Car seat safety dilemna...

[Wabi Sabi]

I have a home daycare plus I am pregnant. Currently I use my minivan to transport 5 children, all of which are buckled into the appropriate child restraint in the back two seats of the van. Baby will make 6.

I have told my husband that due to transportation issues, we have two options. 1) I need to drop one daycare child in order to have room for all of the kids in the van or 2) I need a bigger vehicle (something that is eight passenger instead of seven) that can accomodate six children in the back.

We are struggling financially as it is, barely scrapping by from payday to payday. Therefore, losing one daycare child would be a further blow to our pocketbook and honestly could make the difference as to whether or not we can pay our mortgage every month. On the other hand, buying a bigger vehicle also means spending more money- again not really an option since we don't have any extra money as it is.

Even though neither choice is optimal, I don't really see any other options. My husband, on the other hand, doesn't see why I just can't put the baby in the front seat ( I do NOT have airbags).

I've explained to him why it is not considered safe and he just dismisses the information. When I tell him, "But they say you're not suppossed to do this or that..." or "It is not safe for x,y, or z reason" he wants to know who the "they" are that are providing me with this information. "They" (the NHSTA, any car seat safety person, etc.) can't possibly account for every variable in that might happen in an accident- head on collision versus a side or rear collision. Given that, he doesn't see what the big deal is with putting the baby in the front. As he puts it, "After all, people with pick-up trucks have to do it all the time..."

Ironic, considering that this is coming from the most seat-belt compulsive person I know! He'd insist on buckling his own seat belt even if we were just switiching places in the driveway!

I'm just not sure what to do. Drop a daycare kid and not be able to pay our bills, buy a new car with money that we don't have, or put our baby at risk in the front seat. None of them seem like acceptable options to me!

I guess that I'm not really expecting for anyone to be able to offer me any real solutions- I'm just venting and frustrated because it sounds like we're in a lose-lose situation no matter what...

[Piglet68]

Your DH sounds alot like mine! Mine's pretty skeptical about this stuff.

What are the safety ratings for your minivan in terms of crumple-zone, etc. How far back can the passenger seat be moved? I think, given the financial constraints, your DH may be right. Still, that's a very tough choice to make.

You don't say how old your minivan is, but would it be possible to trade it in for an older 8-passenger van? Maybe the price exchange would be equal.

[Wabi Sabi]

Piglet, I've been looking for an older 8 passenger van for several months now and let me tell you, they are hard to find! Something like a Suburban or Ford Excursion might be easier to find but <gasp> the cost! In order to find one in my price range I'd be looking at one sooo old that reliability would be a major issue.

(Off topic, but several years ago I would have ranted about how anyone who would even consider such a huge, gas guzzling car to be environmentally irresponsible, LOL. Now I realize that some people actually have a legitimate NEED for something that size simply to be able to haul around enough people!)

How do I go about finding out how my vehicle is rated as far as the crumple zones and so forth are concerned? It is a very big and heavy van (1991 Mazda MPV with 4WD) so its not like I'm driving a little Geo Metro or something...

To further complicate matters, my MPV is currently is being serviced and I just found out that it needs $1000 of work- and the van is only valued at about $2500. So, we're looking at sinking money into my current vehicle with the liklihood of having to spend even more money on it in the relatively near future, or else looking for something else.

I've seen another van just like my own, only five years newer that we could afford but it has airbags. In that scenario, I'd then have to go through the whole process of getting permission from the NHSTA to install an on/off switch for the airbag...I've already located an authorized garage willing to install the switch, but would of course first have to get permission from the NHSTA before they could do so. Does anyone know how difficult it is to get the "permission slip" in the first place?

[ja mama]

How would you feel about putting the baby in one of the back seats and have the oldest child ride in the front with the seat pushed back as far as possible?

[Wabi Sabi]

Originally Posted by ja mama

How would you feel about putting the baby in one of the back seats and have the oldest child ride in the front with the seat pushed back as far as possible?

As uncomfortable as I am with putting the baby in front, the idea of putting one of the daycare kids in the front is even scarier due to liability issues...

[srain]

Another option is to not transport the kids, especially if you're worried about liability.

[moondiapers]

What make and year is your van? I have a 99 Caravan. I can remove my quad seat and put the 3rd row seat there. So I've ordered an extra 3rd row seat so I can put 6 kids in back.

-Heather

BTW I called Dodge and they told me this is fine as long as we don't exceed the maximum weight (and a bunch of little kids won't do that).

[Piglet68]

Do you need permission to just have the bag disabled? I didn't think you did. And, in fact, the dealership should be able to do this for you - I would throw that in as a negotiation for buying the vehicle (if you choose to go with the newer MPV). It's not as "nice" as having the option of turning it off and on, but then you don't have a passenger side airbag as it is, so you're not losing anything by permenantly disabling one in a new car.

That's a tough one about the repairs: almost not worth it, is it? I dunno...a newer MPV would be nice. But then, I've been a loyal Mazda customer for years, so I'm rather partial to them.

[dallaschildren]

Originally Posted by Piglet68

Do you need permission to just have the bag disabled? I didn't think you did. And, in fact, the dealership should be able to do this for you - I would throw that in as a negotiation for buying the vehicle (if you choose to go with the newer MPV). It's not as "nice" as having the option of turning it off and on, but then you don't have a passenger side airbag as it is, so you're not losing anything by permenantly disabling one in a new car.

That's a tough one about the repairs: almost not worth it, is it? I dunno...a newer MPV would be nice. But then, I've been a loyal Mazda customer for years, so I'm rather partial to them.

Hi...I added another car seat safety tip relating to air bags. Look for safety tip # 6.

[Wabi Sabi]

For what it's worth, I was able to trade in my broken down old van this weekend for an 8-passenger mini-van. The new van comfortably holds 6 carseats in the back, so I no longer have to worry about putting one of the kids up front!

[iris0110]

Have you looked into a GMC Safari. They quit making them last year, and they aren't very popular so they are super affordable. We bought a 2003 at the end of 2003 it had been used as a dealership vehicle so it only had about 10,000 miles on it. It was valued at 24,500 but we got it for 14,000. We traded in our toyota Avalon which we still owed alot of money on for it. It seats 8 easily and has a five star crash test rating. It does guzzle the gas though. Older ones are available, they run forever. They are exactly the same as the Chevy Astro, but are cheaper because they are GMC's.