When I bought my svt ZX5, the previous owner had two car seats in the back. I do not know old his children were, but they both fit. I have no experience with child seats either.

 

From the time my son was 2 to the time my son and daughter were 5 and 7 the only cars we owned were a ZX3 and an SVT.

Two car seats for a while one facing front and one facing back, I always drive so the forward facing kid was behind me. I'm 6'6" so the drivers seat is all the way back.

We always managed, then when number three came along we had to get the minivan.

I have had the entire family of five in my SVT though, people think I'm nuts getting here in and out of the back seat of my 2 door but it's worth it to me to not have the short doors of a ZX5 or sedan.

 

Are you talking 09 Forester? Cuz I know for an absolute fact that those can fit pretty much any child seat in them. The leg room is so good on those now that a 6'2" man can sit behind a 6' man driving without having his knees touch.

As far as the 08 Imprezas, those are decent. 07 and prior Impreza, 08 and prior Forester, yes, I would agree with you about not fitting.

 

I just went from infant seat to forward facing. I think she was 2 or 3 pounds short of the weight limit but there isn't much you can do as you've found out. I also think I have a greater chance of being hit from the rear than the front.

 

I've only done one carseat, but I've done it since my son was a newborn. I've never had the problems you describe.
Maybe it IS the carseat?
Also, check you incline angles on the carseats. Baby's head forward is pretty normal when they sleep... Just look at them in the world outside the car. You use rolled blankets to prop for Safety with a tiny one.
Another thing... with the "Cradle", the handle goes up like a roll-bar, (Carrying Position), not laid over like you'd have it if the seat was sitting in the living room as a rocker.
Once they are forward facing, it'll be a non-issue.
Until you can turn the seat around, I'd put the rear-facing one in the front seat, and disable the airbag if that's possible.
I know the statistics, but once you have more than one kid (where you can put the child in the rear center), one of the kids will have to be near a passenger door. The odds of which passenger door could be hit in an accident is total luck of the draw.
Just be glad that we no longer live in a day where infants were in Mommy's arms, toddlers had a booster seat and lap belt, and 5 and over could roam the car without seatbelts.

 

When I bought my svt ZX5, the previous owner had two car seats in the back. I do not know old his children were, but they both fit. I have no experience with child seats either.

Ok so, were they both facing forward? That's totally not a problem. Forward facing is easy, and you can fit two. 3, you can't do, cause they're too wide.

From the time my son was 2 to the time my son and daughter were 5 and 7 the only cars we owned were a ZX3 and an SVT.

So, from two, you had them facing forward right?

Two car seats for a while one facing front and one facing back, I always drive so the forward facing kid was behind me. I'm 6'6" so the drivers seat is all the way back.

So, you had the rear facing seat on the passenger side, could a passenger still get in the car? If so, which car seat did you have? Was the car seat leaning back (forwards) as far as it was supposed to?

Are you talking 09 Forester? Cuz I know for an absolute fact that those can fit pretty much any child seat in them. The leg room is so good on those now that a 6'2" man can sit behind a 6' man driving without having his knees touch.

I'm skeptical, because this doesn't even work in my Discovery. But I could check it out. Regardless, we really can't afford a new car at the moment. And a base, manual trans Forester X would cost us $600/month. We can get basic short wheelbase Montana for $300/month. And a long wheel base, nicely optioned one for $350. The prices are INSANE on these things. The stripper SWB van is pretty much THE cheapest car on the market right now.

It would be pretty hard for us to come up with Forester money right now. If the seats fit, and we could afford it, we'd do it in a heartbeat. I really like the new Foresters.

I just went from infant seat to forward facing. I think she was 2 or 3 pounds short of the weight limit but there isn't much you can do as you've found out. I also think I have a greater chance of being hit from the rear than the front.

Aha, this is what I kinda suspected most people were doing. We had to decide between cheating and facing it forward early, or cheating and have it backwards but not leaned back enough. And that was with it in the middle. With it on one side, it just doesn't work backwards anymore.

I've only done one carseat, but I've done it since my son was a newborn. I've never had the problems you describe.
Maybe it IS the carseat?

So how did you make it work? Did you put it up front? Interesting proposition. Where would you significant other sit.

Is it the car seat? Here's what we have:

http://www.babyage.com/products/22-155hmr_cosco_cosco_alpha_omega_elite_3-in-1_car_seat.htm

What were you using?

I can't find any other seat for this interim age that works better. The seat specifically says that it has to be leaning back at a 45° angle which we could never achieve in the center position. These "convertible" ones for this interim age, they're just too bulky.

 

We have a Graco without the cup holders. Looking at your link, they're making them a couple inches taller than our 2003 model seat.
My son's always been in the center of the back. A second child would make it so that the second child would almost Have To ride in the front, with the S/O in the back. Since nobody in my family is WIDE, we can seat adults Next to the center-mounted carseat. It's not too comfy for long trips for my father-in-law, but it's do-able in either of our Focuses. 4 adults and a child packed into the ZTS is just fine for a trip that's not more than 2 hrs long. (We don't use my ZX-3 for "Family Trips" because of the springs and the lack of rear doors.) Sure, there's no room to play "Twister", but it's fine for Transportation.
Another thing in MY situation... Seldom are my wife, my son and I all in the car at the same time. When we are, I drive, my son is in the center of the back, and my wife will seat EITHER in the front OR in the passenger-side rear seat depending on her mood.
Once the younger one can be forward-facing, both kids go in the back.
Luckily, I'm not having any more. My daughter is 16 now and only visits on rare occasion, so my one munchkin is it. He can't wait to ride in the front seat, though he loves the view that his throne affords.

BTW, let me recommend an accessory if you don't already have one...
There's this mat that sits under the carseat, and extends forward over the front side of the car's rear seat. The flap that hangs down has a netted pocket (sort of like a map pocket-type thing), and there's a thin, padded wedge at the head end of the mat that can be used to optimize the angle of the seat. This mat adds a little utility, and keeps toddler feet from making such a mess directly in front of the carseat, and crumb cleanup isn't as bad, and it also reduces the creased depressions in the car's seat.

 

trade it in for a Fusion.

/Thread

 

I'm just marveling that we've all reached the time when we're posting about baby seats

 

yea just installed one in our mazda last week

 

I'm just marveling that we've all reached the time when we're posting about baby seats

:lol:
My kids have both LOVED the Focus, and especially my Race Springs.
It "FEELS" like a "Cool Car" instead of just a mode of Transportation.
Bumpy Bump, Zipping through Curves, Intake and Exhaust making a slight racket under WOT...
Mommy's ZTS is "Transportation", but "Daddy's Car" Goes RACING!!!!

EDIT:
My son is STARTING to Learn a LITTLE Bit...
Every now and then, we'll come into a tight turn kind of Hot, and I'll whip it through and from the back seat, I hear the 4 yr old voice say, NICE Turn Daddy!!!".
:lol: :rock:

 

I've been debating how I can get a carseat in a 69 mustang coupe, I dont know if theres anything back there to do that.

 

I've been debating how I can get a carseat in a 69 mustang coupe, I dont know if theres anything back there to do that.

Yes. The '69 had seatbelts. IIRC, that was the first year that they were standard.
I grew up in one. :evilgrin:
Acapulco Blue w/ 302 and Auto, with Headers into Thrush glasspacks and Beefed Dampers and Rear Leafs.
No, it doesn't have "LATCH", but neither do Most cars on the road, so car seats have the provision for running the seatbelt through a place in the back of them.
Shoulderbelts just get in the way of that, so the Mustang's lack of them doesn't hurt one bit. You'll just feed the lap-belt through and Click, you're Done.
When I grew up, I just got lap-belted in, across my lap, under the arms of my high-chair-type Booster seat. I was in the front seat at age 4, tuning the AM radio, wearing sunglasses, chewing Dentyne, and I was On Top Of The World.

 

^yea I never really looked back there, it's good to go then

 

^yea I never really looked back there, it's good to go then

If it's not been restored, you may want to get fresh belts. I'm sure the buckles are fine unless you want to replace them with NOS for looks.

 

Different seats have different space requirements. I had the staff at Baby's R Us and Burlington Coat Factory help me carry out many seats to find one that fit the best. Some were impossible, but the Safety First Convertible seat fits pretty well in both our Hyundai Elantra and my Mazda MX-5. Both forward and backwards.

 

We got the Vic because of this. The wagon didn't have enough room for our long legged little filly of a daughter, with us in front (ex is 6'5", I'm 5'10").

Now he drives an Element, it has tons of room in the back.

But she's also now large enough to sit in the front seat, on her booster. Which she prefers, because she's entering the 'car sick' phase. Yay for Dramamine.

 

I don't know much about child car seats, but I'd definitely look into changing out the ones you have right now for something that will fit into your current vehicles. It'd be much cheaper then purchasing a new car.

 

Obviously, but I'm having trouble finding ANY car seats that fit properly. Obviously whoever passed these "rear facing" laws never considered the reality of fitting these things into cars.

 

What gives? How do legions of parents EVER put their kids into car seats in anything other than a minivan?

Swallow your pride and your manhood, Rob...the minivan beckons. :thumbup: :lol:

 

Do you have *4* kids?!

I'm making my wife sign a pre-pregnancy agreement. :lol: No more kids after this. Even if it's another boy, we're not going to have "just one more", trying for a girl.

 

Rob just get an MKX. My wife has already had two rear facing seats in the back when she has been out with friends along with two strollers and all the crap that goes with kids.

Sigh with just 113 days until our first arrives I'm being pressured to give up my last remaining toy... the cage makes use of anything behind the front seats useless.

The things we do for our kids.:dunno:

 

Swallow your pride and your manhood, Rob...the minivan beckons. :thumbup: :lol:

I'm trying to get around the minivan by way of a SRT8 Magnum due in just 18 more days. :evilgrin:

 

Do you have *4* kids?!

Sometimes that "just one more" gets you twins.

When I did have a rear facing seat in the Focus (and really, the Contour before that), I had the same problems you do. There just isn't enough room front-to-rear.

 

I'm starting to realize that part of the problem is the seat we have. It's a 3-in-1. It's a rear facing infant seat, forward facing child seat, and booster seat all in one, and it's FRICKEN HUGE!. I'm finding it doesn't even work well in a minivan. Part of the problem is that the bottom cushion is too long, and so his legs can't bend down the front edge. Instead, they get stuck straight out. frontward, right into the back of the front seat. And when backwards, it's just too big for any car.

I went out to Walmart and bought a cheap $75 2-in-1, rear facing infant and child seat. Tried that and it works better. It's sized better, and his legs can bend down. I just hate that it's so cheap.

I have a 2 in 1 in the Land Rover, but it's not meant to be rear facing. It's a forward facing child seat, and a booster seat in one. I now realize, I'm getting screwed on it fitting well also. His legs also are forced forward also.