Originally Posted by
rgors
I think in some cars, it IS hard to do a RFing install except in the middle seat. True, RF is not technically required to be in the middle, but the reality for small cars with tall drivers is that middle seat is the only realistic option.
Regarding the other responses to this point in the thread, I really hesitate to tell another parent that their child WILL stop screaming eventually if left RF, and not turned FF. I have a wonderful, well-educated, maternally-intuitive safety-concerned friend -- she is a great mom in my book -- who sadly turned her kid FF soon after 1, because the kid screamed RF and was too distracting to the driver. I have no doubt that my friend knew her daughter best, and made the safest decision for her family at the time. She was always taking one hand off the wheel and twisting, to reach back and comfort the RF kid. Very unsafe.
I think some of the things that can be off-putting, when it comes to carseat-safety, is that advocates and experts either readily dismiss a parent's realistic usability concerns, or at least do not validate that it is a true issue for a parent. Thus the questioning parent feels defensive, the safety advocates' credibility for understanding the real world is diminished, and eventually the avenues of communication get shut down.