I have three children under the age of five. Can I fit three car seats in the back of a Maxima? I could go to the dealership and try, but if it is impossible then I won't waste my time with a salesman. If you guys think it is possible, then I'll make a trip and see how they fit. Thanks.

Rick

 

I think you need an SUV or MiniVan sir. It would be a pain putting them in and taking them out, I have 1 and it is a pain.

 

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I have a Ford Excursion. My wife drives a VW New Beetle. The NB only has two seat belts in the back. We are contemplating getting her another car. I'm comparing the Maxima to the VW Passat. I'm just trying to get a little info rather than going to the dealership.

BTW, three child seats side by side don't even touch in the Excursion. The mileage is poor, but the room is great.

 

I think you'd have a hard time with the middle seat. The outside seats sit where they sit because of the seatbelt locations and the middle seat is going to be mighty tight... and the hump between the seats might make it a little unstable.

You'd have to try, but I have two seats in mine now (people laughed at me at the drag strip ) and wouldn't try to fit a 3rd... so I got snipped and won't HAVE to

 

it will be took cramped I have two car seats in my Maxima now and w/the armrest down it is cramped so three would be real cramped..

 

I have one so I dont know. But there is only one way to find out.

 

I have a 5 year old with a booster seat and an 8 month old with the full car seat. Theres not much room left for a 3rd carseat.

 

We gotta talk about that in OT. My wife wants me to do it.

 

I won't ***** up this thread but there are 3 days of "minuses" and the rest of my life of "pluses." It's great to be free!!

Take it to OT... more there.

and to keep this on topic... here is a pic of my back seat with a car seat and a booster. I doubt a 3rd seat would fit.

For reference, that stick is a paint stick and is one foot long.

 

Yeah, no way you could fit 3 seats back there.

 

Thanks to all for the replies.

 

Since there are no anchors in the back, you'd be hard pressed to use the center even if you could fit a 3rd seat since I believe you would need a shoulder belt as well.

 

RSTX may just have to put the booster up front (I know, not good to do) and have his wife sit in the back with the 2 car seats.

 

Please find a way to disable the airbag if you attempt this.

 

Don't worry. I would never put a child in the front seat.

When we all go somewhere we take the Excursion. Wifey-poo's car is her daily driver and occasional kid hauler. I just want to get something that we can put three kids in if we absolutely have to. I don't have that option with the NB.

 

Those car seats look big or the back seat of your car is smaller than mine ('96) I know going from the '87 to '96 the back seat got much wider. Maybe they got smaller again in later models. We haul 2 kids in the back all the time (one in car seat one in booster). We have even had the 2 kids and one adult in the back.

On the air bag thing.....My daughter is upset we sold the '87 because we no longer let her ride in the front. Maybe for her birthday I'll remove the explosives from the dash =)

 

The seats are nearly the same as the '96... I doubt there's more than an inch or two difference. But even if your car is a foot wider you still have to look at how the seat will anchor... the only way to use the middle is to use the shoulder belt, and the place where the belt comes up and attaches is not 12" across. It would not be safe to put a baby seat in the middle because you couldn't harness it in properly.

As you look at the picture the one on the left is kind of big, but even if it was smaller you'd still only gain an inch or two. I really doubt you could fit 3 car seats back there. MAYBE 3 booster seats like the one on the right but even then it'd be tight.

And airbags are only part of the reason for putting a kid in the back seat. It's also just safer. So removing the airbag from the dash and putting your kid in front is just putting her in more danger...not smart.

 

Statictically the rear seat is safer as fewer people RIDE in the rear seat. Expect this statistic to change as more people (children) have to ride in the back and not in the front. There is no majic to the back seat. Actually the CENTER rear seat would be the safest but I noticed none of your car seats located there =) Also I have also followed my wife while she is driving the maxima with my daughter in the "safe seat" in the back. Yup there my wife is turnning her head around to see/talk to her in the back. Only a matter of time until she hits something while doing that. I can't change how she drives but I can change where my child sits =)

I also enjoy the irony of the AIR bag being a SAFTEY device yet we have to keep our children from it. I Guess it isn't all that safe after all. Also I'd like to think my '96 without airbags is safer that my '87 without airbags. Fact is if I have to keep the airbags I would not have gotten a new car. If you were really worried about saftey you'd put your kids in their car seats in the back with crash helmets on (bike helmet at least for crying out loud). Oh, not worth the trouble. Neither is loosing the use of one perfectly good front seat =)

Airbags are in cars for political reasons...Not saftey reasons. How many race cars have air bags???

Interesting about the rear seat being the same. I'm going to have to look at mine again. I swear it looks bigger.

 

Statistically, the average American adult has one breast and a three inch *****.

If on the road vehicles were fitted with 5-point harnesses and full surround cages they wouldn't have much need for an air bag either.

Are you saying you would rather have no air bags installed in your car/s? Whatever. I have a brother-in-law who refuses to wear seat belts because he once heard of someone being trapped in their burning vehicle by the seatbelt. My uncle won't wear a seat belt either, but to avoid getting a ticket he rides around with the seat belt stretched over his torso and holds it there with his left hand. I know people who don't like anti-lock brakes because they want to be in control... What a world, what a world.

You can jam three car seats in the back of an 04, all tethered and tied down. I don't recommend it, real pita getting to that center seat.

 

bluemaxx, good answer
wrong. It's safer because there's more metal between the passenger and the thing the car hit. Most accidents that cause serious injury happen when the car hits something, and having more metal between you and the thing that was hit is safer. then your wife will be responsible for your kid's injuries because of her stupidity. I guess we can't help that your wife doesn't love your kids as much as total strangers on a car webboard.You're making my case that people should be tested before being allowed to have kids... race cars don't have airbags because of weight. They don't NEED airbags because the driver has a 5-point harness and is surrounded by a tubular steel cage. Last I checked no maxima had that. Race cars and street cars are not even close so the comparison is dumb.

 

10chars




but seriously that was a low blow

 

YES!! The car I drive to work every day has no air bag and I love it. To bad things rust.

You gave two primary examples of who air bags are designed for. They are DESIGNED for people who won't wear seatbelts. Passive restraints for those idots that won't wear seat belts. If people like those you mentioned wore seatbelts the government would have never passed laws requiring air bags.

 

Sorry I didn't realize the rear passenger door had more metal in it than the front passenger door. Oh wait....It doesn't

Yah you are right it is not fair to compare a multi million doller car cost pretty much no object car that is specifically designed to go really fast crash and not kill its highly paid driver. You know if an air bag of any kind was going to help they would add it. The cost would be small change to them. They also have a more conrolled enviornment than a passenger car.

 

My appologies to RSTX for bringing the work "air bag" up in this thread about car seats. My point was that if the goverment hadn't put airbags in the car the front passenger seat could be used.

The people here obvously have either a vested interest in airbags or fell for the propaganda that has been put out as they are aruging with their emotions and not with logic.

Since the thread is about child seats and I have nothing more to add I'll be moving on.

 

I'm sure RSTX doesn't appreciate any of us hijacking his thread... sorry.

But Thaniel, please start another thread telling us about the "propaganda" ... this I gotta hear.

 

Or possibly have had actual first hand experience with a combination of seat belt pre-tensioners, airbags and crumple zones.
Always place child seats in the back, if you have no choice but to place the child seat in the front it can't be rear facing and the passenger seat needs to be moved as far as possible from the airbag.
If I had an otherwise safe car without airbags I would sleep just fine. But if you seriously believe that cars would be safer without airbags you should have your plumbing inspected for lead contamination, it's free.

 

Dito. Me too.

 

well airbags have saved lives and killed them. so its a 50/50 chance. children cannot withstand the blow if the bag inflates. adults are stronger obviously. im glad my 3rd gen only has a driver airbag yet it still scares the crap out of me knowing something that powerful is behind my wheel aiming at my face.

 

I think it's more like 1/2,000,000 but who's counting.

This is kind of interesting, keep in mind that starting in 1998, de-powered or intelligent airbags became available, starting with Ford. Most if not all cars are now so equipped. Numbers for 1999 - 2003 should be even better, we'll see.

http://www.hwysafety.org/safety_facts/airbags/stats.htm
Since 1990, 234 deaths reportedly have been caused by airbags inflating in low severity crashes. These deaths include 80 drivers, 11 adult passengers, 120 children, and 23 infants.

• Of the 80 drivers killed by airbags, (59 females, 21 males), 52 are believed to have been unbelted, 22 were belted, and 4 misused their seatbelts (2 used the lap belt only, and 2 used the shoulder belt only). Two of the belted drivers were unconscious and slumped over their steering wheels so they were on top of their airbags. Belt use is unknown for the other two drivers.

• Of the 11 adult passengers killed by passenger airbags 9 were females (7 were older than 65 years-old) and 2 were males ages 57 and 85. Six adult passengers are believed to have been unbelted, 4 were belted, and 1 was improperly belted (had shoulder belt under the arm). Seven of the incidents involved pre-impact braking.

• Of the 120 children killed by passenger airbags, 92 are believed to have been unrestrained; 25 children were improperly restrained and 3 were restrained. Twenty-one of the unrestrained children were seated in the lap of a front passenger and three were unrestrained and on the lap of the driver. Improper restraint use includes 14 cases where the child was using lap/shoulder belts only; and 3 children had the shoulder belt positioned under their arm. In two cases the children shared the lap belt with another passenger. The remaining cases involving restraint misuse are those where the belt and/or the forward facing child safety seats were misused. Most of these crashes involved pre-impact braking.

• Of the 23 infants killed by airbags, 13 are believed to be restrained in rear-facing infant seats; 4 in rear-facing restraints on laps; 4 were not properly secured in rear-facing restraints and 2 unknown if properly restrained. Fifteen cases involved pre-impact braking and in 1 case pre-impact braking is unknown.

 

I know it's no consolation to anyone who's lost someone to an airbag deploy, but many more thousands of injuries have been prevented and lives have been saved by having airbags and we're safer for them.

Also, most of the lives lost to airbags are because someone f-ed up... let a 5 year old play on the floor of the front seat and got in an accident...let a 9 year old sit in the passenger seat and lean forward to screw with the radio and got in an accident...held a kid on his/her lap while in the front seat and got in an accident.

This is just like seat belts... sure, I can find accidents where someone "died because of the seatbelt" but I can find thousands of cases where someone lived or avoided serious injury because of it.at 50 or 60mph I could also describe a seatbelt as "a 1/16 inch piece of nylon strapped across my ***** and chest with the force to cut me in half if used incorrectly" but that kind of sensationalism isn't going to help anyone, now is it?

Since nobody else did it, I started another thread for the airbag discussion.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=271897