Child car seats

[Bheezy27403]

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Proud owner of a 2008 Quad Cab Big Horn. I've been a mopar guy my whole life and finally own a HEMI! Giddyup! Quick question for the masses, I did a search and it said no results (find that hard to believe), I have a 1 year old and am currently riding him in his car seat behind the passenger which doesn't leave much room up front. I would like to put him in the middle but that seat is much shorter (why?). I've read that as long as 80% of the car seat is on the seat it should be fine. Also my truck doesn't have the latches behind the middle seat (why?) and I don't think I can use the inside latches from the outside seats safely. Maybe will have to use the belt to tether him in the middle. How do you folks with babes handle this situ? (He's rear facing btw).

Thank you in advance for you replies.

 

[pilotcld]

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Proud owner of a 2008 Quad Cab Big Horn. I've been a mopar guy my whole life and finally own a HEMI! Giddyup! Quick question for the masses, I did a search and it said no results (find that hard to believe), I have a 1 year old and am currently riding him in his car seat behind the passenger which doesn't leave much room up front. I would like to put him in the middle but that seat is much shorter (why?). I've read that as long as 80% of the car seat is on the seat it should be fine. Also my truck doesn't have the latches behind the middle seat (why?) and I don't think I can use the inside latches from the outside seats safely. Maybe will have to use the belt to tether him in the middle. How do you folks with babes handle this situ? (He's rear facing btw).

Thank you in advance for you replies.

Haven’t had to put rear-facing in my truck yet, but will soon and heard of it/seen pictures of people with rear-facing seats in the middle. Either way, I’ve heard that the anchors are only good up until kids are 30 lbs before you should be using the tether anyways. I’ll see if I can find the article. Definitely don’t wanna use the outside seat’s anchors tho, they are made for straight line forces and at an angle you would diminish their effectiveness.
I was wrong. Car manufacturers wont test the lower anchors on anything more than 65 lbs. (If kid and car seat weigh more than 65 lbs it’s not tested at all except with seat belt).
https://csftl.org/whats-the-deal-with-weight-limits/

This second link basically says for the shallow seats, just make sure to follow what the car seat manufacturer says is ok. If they say 80% is ok? Then you’re golden. If no, I bet if it had one of those upper tethers you could find a way to pull the tether over baby and connect it by the back window? It would look weird to have the tether over your baby, but that could help negate the fact that you’re missing 20% of the seat below the car seat? Just a thought.
https://csftl.org/trucks-and-car-seats/

I personally probably would just put the car seat in there and use the seatbelt. Another idea could be to buy some 2x4 and plywood and measure the distance from the floor to the top of the seat cushion. Should only cost about $2 in supplies. Build a little platform that will fill in the gap of the seat. Just a thought. I might have to do this in the future.

 

[Bheezy27403]

Thanks for the info. I've pretty much read what you confirmed. I should be good to go with him in the middle using the belt. I'll have to look up how to tether him with the belts as I've always used the latches (so easy). Anyone have any pics of said set-up?

 

[pilotcld]

Thanks for the info. I've pretty much read what you confirmed. I should be good to go with him in the middle using the belt. I'll have to look up how to tether him with the belts as I've always used the latches (so easy). Anyone have any pics of said set-up?

What kind of car seat do you have? I can take a picture tomorrow of how I put our daughters car seat in, but she’s forward facing

 

[bruiserRAM]

I'm interested in any and all quad cab car seat pictures and tips also! Don't have a wee one yet, but it's inevitable and I wanna know if I'm looking at a trade-in in my future or not....

Thanks!

EDIT:

Oh crap, scratch that. I have a 4th gen.

 

[pilotcld]

Ah, well I only have a 3rd gen. But here’s some pics.

 

[HemiLonestar]

but that seat is much shorter (why?)

Look at it lol...could you imagine trying to put a full size human there with the console/jump seat right there? Also look on the floor; that's where the rear cupholders are...

 

[Bheezy27403]

Thanks for the pics. I still have him on the passenger side. The belt looks easy enough but I believe with rear facing there has to be another tether over the top and attached behind the middle seat and the cab.

 

[crash68]

The belt looks easy enough but I believe with rear facing there has to be another tether over the top and attached behind the middle seat and the cab.

A top tether for a rear facing car seat depends on the manufacturer of the car seat and which model it is. Check with the manufacturer of the car seat on tethering requirements.

 

[pilotcld]

Thanks for the pics. I still have him on the passenger side. The belt looks easy enough but I believe with rear facing there has to be another tether over the top and attached behind the middle seat and the cab.

Who made your car seat? When our kids were rear-facing we never had to use the tether. Putting them rear-facing was good enough. The Britax car seats only show to use the tether when using the anchors with a forward facing kid to keep the top of the car seat from lunging forward in an accident

 

[WilliamS]

Ive not seen a top tether on a rear facing so far? Only when they are flipped around to front facing. My daughter is still rear facing but the Crew has a bi more room than the quads. I do know that they are better off behind seats instead of in the middle for barriers to keep them from flying out if something happens to the buckles.

 

[Bheezy27403]

I believe my seat is a Graco and I suppose I should just go look at the manual that came with it eh? Work, work, work.

Thank you guys for replying. I'll look tonight and post some pics if I get it moved.

 

[Bheezy27403]

So I got it moved last night. The little jump seat was plenty big to uphold the 80% coverage required. No upper tether needed according to the manual.

Only issue is that the jump seat has a shoulder belt just like a normal belt. If it were just a lap belt I don't think there would be an issue...but, on the side where the shoulder belt is on the seat is a little raised\cockeyed compared to the other side where both lap and shoulder belt comes through to connect. Don't think it's an issue as it's in there pretty good but I'm into symmetry so it bugs me a little.

I took some pics but I'm a luddite so I'll have to try to figure out how to post. Wish me luck.

 

[Bheezy27403]

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[Bheezy27403]

 

[Bheezy27403]

So you can see in the left pic the passenger side is raised a bit due to the shoulder belt. And on the last pic you can see there is a tiny gap between the car seat and the seat. (there is a little piece of schmutz hanging there but that base should be on the seat I would think.