goober

Any one have experience with a baby seat in the back?

Energy25

My experience with baby seats and the SC430 are that an "infant seat" with the harnesses etc. can sit up too high in the back and the opening and closing of the top can be dangerous. Also the front passenger seat needs to obviously be moved forward considerably.

A "booster" seat for toddlers works pretty well in the back - no top opening and closing problems. My son (3 years) and I go for weekend trips to the store and he loves it. When we go it is usually just he and i and I move up the passenger seat as far as it will go (this is my #2 memory setting). Of careful note - I was reading that some complaints were made that the passenger seat can be dangerous if it moves backward on the toddlers legs - something to look out for no doubt. Too my knowledge there is no stop mechanism on the seat when it hits an obstruction other than when the obstruction just stops it. You don't want this to be your child's legs...

I have not attempted to use the front passenger seat for child car seats...

The SC430 is not meant for child seats even though it has latches but with precautions, I really enjoy the time spent with my son and the top down on the weekends!

sc430blue

I have utilized the boosters as well. The only problem I had was that the child was sitting sooo low in the seat that he couldnt see out the windows. He got car sick once as a result. Now that they are a couple years older they cant wait to put the top down and go "super fast".

Weny

igorxx

The manual says to push the front seat back as far as it will go and put the booster seat in the front. The air bags will not go out far enough to reach the child.

beels1

The above statement is a gross mischaracterization of that what the manual says. The manual says to place a booster seat in the front passenger seat ONLY if it is unavoidable. In that case, it does say to put the seat back as far as possible. It does NOT say that the airbags won't go out far enough to reach the child.

igorxx

Information that I have is to pull the front seat all the way back and the bags cannot reach the child. Thats the I do.

BlackLXSC

Are there any particular brands/models that would be recommended for an almost 3 year old child currently @ 30lbs, which fit well enough in the back seat? TIA.

beels1

I've been using a Graco Turbo Booster that seems to work well in the back seat (Item: 117221, Style: 8497VIC). They sell this with or without a removable seatback. Mine has the removable seatback, though I've not tried to use it without the seatback yet since I like the shoulder belt positioning feature you get with the seatback. The booster seat cushion lines up very well with the SC's rear seat cushion.

The booster seatback will be nearly vertical since the SC's back seats are that way, so probably not the most comfortable for a long ride, but my kids haven't complained yet. They like riding in the "fancy" car. They are 4 1/2 & 3 yrs. I usually just have 1 or the other with me, otherwise I'll take another car.

When I have passengers, I usually have either 1 adult or 1 child. I have the one Graco booster I keep behind the passenger seat. The passenger memory is programed with position 1 all the way forward and position 2 all the way backward. In position 1 there is plenty of room to strap in a toddler, almost like a midsize sedan.

I also have a cloth snap on shoulder belt positioner I can use to put the 4 year old in the front and the 3 yr old in back. This scenario is used very rarely as I don't think it is safe having a child in front, but has helped out in a pinch if I have to pick up both kids. A couple of times all 4 of us have gone for a short ride with one of the kids behind me. I have to sacrifice most of my legroom (I'm about 6' 1") as do both kids, but it's fun on a nice evening once in awhile.

Hope this helps.

peaceful97

Yes we have; we have a small kid too. My son is now 15 month old and we always travel with him in the back of the passenger seat and my wife is in the front. We had used the infant car seat and now booster seat they both fit well in the back seat and my kid never got car sick. We go out a lot every weekend to church, visit our parents and others and we use mostly this car; except when it rains then we use our family car the RX330.

To us, the back seat is a must and it’s really useful; we are very happy with this car because it's an excellent car and it has the back seat.

tonydt1g3r

since all you guys got kids riding in the back of your car, what about TV's I know my neice cant live without watching TV in the car, I doubt they can see the nav screen.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

hhaa not sure about kids, but for me it's going to be hard to focus on the screen which is like less than a foot away from me

BlackLXSC

Beels1 - Thanks for the feedback regarding the Graco model information. Peaceful97 - Would you happen to know the brand of the booster seat that you are currently using?

I had traded in the 2002 SC two years ago for the LS, and finally picked up a new 2006 SC Black/Black last night. Can't wait to get a car seat in there to take my son out for a ride.

peaceful97

BlackLXSC - I have a COSCO booster seat. However, The one in my RX330 is much bigger than the one in my SC430 and it is also COSCO. So what I did was, I went to Baby R Us store and looked for the smallest one and it happened to be also a COSCO brand and it fits in the back of our cars perfectly.

BlackLXSC

I purchased the Graco Turbo Booster seat this morning. We currently use the Britax Marathon in both the LX (seat belt straps) and the LS (latch straps). I noticed that none of the booster seats use a latch mechanism, and instead rely on the car's seat belt to hold down the child and the seat. Are the booster seats secure by themselves in the SC without a child sitting in them, and if not, do you guys lock the booster down with the seat belt even when your child is not using the seat?

TIA.

peaceful97

I got the one that support 3 latches, 2 on the bottom and one on the top. So the booster seat is locked down by itself.

I read somewhere that the latches lock down the car seat or booster is much better than the car seat belt; therefore I always look for the one that has latches to lock down the seat and use the car/booster belt to secure the baby.