Infant seat for Volvo XC70 and Nissan Titan???

[seeks1]

Hi! I am 13 weeks along with my first and being a total freak about researching my best baby gear options. :-)

I need help with the right car seat. I am looking at the Britax Companion, the Peg Perego, the Chicco Key fit and the Snug ride.

We have a 2004 Volvo XC70 (yes I had the kid wagon before the kids but the dog loves it!) and a 2005 Crew Cab Nissan Titan.

My concerns are my volvo has latch on the outboard seats and kinda bucket seats in the back. Can I put a seat in the center? My other concern is the truck, while it is 4 doors and spacious, the seat bottom seems short to me.

Is there one of the seats I mentioned that will fit well in both vehicles? I want the safest one I can get.

Thanks for your help!!!

[jtamm]

We are out of the infant car seats now and have DD age 21 months in a Britax Roundabout in the center seat of our 2005 Volvo V70. The
seat is attached with the seat belt in the center spot which works out just fine - it does take a bit to get it installed correctly. I thought Baby Bargains rated the Britax line about the safest (not sure about the infant models though) - but be sure to check the latest book & updates.

I would check the bases for the car seats you are considering and make sure they can use a seat belt to attach. Then you should have the flexibility of spots to use. We have an older sedan (1992 BMW 318i) and used the Graco Snugride base with a seat belt.

Sorry I can't help you with the Titan.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the child won't be in the infant seat very long - a neighbor just had her 4 month old grow out of the infant carrier... a bigger issue for us was how the next seat would fit into our cars.

Is there a friend/neighbor that has one of the car seats you could try before you buy? When I bought our snugride travel system at BRUS they let me take the floor model of the stroller out into my car to make sure it would fit in our sedan trunk... maybe you could do that with the car seat...

HTH
-Julia

[kijip]

Try before you buy, get it checked by a CPS tech and keep the sales slips in case you need to return it.

All of the infant seats you mentioned are safe in a lot of cars. Of the list, my personal preference would be to knock the Peg Perego off the list. The base is a beast and hard to work with and only the newest ones (not sold widely yet) can be used without the base. If you get a SnugRide look for the newest ones with the higher 29 inch, 22 pound limits. The KeyFit is getting positive comments from techs but I have not worked with it yet. The Companion is a bit heavy. Really, any could be a great seat for you- you need to try them in the cars and she how YOU like them!

As for the Titan crew cab truck- 80% of the base of the carseat must be on the vehicle seat. So some overhang is fine provided the install is tight. One thing you might do is to just get a convertible like the Britax Roundabout and install it in the truck for use from birth (use the tether!). Infant carseat bases can be really large and leaving the seat in the truck is an advantage in the tight cabin situation IMO!

Regarding the side LATCH versus the center position- outboard is fine. Your baby does not have to be in the center. Mine really never was due to an unaccomodating hump in the center of my vehicle seat. I am a car safety obsessed freak (thus my motivation to become a volunteer CPS Tech!) and outboard was fine for me given my car and the fact that we hope to have another child and not all kids will get to sit in the middle! That said, you can use the regular seat belt (not LATCH) to install the seat in the center.

Good luck! Try not to get too gear obsessed- it can get really time consuming and tiring and you have 2 more trimesters to go!! Enjoy the pregnancy and take care of yourself.

[seeks1]

Thanks Katie! I will try them out before and keep my receipts.

I like your idea of going ahead and getting the convertible seat. We will both be driving the baby a good bit once I go back to work so we need both cars to have a seat. It will be more affordable in the long run to go ahead and buy one convertible instead of an extra base.

I had heard that sometimes the convertible seats are just a little too big for a newborn but by 12 weeks, the baby should fit comfortably, right?

[kijip]

The RA and other Britax convertibles are rated for use from 5 pounds. All but the smallest babies generally fit from birth. A lot of people just assume the infant seat is the safest/snuggest/most comfy from birth when much of it features are really a parent's convenience. The base of a RA will likely fit entirely on your vehicle seat in the crew cab (I have never installed a seat in a Titan- just other trucks!).