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Car Seats
Yahoo Message Number: 97254
We have a 1987 22' FL.  Our daughter is seven months old and will be in a car seat for several more years.  The barrel chairs have seatbelts, however because of the chair's worn cushion, the car seat moves up and down pretty easily, even while secured in the seatbelt.
This makes us a little uncomfortable.  The sofa does not have seatbelts.  We traveled last week with the car seat in the front passenger's chair.  My seven-month old daughter was my co-pilot for the afternoon and early evening.  It was cute.  We are considering purchasing replacement RV lap belts and installing them on the sofa.
I will use my dad's 30' IB as a model.  In the past, we've put the car seat on his sofa for camping trips.

My question, do any of you have experience with car seats in your LD?  If so, can you tell us where you have put the car seat?  Also, has anybody installed seatbelts on the sofa?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Rob, Maria and Selah
Re: Car Seats
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97263
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My question, do any of you have experience with car seats in your LD?  If so, can you tell us where you have put the car seat?
Also,

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has anybody installed seatbelts on the sofa?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Rob, Maria and Selah
Howdy-
 When I've had the "tribe" as we call the 6 grandkids, we have either put the car seat in the front passenger seat or in the dinette.  I do have 3 belts in the dinette, and one on the rear sofa.  The dinette allows books and coloring possibilities, but depending on the car seat style, it might be tight.  These all seem to be extra long belts, too.

Lisa and Blue 1990 Multi-plan
Re: Car Seats
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97269
we have either
 
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put the car seat in the front passenger seat or in the dinette.

 I've always been under the impression that car seats must face forward; i.e., in the passenger's seat (probably not the best place, particularly if there's a passenger side air bag) or at the dinette as Lisa mentioned, rather than side-facing as they would be at a couch or chair.

Linda Hylton http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=1167 http://earl-linda.blogspot.com/
Linda Hylton
Re: Car Seats
Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97272
"Linda & Earl Hylton"  wrote: I've always been under the impression that car seats must face forward; i.e., in the passenger's seat (probably not the best place, particularly if there's a passenger side air bag) --- Currently, we have a whole raft of various stages and ages of 'young' in our family, and this is my experience with car seats and booster seats:

The back seat of the vehicle is *always* the car seat placement (if there is a back seat.) Premature babies and infants are strapped into *rear-facing* infant seats; when the child reaches 20 pounds, they can ride in a front-facing child car seat. From 20-40 pounds, the child graduates to a child 'booster seat'; all the seats are in the vehicle's back seat area. Kids should ride in the back seats (of regular vehicles) until they're about 12.

Googling for car seat laws will bring up many sites, but since I'm not planning to haul any of the family pups in my motorhome until they have passed through the 'sticky' stages, one would have to do a bit of research to find out the legality and advisability of strapping their car seats into a 'side-facing' couch area in an RV.
I've seen this done, of course; it's really the only *practical* way to transport kids in an RV (well, besides caging them ), but the 'law' and 'practicality' don't necessarily always agree.

At any rate, strapping babies and kids into car seats sure beats flinging your arm across the passenger seat to keep the kid from doing a faceplant into the dashboard! (I'm showing my age by admitting that I *still* do this!)

Joan
2003 TK has a new home
Re: Car Seats
Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97275
I have been struggling and researching this issue for some time and have yet to find a satisfactory solution.

Basically I have one place
2007 MB
Re: Car Seats
Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97279
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...The back seat of the vehicle is *always* the car seat placement (if there is a back seat.) ...
Googling for car seat laws will bring up many sites, ... one would have to do a bit of research to find out the legality and advisability of strapping their car seats into a 'side-facing' couch area in an RV.
Since the laws of physics are stricter than any state laws, those are the ones I heed.  My grandson rides shotgun, since I have no airbag and the other seats in my Twin/king floorplan are on the rear sofas with seat belts that are attached to the coach framework.
 We should remember that all those rules about car seats facing back or forward, etc., are of necessity based on various assumptions.  Key assumptions are that the car seat is in a car (vs an RV that far outweighs any car) and that the main forces of the collision impact will be forward, as if the car was running into the testing-center wall.  Well, of course that's not always the case, the forces in a collision can come from any direction.  All of these forces would be different in any collision that an RV would be involved in and frankly with the relative risk of rollover or other side impact, I would be just as comfortable with a side-facing seat as with a front-facing one.
 My LD came with two seat belts in the back, and I installed two more; when choosing a length, be sure to account for the entire distance from the anchoring point.

Joanne in Boston NE-44
Re: Car Seats
Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97282
wrote: All of these forces would be different in any collision that an RV would be involved in and frankly with the relative risk of rollover or other side impact, I would be just as comfortable with a side-facing seat as with a front-facing one.
--- I agree.  JMHO, but as long as the car seat is age/weight appropriate and 'anchored', connected correctly to the vehicle's seat (and this is not always a 'given'; see website suggestion below), and the child is strapped properly into the car seat, I think that the baby/child is safe in a 'side-facing' seat.

This site may be helpful:

http://www.seatcheck.org/

Joan
2003 TK has a new home
Re: Car Seats
Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97292
If there is a toad along for the ride, perhaps an adult could drive it with kiddies in car seats as required.

Virtual hugs,

Judie Grounded in - Sierra Vista, Arizona
Re: Car Seats
Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97295
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the afternoon and early evening.  It was cute.  We are considering purchasing replacement RV lap belts and installing them on the sofa.
I will use my dad's 30' IB as a model.  In the past, we've put the car seat on his sofa for camping trips.
In the FL the water tank sits under the sofa, so there is no secure way to attach seatbelts. If you remove the cushions and slide-out platform, you will see a thin panel that is screwed down. Remove the screws and panel, and you will see what the problem is.

The floor is a sandwich of 3/8" plywood, 1.5" styrofoam, and 3/4" plywood on the bottom. The seatbelts under the barrel chairs are bolted through a framing stud at the foam level, so they pass entirely through solid wood. Wherever you bolt down seatbelts, you will have to find a hidden framing stud, then have access to the both ends for bolting through. You must not use lag bolts.

Steve
2004 FL
2013 Honda Fit
Re: Car Seats
Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 97318
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If there is a toad along for the ride, perhaps an adult could drive it with kiddies in car seats as required.

Virtual hugs,

Judie Grounded in - Sierra Vista, Arizona
Judie's suggestion makes the most sense to me, if you're traveling with children or infants small enough to need a car seat or booster seat.  Even if you don't have a toad and need to rent a car to drive to your destination, along with the LD, it sounds like a safer alternative than using the questionable seat belt positions in some LD models. Older children, who are large enough not to have to use a booster seat, probably would be OK in any of the factory-installed seat belt positions.  I tend to err on the side of safety whenever possible.

Sharon N.
'02 30'TB

Crossville, TN