what is the smallest infant seat for the rear passenger side?
Do you have problems with my 2008 Saturn Vue. Latch system is on the side only as the seat of the safest on the pages. I have a Graco travel system safeseat now and I have to pull the passenger seat all the way up to fit the child seat in the back. It is not pleasant to have someone ride in the front passenger when the seat in the back. I am looking for the smallest available. Please let me know if you had this problem and what you ended up with the place.
March 31st, 2010 at 7:31 pm
You should be able to use the two inner LATCH points to connect the infant seat, our Focus only has the four attachment points on the rear bench, and we have our newborn’s seat in the middle and big brother’s seat behind the passenger seat. and they must have made Vues smaller, or the Graco seat is bigger than my Evenflo Discovery seat, because we have never had problems fitting the Discovery seat in my father in law’s ’03 Vue. see if you can use the two middle connectors to put it in the middle, or maybe switch to a Discovery infant seat.
March 31st, 2010 at 7:59 pm
So you can’t put place it in the middle, huh? I had the same problem w/ Eddie Bayer car seat (it is so huge) – it was uncomfortable to sit for someone in the front too (4runner), so everyone sat in the back. Now, that my baby is older I bought him First years convertible car seat at Costco – I installed it in the middle, really good position for everyone. It probably doesn’t really depend on the car – it just the way they make these car seats.
March 31st, 2010 at 8:25 pm
First off, you are not allowed to use the 2 inner latched to put the seat in the middle like the first answer said. At least where I am its against the law and you get a huge fine. I found it hard with the infant seat too. I had an Evenflo Aura. I recently got my 3 month old a convertable carseat. Its an Evenflo symphany and it fits in our little car (chevy cobalt) very well with lots of room. I know that doesnt help much with the infant seat, but maybe you will want to switch to a convertable seat sooner.
March 31st, 2010 at 9:09 pm
According to CarSeatData.org the compatible carseats for a 2008 Saturn Vue are:
Britax Boulevard
Britax Marathon
Graco Snugride
Here’s the website link so you can check for yourself and read the reviews by the owners of the cars and carseats:
http://www.carseatdata.org
Hope this helps!
March 31st, 2010 at 9:22 pm
I had a similar problem with my saturn Ion. These cars are not made for children. I rode home from the hospital after a c-section with my knees around my ears because the passenger seat had to be all the way forward and could not be reclined at all to get the evenflo cars eat we originally purchased to fit.
I went out the next day to find a new car seat. After trying multiple models in my car I went with the baby trend flex lock infant carrier. This car seat is also on the top 3 infant carriers by consumer reports, which does independent crash testing. It runs 100 dollars at target and babies r us but I got mine at baby depot (inside Burlington coat factory) for 80 dollars.
It has a smaller footprint than other car seats and the angle of the seat back allows me to put my seats about half way back, which is the most I could manage out of any car seat I tried and much better than being all the way forward, I have no problems with any passengers in my car except for the people that are exceptionally tall (my husband is 6’4″ and would prefer a tiny bit more more) but even they will fit just not as comfortably as they would with more room.
Other features of this car seat are the triangular shaped handle which makes it easier to carry, the built in head support that adjusts as your baby grows, which has the shoulder straps attached to it so there is no feeding the shoulder straps through little slots when your baby grows, you just turn a knob in the back and they are now higher up on the back of the seat. It also has front adjustment for the tightness of the straps which is more convenient than being in the back since you always adjust after baby is in car seat to make sure the straps are the right fit for what the baby is wearing that day. (obviously coats and heavy clothes need a little extra room)
This car seat can also come as part of a travel system or you can buy the metal frame specifically designed to turn the infant carrier into a stroller.
Babies r us will allow you with their help to “try on” the display models. At our local store they just ask for my driver’s license to be left at the service desk and they helped me take a few car seats out and try them in my car. I am already searching for the next car seat because of the problems we had with the first, I want to know what fits plenty ahead of time of when we need it. If you don’t have a babies r us, maybe a similar type store would let you do the same thing?
Also, to the people who are saying put the seat in the middle and use the latch from the side seats…I wouldn’t think that would be safe, the latch bars are a specific width apart based on research and car seat size. To use something with more or less width would be messing up the integrity of the latch system and how safe the car seat is. If you are doing it this way please go to your local fire department or police station when a car seat installation expert is on duty and have them double check and make sure that your car seat is safe, if not have them show you how to do it correctly. Everyone should do this every time a new car seat is purchased or it is put in a different vehicle anyway.
March 31st, 2010 at 9:48 pm
First read you manuel for your car and your car seat. Some car do allow center seats to borrow the LATCH but some don’t and some that do allow the borrowing will only ok if there is only one seat using the LATCH. Also the LATCH is no more safe than a seat belt. In fact the safest is the one you get a better install with. And a good install is no more than 1 inch of side to side movement at the belt path. The center is the safest place IF you can get the best install there, it is farthest away from any impact point.
Next depending on the child you might be better off with a convertible, since they can be more upright they actually take up less room. IF the baby is older than about 6months and has good head control this might be something you look into.
Don’t get a 3-in-1, they don’t last long. Check into the Graco MyRide65 and the First Years True Fit. I have a friend with two True Fits in her 1998 Civic, her and her husband are tall and the seats do not interfere much at all.
What is the age, weight adn length of the child? It will help me get an idea of which seat would be best for you. also what would a new car seat budget be?