Where is your carseat - Left.Middle.Right

moped wrote: Just wondering if you put your childs carseat in the middle, left or right side. Reason I am asking is that we are taking a big drive soon and have a ton of stuff to take, so if I took the carseat away from the middle and put it on the left or right I could fold one of the other side seats down - ya know? BUT I always thought it was best to have it in the middle for safety.

AlexsPajamaMama replied:
Me too

We have Alex's carseat in the middle

moped replied: That ' s what I thought

booey2 replied: We had the seat in the middle until we had Thomas and had to move his over to put Thomas in. Thomas then sat in the middle til he was turned around forward facing. Now they both sit on the sides, one behind DH and one behind me.

MyLuvBugs replied: Lorelei's seat is right behind the driver, and the new baby's seat is sorta in the middle. I have a Saturn Vue so I couldn't quite get the car seats side by side exactly...the car's too narrow. But the baby's seat isn't all the way behind the passenger either.

coasterqueen replied: Well we have two so they are each side, but middle is preferred if you can. If not the passenger side is safer, less car accidents proven on that side.

C&K*s Mommie replied: To answer the question, because we have two children we have it both on either side of the middle. It was not until Christian was nearly one yrs old that I knew that it is better to have them in the middle of the back seat.

Our Lil' Family replied: When, and until, I got into my accident Thomas was behind the passenger seat. The driver of the other vehicle hit my front passenger side and that was just too close for comfort for me, so now he is in the middle.
The reason I had him on the end was because the middle seat belt in my Jeep was just a lap belt and I felt the full belt held the car seat in better. Now in my TrailBlazer though, the middle seat has a full seat belt so it works perfectly now.

luvmykids replied: One in each spot

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
ditto

moped replied: Monica and Rocky - those must be very full vehicles eh?

Kaitlin'smom replied: I have a van so she is on the passinger side. I am not comfortable with her all the way in the back to be in the middle.

kristy-n-chad replied: Abram is in the middle, Noah behind the driver.

moped replied: SO I guess if I have to move it I should put it behind the driver??

3xsthefun replied: Well since I have two kids they ride on each side.

TheOaf66 replied: we have ours on the left, behind the driver. I personally think it is safer on one side or other.

Momof3inMe replied: We have a van so the boys take the back seat and the girls are in the front.

coasterqueen replied:
well if I remember correctly I was told the passenger side is the safest. I did research on it LONG ago that is probably posted some where on here about the % of crashes on each side of the car.

But obviously a crash can happen on either side of the car, like a pp mentioned. So the other side to them is safer. Tables turned, if I had a wreck and got hit on the drivers side I'd think the passenger side was safer. The key to it is how many crashes happen more likely on one side vs. another? Which I believe I posted about this at one other time.

3_call_me_mama replied: We have a van, so they are one on each side. When the baby is born, Cameron will go to the way back, Kathleen will move to passenger side and the baby will be behind the driver. We were told during our birthing class for Cameron that Drivers are more likely to protect themselves during a crash than the passenger side so therefore teh infant would be protected as well as teh driver.... but if it's true or not I don't know.

MyBrownEyedBoy replied: Logan sits in the middle. Unless I have an adult in the back or a lot of stuff. Then he sits behind the passenger seat, that way I can see him.

coasterqueen replied: Here is what I found on Car-Safety dot org. http://www.car-safety.org/faq.html#Q40

So the say it's slightly better on the passenger side, so I guess since there's not much difference in percentages you could do either one.

I'll still try to see if I can find the sheet I posted before as far as the %'s of crashes on each area of the car.

siblingtoolivia replied: I remember reading in the car seat directions that if your middle seat in back has a fold down thing - you know for drinks, arm rest, etc. that you aren't supposed to put the car seat there?? I always had Olivia in teh middle in the Durango but now that we have the van we have a bench seat and she is on the driver's side the baby will be there and Olivia will slide over once the baby arrives.....

I am more comfortable with her on the side in teh van since it doesn't seem that the car seat is right next to the door like it was in teh truck or my husband's car (in which case right now she is in the middle until baby comes and then no choice except to have one on each side...)

moped replied: Thanks so much for all your input.......

Karen, you are the google godess!!!!!

Our truck doesn't have the drink fold down things, I mean the whole seat can fold forward.

ZandersMama replied: we keep zander in the middle as much as we can, but were told if we cant do the middle for whatever reason, to put him in the passanger side. If you are on the highway, its more likely for someone to hit the drivers side then passanger.

coasterqueen replied:
A google goddess, huh? Nah, just visited that safety website a lot when deciding what was the safest seats and positions for the girls .

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: We have Wesley behind the passenger side and Wil behind the driver side. We can't have anyone in the middle with two carseats. They won't fit, but it would be my first choice for Wesley if we could.

luvmykids replied:
I like it that way though, my Excursion seated 8 but the whole thing was just too stinkin big.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Tanner has always been on the left.

paradisemommy replied: we have taven behind the driver seat and i have skyler in the passenger seat..when they are smaller, i like to be able to be next to her so that i can see what she is doing and if she needs anything instead of in the back seat where i can't see her since she's turned around..

Mommy2Isabella replied: we have her seat set up in the middle of the first seat ... lol I drive an explorer but it has an additional row of seating so you get all the seats of an expedition, just not all the space ... lol

We were told the middle, we had it hooked up on the passenger side but my mom said it is suppossed to go in the middle if it can

Boo&BugsMom replied: Does anyone else have a law in their state based on when a child can go in the front seat? Children are not allowed to go in the front seats in WI until they are 4 years old. WI just passed a lot of carseat laws recently.

moped replied: Funny you should ask that because jsut last night there was something on the news about children riding int he front......i only caught the last part, but i mentioned being 80 pounds......that might be wrong....and a certian age and height

youngmomofone replied: My dd's seat doesnt fit right in the middle (slides around too much) so she was on the drivers side but I put her on the passenger side since I had to take it out to go some where with a friend the other day.

CantWait replied: Anthony's is on the passenger side, Robbie sits behind the driver because the carseat is to big to go there when Ron drives, and the middle of the car is to small.

PrairieMom replied: The Boy is behind the driver and baby girl is behind the passenger

My3LilMonkeys replied: In my car, Brooke is behind driver and Madison behind passenger (middle seatbelt is broken).

In DH's, Brooke is behind driver and Madison is middle.

Does anyone else automatically put the smaller kid in the safer spot? I am curious if that is just me.

coasterqueen replied:
Yes, I chose to put Megan on the passenger side of our vehicles and Kylie is on the drivers side.