nvorsanger
11-11-2004, 12:17 AM
Could I get some advice on how to plan for three kids’ seating needs?
I drive a 1999 Volvo V70. This complicates matters because it is going to be tough to squeeze a kid’s seat in the middle position, because of the location of the seatbelt “receivers.” (I have no idea what the correct word is—what I mean is the part that you fasten the lap & shoulder belts into.) They come up from the bottom, & are only about a foot apart, so they interfere with the base of most carseats.
Anyway, my son is 4 months old & is just too tall for his SnugRide; I can barely fasten the straps now. My daughter is 2 ½, 29 or so pounds, & about 36” tall. She is in a Roundabout. When I look at where her shoulders hit the seat, it seem she will soon be too tall for it, although I know officially she has till she reaches 40 inches. My nearly 8-year-old stepdaughter still needs a booster, & we need to get a new one too—though what will fit in that middle position of the Volvo, I can’t guess.
First the younger kids: I want to move my son out of the SnugRide & into the RA. But what should I get my daughter to replace it? My ideal would be a combo seat, so that she could stay in it till she didn’t need any kind of special seat at all. But I don’t want to consider any but the Cosco Summit, because of Consumer Reports’ warning on potentially unsafe straps in booster mode for all other combo models. But I see that the Cosco’s top harness is low, plus I’ve read lots of complaints about it.
Given how tall my son is, I’m thinking he might outgrow the RA fast, so maybe I shouldn’t buy another one. Maybe a Marathon instead, first for my daughter, then my son? (Hopefully, by the time my son would need the Marathon, my stepdaughter would no longer need the booster, so my daughter could then take it over.) Or should I consider the Graco Platinum Cargo but only for use with the harness—again hoping that when my daughter outgrows it, she will be ready for my stepdaughter’s booster? Seems to me I could get longer use out of the Marathon, but I worry that older kids might not want the harness—has anyone faced a resistant child on that issue?
Then there is the issue of size—how cramped will my poor stepdaughter be if she’s wedged in between a Marathon & an RA? And does anyone have a recommendation for a good booster for her—one that will not only fit in between her siblings’ seats, but also have a narrow base that might actually fit between those seatbelt receivers?
Oh—this is so long! I’m sorry! I hope it makes sense. I'm trying to minimize the number of seats I buy, if at all possible. Any advice—on any aspect of this—would be great. THANKS.
I drive a 1999 Volvo V70. This complicates matters because it is going to be tough to squeeze a kid’s seat in the middle position, because of the location of the seatbelt “receivers.” (I have no idea what the correct word is—what I mean is the part that you fasten the lap & shoulder belts into.) They come up from the bottom, & are only about a foot apart, so they interfere with the base of most carseats.
Anyway, my son is 4 months old & is just too tall for his SnugRide; I can barely fasten the straps now. My daughter is 2 ½, 29 or so pounds, & about 36” tall. She is in a Roundabout. When I look at where her shoulders hit the seat, it seem she will soon be too tall for it, although I know officially she has till she reaches 40 inches. My nearly 8-year-old stepdaughter still needs a booster, & we need to get a new one too—though what will fit in that middle position of the Volvo, I can’t guess.
First the younger kids: I want to move my son out of the SnugRide & into the RA. But what should I get my daughter to replace it? My ideal would be a combo seat, so that she could stay in it till she didn’t need any kind of special seat at all. But I don’t want to consider any but the Cosco Summit, because of Consumer Reports’ warning on potentially unsafe straps in booster mode for all other combo models. But I see that the Cosco’s top harness is low, plus I’ve read lots of complaints about it.
Given how tall my son is, I’m thinking he might outgrow the RA fast, so maybe I shouldn’t buy another one. Maybe a Marathon instead, first for my daughter, then my son? (Hopefully, by the time my son would need the Marathon, my stepdaughter would no longer need the booster, so my daughter could then take it over.) Or should I consider the Graco Platinum Cargo but only for use with the harness—again hoping that when my daughter outgrows it, she will be ready for my stepdaughter’s booster? Seems to me I could get longer use out of the Marathon, but I worry that older kids might not want the harness—has anyone faced a resistant child on that issue?
Then there is the issue of size—how cramped will my poor stepdaughter be if she’s wedged in between a Marathon & an RA? And does anyone have a recommendation for a good booster for her—one that will not only fit in between her siblings’ seats, but also have a narrow base that might actually fit between those seatbelt receivers?
Oh—this is so long! I’m sorry! I hope it makes sense. I'm trying to minimize the number of seats I buy, if at all possible. Any advice—on any aspect of this—would be great. THANKS.