I know you're not asking me directly, but my carseat is rated for up to 45 lbs or 44 inches rear facing. The common theme these days is that kids should be rear facing as long as possible - preferably up to 4 years! No way mine will make it to 4 years but my wife is insistent on making it to least 2 years. We'll see....

 

Here's Mark back in the day, Jo-Juh style

 

Very useful info. Thanks.

Not cramped at all. I will get a picture next time I have him in it. The 2 month old still has 10lbs before reaching the weight limit of that seat.

 

My kids are, fortunately, out of car seats with my youngest being 9. We had a mix of cars. My wife usually had LATCH and my old beaters usually not. Putting most of the car seats in/out of non-latch cars really sucked. The stupid seat belt clamp thingy had to be adjusted just right so you could mash the thing into the seat with your bodyweight and just get it to click.

Once I bought a Britax car seat, that was it. They are a little expensive, but they have built in clamps that get them in quick and easy with seat belts or LATCH. Worth it to not have to spend 10 minutes cursing in a rain storm trying to get the stupid thing clamped down. Just lean your knee on the seat, yank the belt and flip the lever to clamp it in place. Done. Sure you still have the pile of Cheerio debris underneath when you remove it for someone to sit there, but at least you're willing to remove it.

 

LOL Cheerios, fish crackers, candy, crayons, misc toys....
You haven't lived until you try to get a melted crayon out of the carpet!

 

I have a huge red stain from koolaid. Anyone under the age of 18 is now only allowed to have water in the truck.

 

Lowes house brand carpet cleaner. Works better with a stiff brush and 10 seconds of scrubbing than a powerwasher and a steam cleaner.

 

I know this is an older thread but I took a picture last night when the kids were passed out in the X.




Ages are 20 months and 3yrs. We have done close to 15k miles and 42 states this year alone.

 

I hate the way my Graco Nautilus car seat is secured. Even with a seat protector the back part of the car seat digs in the seat bad. My 23 month old is forward facing. I run the rear strap over the seat and secure to the LATCH eye behind the seat and the seat belt holds the seat down. I thought about adding another strap like you did but read that if there is an accident and they find any aftermarket straps or modifications you could be in a legal bind. You would think with an Excursion being a family vehicle Ford would have done something more user friendly for parents and child seats.

 

We did have a mat from Graco that we put down on the seat to help protect it a little but I have no idea what happened to it.

We don't use the extra straps anymore and only use the seat belts. After my wife did some research, the straps went away and I had to buy new car seats as well because apparently the seats were now compromised and had to be replaced. I joke around and call my wife the car seat ****.

 

I've got a 4.5 yr old Girl and a 2.5 yr old Boy.

Virginia requires a car seat until 8 years of age... EIGHT.
Thy can practically drive their own car at that point.

We rear faced until 2 years old, then turned the kids around.

Only the wife's minivan (2003 Mazda MPV) has the "LATCH" system. My other vehicles are either too old or too large to have that system. (1986 Mazda RX-7, 1990 Honda Civic Wagon, 2001 Dodge Ram 2500, 2000 Ford Excursion)

Remember, the seatbelt is designed to hold a 200 lb or heavier adult person in the seat in the event of a crash. My kids and their respective seats are significantly less than that. I trust the seatbelts, so long as they're not frayed.

As others have said, put your own weight in the child seat to compress the foam in the Excursion's seats, buckle the seat in with the belt, then pull all the slack out and allow it to retract all the slack back in. I route the seat belts per the child seat manufacturer's recommendations and that's it.

 

The way I see it playing out with our kids is

Rearfacing until 4
Frontfacing until reaches weight capacity
Booster until big enough for the seat belt to fit correctly

We drive A LOT so I feel we are at a higher risk for an accident simply because we are on the road all year round. I want the kids to be secured the best they can 100% of the time.

I have threatened to put my 12 yr old back in a booster seat when he tries to put the shoulder belt behind him the the back seat.

I will be happy when we turn the first one around because it is really hard to get in the 3rd row when you have both captain chairs occupied with rear facing seats.

 

Props to you Twitchy, I am also known around home as the car seat ****. My seats are installed so tightly they don't wiggle even a hair. I also recommend having them safety checked with child in them by a certified professional. I turned my kids around by 2 because their legs were too long and it was uncomfortable for them. Plus it made life easier for me as well. If you plan to keep them rear facing until 4 just make sure the weight limit for your Car seat is rated high enough for rear facing. I believe 40 lbs is the limit. Britax is my favorite brand and all I buy.

Luckily my youngest is able to sit in a high back booster now because it fits much better in 3rd row of Ex but in our minivan she is still in a 5 point harness seat rated up to 80 lbs.

 

I got into one of the worst arguments of our marriage with my wife over this same damn thing. The oldest just recently moved into a wing-back booster at the age of 6, but she had the middle one in one as well because his existing car seat was kind of, well, gross. Plus he threw a gawdawful hissy fit over his big brother being in a big-kid seat. I about had a cow when I met her for lunch and he hopped out, all 4-yrs old of him, out of a matching seat to his brother's. To put things into perspective, he is smaller than the youngest (the sister), both in height and in weight. The kid weighs nothing, a bag of dog food weighs more.

He is now back in a new front-facing harness'd car seat, along with his sister. I don't give a **** how much they whine, moan, cry, complain, or attempt to 'nastyify' their car seatsv (which I have since caught the middle one doing deliberately, three times), until they meet the weight and/or height requirements, those little turds are staying strapped into their outrageously expensive car seats.

 

In my daily driver, Mazda 5, our 11 and 9 year old are still in no back boosters in the third row. 6 year old in the middle row in high back booster. It has side curtain air bags. In the EX they are all in the second row usually. 11 year old still in booster, 9 year old in high back booster, 6 year old in middle with 5 point harness. For long tips the get spread out if the third row is usable.