Booster in back seat of Ford F150

[megdoyon]

Hi everyone. I'm hoping someone can help me. I was driving my husband's Ford F150 this morning with my 4 y/o daughter in the backseat in her brand new Britax Parkway booster. She is 35 pounds and 38 1/2 inches, so she just meets the requirements.

Anyway, I had to stop short and when I did she told me that her seat belt did not lock and that she bumper her head on the back of the driver's seat. She is fine, she said she bumped it on the soft part of the seat (the headrest, I guess). My seat belt did not lock, either. I wasn't going fast at all when I stopped short.

My 6 y/o son rides in his Compass Booster in that truck, also.

The truck has the type of seat belts that lock if you pull them all the way out and then slide them back, then they can't pull out anymore (does that make sense?).

My question is Should I have the seatbelts locked when the kids are in the boosters?

Or is there a better booster seat that I can get for this truck?

Meg

[Joolsplus2]

I'd probably go ahead and lock them in, especially since those boosters are so easy to extract (the bodyguard, for instance, is nearly impossible to get out of a locked seatbelt!).
Sometimes, too, it takes kids awhile to 'learn' to ride in a booster...they tend to really fly all over the place for the first few (or few dozen) rides before they learn to move with the car and understand how the seatbelt holds them in loosely compared to the harness, so that might be a factor in it, too. But I heard the whisp of a rumor once that it's actually possibly a problem with a lot of seatbelts not locking *quite* fast enough for optimal protection, and until everyone gets pretensioners in all seating positions (they are common in front seats), it's really not a bad idea to lock seatbelts if possible. I still want to see more studies on that, so I'm not telling everyone to always lock their boostered kids in, but since it's not harmful to do, go ahead and do it.

:)
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[mattypies]

What year is your truck? Is it a 4 door or 2 door? Do you have head rests?

My dh drives a 2005 ford F 150 Super cab (4 doors) and I ask all these questions because I have not found a booster that will fit in the outboard positions without leaving a gap between the booster and the seat back. I verified with Britax that the Parkway has to fit flush against the seat back and because the headrests are not removeable this is impossible in his truck. My dd rides outboard in her Marathon and ds rides center in a turbo booster (no headrest in the middle).

I am wondering if the Parkway is "fitting" properly in the truck (no gap/space between the booster back and the vehicle seat back), perhaps this would account for your dd moving forward and hitting the seat.

HTH,

Heather

[megdoyon]

Hi Heather (that's my daughter's name, btw).

The truck is a 2001 and it's 4 doors, but the back 2 doors open the other way, so it looks like a 2 door from the outside (does that make sense)?

Anyway, dh came home and pulled on the seat belt really hard and got it to lock, so I'm thinking she just doesn't weigh enough to make it lock. Then again, my seat belt didn't lock either, so maybe it would have locked if it was a crash situation or if I had been going faster when I stopped short. Either way, I don't want to find out. I'm going to have to start locking the seat belts in the truck. For her and DS. There's no other way. I talked to my neighbor and she locks the seat belts in her dh's truck. If not, they might as well not be strapped in at all.

My dd doesn't ride in his truck very often at this point. I had his truck today, b/c my car was in the shop. But my ds rides in his truck every day when my husband drives him to school (in his Graco Turbo Booster, which seems to fit well in the back seat - I'll double check for gaps on both boosters). Heather will be starting at that school in the fall, so he will be dropping her off as well starting in september.

What about a booster that doesn't have the wide gap where the seat belt goes? I don't know all the terminology, so I'm sorry if I'm not explaining this very well. Heather was in a Century car seat w/ the 5 point harness in his truck and the britax roundabout in my chrysler pacifica. It was too hard to strap the harness straps on the RA when she was wearing her winter clothes. She doesn't wear a coat in the car seat, but even with a bulky sweater it was too tight. So, we switched her to the booster in my car. I still have the Century car seat that can be used as a booster. It has the clip where the seat belt goes. I didn't think these were good as booster seats b/c I heard that if a child leans forward and the seat belt goes forward with them, the seat belt does not retract when the child sits back.

I don't know what to do. I might just go see my car seat check person and get his advice.

I'd love to hear more thoughts on this.

Meg

[megdoyon]

Thank you. I don't think it's harmful either. I think locking the seat belts is the best thing I can do at this point.

Meg