good. Might be cheaper to fork out for that rather than a new car!

You should n't use a booster with just a lapbelt but some (not all though) Stage 1's can use a lap belt ie Britax Freeway and Eclipse. In Europe Roemer(Britax) used to sell a booster with a lap cushion to route it more safely and have seen this in some UK car manuals.

There are several stage 1 car seats that are designed to be used with a lap belt. I specifically recommended the renaissance because it will take a much taller child than for example the freeway (I've had both!!) I had tall children and although they've taken ages to get too heavy for them they got too tall quite quick!

sorry being dim the stage one car seats are the first forw facing ones arent they

could I get a booster a baby rocker rear facer in the back and one of these lap belt stage 1s in the middle as due number 3 eek!
only have a normal car!

yep,you can do it that way!
it depends what size you car is though,you will probably need to try out a few(go to halfords/mothercare/local baby shop) different seats in your car to find 3 that will fit together well, hopefully it will be possible.
i have just found out im expecting no 3,i have quite a little car (MG ZR) but i am lucky and have a full seatbelt in the middle,so its a bit easier as i have more choice of seats that i can combine!but im sure it will be possible for you.
good luck x

Congrats x aw i do hope so i went into halfords and they said three car seats in the back of 2 normal car is not do able sigh so this has made me think maybe it is?

yep,it is possible,my car is a 5 door so a but easier to manovre around fitting the seats,but its no wider than the 3 door version,
my plan is to put the forward facing seat in the middle,with a highbacked booster at one side and an infant carrier in the middle,

how old are your lo's? could the oldest use just a booster?
so long as the forward facing seat is quite slim it should be fine.

generally the britax freeway is one of the slimmest forward facing. I also used a britax rock a tot at one side to use the alternate routing point and just lift the baby in and out rather than the fiddle of getting the whole seat out. I had 3 in the back of a fiat seicento!

Oh car girl you are giving me hope .! So rock a tot on one side x britaz freeway in middle and booster on the other.? Is that right. Wonder why half said it was never safe eh.? That got me all worried as we def cant buy a new car. Do they still sell free way car seats. Is an eclipse one that fits in the middle too with a lap belt. As we have one of them?thanks for everything.

Yes that is what I did, yes the eclipse can be lap belt only but it may not fit your car well in the middle - I had to sell my eclipse and get a freeway because the eclipse did not fit in the lap belt of the seicento securely whereas the freeway did. The freeway has a narrower base by far and is generally a narrower car seat giving more space either side. You can still buy freeways new - I'm sure I've seen them in Tesco!

What car do you have? You really need to go and try out different combinations to see what fits your car best and it they may not fit perfectly so you have to be confident you know what really matters ie that it doesn't move around too much, no buckle crunch etc

Hi thanks car girl thats the prob i am not sure i really know whats safe or not esp re buckle crunch etc x dont suppose you are near me any time soon we have a honda civic five door older car x dont supp you re selling a freeway