Safest way to travel with 6 in a pickup?
We have a Dodge Ram 2500 megacab as a tow vehicle. There are five of us -- hubby and I and three kids, ages 6, 7 and 9. In August we're going to a music festival about four hours away. DD9 is brin...
Forum Discussion
Does the center position for your front seat include a "LATCH" system to hook up a child seat?
Normally most child seats are best secured without the seat belt, and only use the LATCH system. IT is steel hooks molded into the seat backs and under the seat cushions. You might have to look hard for the hooks, or you might not have them at all on the front seat.
Not having seen your child seat, I can not say if the lap belt around the seat front will provide sufficient protection. Normally the lap belt is placed around the bottom of the seat, in a designated position made for pre-2005 vehicles without the LATCH system installed at the factory.
If you can secure the seat, then give it a hard tug and pull it to the left and right, and get it into a position where it will not move more than about 6", you should be safe. Basically your seat will not touch the dash, and your 6 YO will be safe. However they might be wishing they still had diapers - just for the added padding. I have found that most child seats do not have more than 1/4" of padding. You might start looking for a pillow, or find someone with a sewing machine (how rare is that nowdays) and cut a pillow down to the size of the seat bottom.
Basically if you have a 14 X 14 area, take a pillow and cut it around 15" long, then sew the last 1" of material together, taking out enough stuffing to leave it only about 1" thick, so it will have more padding than the seat came with.
Have fun!
Fred.
Normally most child seats are best secured without the seat belt, and only use the LATCH system. IT is steel hooks molded into the seat backs and under the seat cushions. You might have to look hard for the hooks, or you might not have them at all on the front seat.
Not having seen your child seat, I can not say if the lap belt around the seat front will provide sufficient protection. Normally the lap belt is placed around the bottom of the seat, in a designated position made for pre-2005 vehicles without the LATCH system installed at the factory.
If you can secure the seat, then give it a hard tug and pull it to the left and right, and get it into a position where it will not move more than about 6", you should be safe. Basically your seat will not touch the dash, and your 6 YO will be safe. However they might be wishing they still had diapers - just for the added padding. I have found that most child seats do not have more than 1/4" of padding. You might start looking for a pillow, or find someone with a sewing machine (how rare is that nowdays) and cut a pillow down to the size of the seat bottom.
Basically if you have a 14 X 14 area, take a pillow and cut it around 15" long, then sew the last 1" of material together, taking out enough stuffing to leave it only about 1" thick, so it will have more padding than the seat came with.
Have fun!
Fred.
