3 Car Seats won't fit in the back - help! - Page 2

[pixiekisses]

Originally Posted by chickabiddy 

A 2005 Forester will have an airbag in the passenger seat, and they can't be disabled in the US.  It is illegal to disable an airbag without a waiver from the NHTSA:  those waivers are only granted in exceptional circumstances (and this would not qualify) and most mechanics won't do it even with a waiver.

Sorry, I know this is a little off topic, but why is that illegal? And what would you have to have as a reason to get a waiver? (Just as an example.)

I just can't wrap my head around it, so I'd love to learn why.

[chickabiddy]

I don't really know why it is illegal:  I just know that it is.  Sorry!

Waivers have been granted for extremely medically fragile young children so they can ride up front so mom or dad can watch them.  Waivers have been denied for larger families without medical needs.  I don't know (sorry again!) the exact criteria, but it definitely has to be much more than "I would need to buy different seats to get a three-across".  NHTSA seems to consider buying different seats or even a different vehicle to be a reasonable action and therefore will not grant waivers for that reason alone -- they reserve waivers for extreme circumstances.

Please understand, again, that I'm not saying this is how it *should* be -- but it is how it is.

[pixiekisses]

Yeah, thanks! It's always just interesting to learn the differences between US and here.

Here, it's basically a want. If you want it disabled, you just pay to have it done at a garage (or some cars have a key or something that you can just turn them off with), and nobody cares. It's your choice.

It is good that they have waivers for things like medical needs and such though, at least.

[Vaske]

We have a 98 Forester, from what I've read, getting three regular car seats in the back is basically impossible.  However, we have occasionally squeezed an adult between our two Britax car seats (these seat the child higher than other brands, so I've heard, leaving more seat room between), so I suspect that it would be possible to put a booster seat in the middle.  But I would hesitate to do this, myself, because I'd worry that in a side impact crash the child in the booster seat would get crushed between the two car seats.  Since our car is old, we just went ahead and bought a minivan.  Subarus have decent resale value.