Oct 31 2008
Photo Friday: 6 Carseats in a Minivan
I know this isn’t a typical travel photo, but since all of our journeys are done by car, carseats are a big part of our life.
As a child passenger safety technician, (CPST or “carseat tech”), I love to play around with different seat combinations to see what can fit.
This past spring, a friend and I went on an adventure together. We had my four kids and her two girls, with an age range of 2-7, and I was delighted that I could get them all into our Toyota Sienna safely.
In the back row, I had my 5-year-old in a Britax Husky, her 5-year-old in a Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe, and her 3-year-old in a Cosco Scenera.
In the middle row, I had my 7-year-old in a Britax Parkway booster (which we took out at each stop for 3rd-row access), my 2-year-old rear-facing in a Britax Marathon, and my 4-year-old in a forward-facing Britax Marathon.
The brands of the seats aren’t so important for safety, but the types of seats are. Kids in harnessed seats are safer in a crash than kids in boosters, so even the three kids who would meet the requirements for riding in a booster were in harnessed seats. Infants and toddlers are safer rear-facing than forward-facing until they meet the height and/or weight limits of the seat, so my youngest remained rear-facing until she met the weight limit at age 2 1/2. And although my seven-year-old has long since passed the requirements of Minnesota for being in a child restraint, he will remain in a booster until he meets the 5-step test for fitting a regular seatbelt.
Each of the seats in this configuration had a good independent install, meaning that although it might have been touching another seat, it was still securely installed when the other seats were removed.
Are you wondering if your children’s carseats are installed correctly, or if they’re in the right type of seat, or if you have them harnessed properly? The best way to be sure is to have your seats checked by a CPST to be sure your kids are as safe as they can be.
To see more Photo Friday fun (and more exciting pictures than the ones I’ve offered today!), head over to DeliciousBaby.
Note: This is a 2006 Toyota Sienna, which is a dream for installing carseats. Toyota redesigned the Sienna for the 2011 model year and it no longer has as many LATCH positions, nor do I think it is allowed to put a carseat in the center-row center position of the new models.
lol. My day care provider I believe has the same car (a gold Sienna) and he has it loaded up just the same. Even a few of the same carseats! So cute to see all the kids loaded in…they go to the Library, the Park, and to pick up big sister from school on bad weather days.
Thanks for the great links on car seat safety!
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We are also using harness car seat for my 6 years old. I feel much better knowing that I provide her with the safetest transportation as long as she can. She complains a bit since most of her friends either out of car seat or move to booster seat already.
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Hey, thanks for the link to the 5-step test for a regular seatbelt – I hadn’t ever heard of that before. I’ll be checking my boys against that this evening.
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I love this post.
Especially the pictures! I’ve done a 3-across in my Focus a few times (not easy!) and I always like looking at it when I do.
BookMama’s last blog post..Final Fitting
This is a great post! My daughter is six in four days (SNIFF) and tall forher age, so she could ahve been in a booster seat for the past two years. However we have chosen to leave her in her marathon until she no longer can fit it. I just feel so much safer knowing that she is in a 5 point harness. My son also rode rear facing longer then he had to and now is safely forward facing in his marathon seat as well!
Wow, that’s a lot of seatbelts to have to assist with. You and your friend much be quite adventurous, did you go far?
Christine’s last blog post..Chicago Public Library Sees Jump in Circulation
I laughed so hard when I opened up this post. Remember when we were kids and just thrown in the jump seat?
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Oh, this brought back memories! I don’t miss the car seats though– mine are now 15, 13 and 11.
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So came across your post while trying to see if it’s possible to configure 3 RF recaro prorides, 1 recaro prosport, and two compass full back booster seats in my 2006 sienna.
Right now I have the two boosters in the rear row, 1 RF proride in the middle center, and the prosport in side captian chair of the middle row.
Am preggers again and wondering if I could accomidate twins without buying a full sized van nor buy infant carrier seats. I really like convertables, and seats with full length foam padding. My babies always grow long and lean quickly too. My van looks like yours…only mine is not as clean as yours.
I think my van has 5 latch spots…
Rear passenger Rear Center Rear Driver
latch ? latch no latch
Center passenger Center Center Center Driver
latch latch latch
Any suggestions?
You should have 5 LATCH spots, as that’s the same model/year we have.
Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with the Recaro seats (or any of the new seats for that matter, as we’re fully in boosters now). If you can find a carseat discussion board, they might be able to help you more.
I will say, however, that one obstacle will be 3rd row access. You’ll probably need to put a booster in a center row outboard position, and then remove it for 3rd row access. You’d probably want to try to get three installed seats in the 3rd row, rather than a booster, because it will be tight and hard to buckle a booster. Also, I’d recommend a seatbelt install rather than using the lower LATCH anchors because the lower anchors overlap the seatbelt by quite a bit.
If you can find a carseat tech to help puzzle it together, or have enough seats to try it, you’ve got a better chance of getting it to work in this vehicle than in most any other. It will take some time and patience to find a combination that works (and may require looking at some different seat options). Good look with your quest!
Linda