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View Full Version : What are the advantages, if any, of putting a Frontier on the side seat?



Kymberley
02-25-2012, 02:06 PM
I hope this post makes sense. DS will be graduating from a Como to a Frontier in a week or so. I drive a Nissan Xterra that sits up very high, so whenever I put DS in his center-positioned seat, I have to climb in with him, strap him in, and climb back out. And I do mean climb. This isn't a huge deal, but I just wanted to put that out there. The back seat area of the Xterra is...not spacious. In fact it's ridiculously small IMO. If anyone ever rides in the back seat, they are smooshed. The Como has a huge base, so I'm hoping that with this gone there will be a tiny bit more room for other passengers, but I'm not counting on it. If I were to put the Frontier by a door (I know there is a "word" for this position, but I'm having a serious brain fart. Forgive me), it would have to be on the passenger side. I can see a couple of advantages to this: It would be easier to reach him from the driver seat if I needed to hand him something, and it might possibly be easier to strap him into the seat. It would also create more space for any back seat passenger. He would have more leg room on the passenger side rather than the driver side because DH must extend the seat back really far to accommodate his mile long legs when he drives. Of course, DS would have the most leg room in the center and I wouldn't have to worry about child locks on the doors.

ANYWAY, I guess my real question is this: Do I keep the Frontier in the center or move it by a door? Also, is his safety compromised at all if his is by a door? TIA!

mom2binsd
02-25-2012, 02:57 PM
Outboard is the word you were searching for.....with the side impact protection of the frontier you would be fine. He should be able pretty quickly to do the harness himself I think mine were about 4.5 when they could do it by themselves. I love our frontier!

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk

Joolsplus2
02-25-2012, 02:57 PM
Once I had two kids, I had to change my mantra from 'center is the safest' to 'any back seat position is very, very safe'. So now they all pretty much ride outboard (that's the word). Do you have curtain airbags in the back? And if not, being harnessed and top tethered in a FR with the big headwings adds a good layer of protection. You should only have to put the passenger side door on child lock mode, so passengers behind the driver won't be locked in. Anyway, couldn't hurt to try both positions and see which has the best install and really is most convenient for you...I move my kids around all the time :)

Kymberley
02-25-2012, 03:23 PM
Thanks for the replies, and Outboard!! LOL! My brain just could not remember that!

I'll play around with the configurations. No curtain airbags in the back, so I'm good. Yay! Thanks again!

Joolsplus2
02-25-2012, 04:53 PM
Well, curtains are fine, I was just saying, you're good with them, you're fine without them :). Tell us how it goes!

Kymberley
02-25-2012, 05:14 PM
Well, curtains are fine, I was just saying, you're good with them, you're fine without them :). Tell us how it goes!

Oh okay! I misunderstood. Thanks again, and I'll update when it arrives! :)