more car seat questions... - This ones not contraversial.

PrairieMom wrote: My new van has a built in car seat in the middle row passenger side seat. The manual says it meets all federal safety standards for children over 1 year and 20-40 pounds. I could use it for Ben, but I am not sure about how safe they really are. Any of you know about them?
I have a 6 month check up with Ally's Dr next week and I will ask her too.

stella6979 replied:
I've never even heard of the built-in carseats, but you can go to any police or fire dept. and they'll be able to tell you for sure.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Tara, we had the SAME VAN... we used ours when we had to, but otherwise, we just kept using our regular car seats.

PrairieMom replied:
so far I'm, lovin it. I feel a little like I am driving a bus tho. and backing up is still kinda tricky. The only thing is the blind spots are HORRIBLE!

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
Couldn't tell ya... I don't drive. Ever!

But I did like the leg room... I wish it had one of them limo windows though, so I could completely tune out the kids...

CantWait replied: I've heard of these in rental cars, but don't know about them. I'd call the local police / fire department.

PrairieMom replied:

C&K*s Mommie replied: The first time I ever heard of built in carseats in vehicles was here on PC.

But I would check with the local law enforcement to be extra sure. Speaking of which, I need to have the girl's carseats checked. I will probably be in the majority, the majority of people who have carseats installed incorrectly.

ediep replied: my aunt had that van and when Jason and I went somewhere with her, we used it, but for some reason I don't think I'd use it on a regular basis

sparkys2boys replied: I agree on calling police to find out for sure. If it is approved you would think that it went through some major testing.

Boo&BugsMom replied: I know someone who has one and they used it occasionally. They still used a regular car seat and had the built in one for backup. I would probably double check with the police or the fire department. Around here, our fire department does car seat checks and instulations for free and they know all the regulations. If yours is the same way, they would be the place to stop in with your van for them to check it out for you.

siblingtooolivia replied: I have a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with two built in car seats. I have talked to my Ped, a cop and a fireman about them. First, they ARE safe, they have to be, they have to meet the same safety standards as removable car seats...now I am sure as there are different levels of removable car seats these are probably the same, some are better than others, etc....but they do meet the minimum safety standards. The cop and fireman both prefer people DON'T use them because when there is an accident and a child in a car seat is involved, they don't generally take the child out of the car seat to get them out of the car, they would leave the child in the seat to avoid moving them too much and just cut the seat out of the car - (one reason why most insurance companies will give you money to replace a car seat if you are in an accident) obviously they can't cut the built in seat out so they end up having to move the child more than they would like to transport them to an ambulance, etc.

All this being said, I don't use mine very often, once in awhile Olivia would sit in it and we use them occasionally if there is another child with us, etc. Olivia prefers her regular seat - it is more comfy and she sits higher up.....

Hope this helps....

I must have missed it, what type of van did you end up with????

ZandersMama replied: I know they ARE legal, my FIL owns a shuttle service and that kind of seat in in the vans he uses. That said, i prefer to have Zander in the real car seat and always take it with me when we are in his shuttle.