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Child safety seats

Harrydavidson
Explorer
Explorer
What’s the best/popular way of travel with grandkids that by law need to be in car seats? Unfortunately the couch sits for to aft, making a normal design seat useless.
We just bought a Country Coach, and all the kids want to go in Poppas new RV.
6 REPLIES 6

jeromep
Explorer
Explorer
I am a parent of a 5yo who is beginning to enjoy RVing. We do not try to put any kind of child seat or booster in the RV. The seat belts in the living area are just not correct for use with any child restraint. The barrel chair behind the front passenger has a retracting lap belt, but it is in a strange position and won't work with anything but a no-back booster, there is no real point there. The seat belts in the couch and the dinette are the non-retracting long strap type which have to be pulled tight and again won't work with anything, except maybe a no-back booster. The point of a booster is to bring the child up to a height in which the shoulder belt will go across their body at a proper point. Since none of these seating positions have a shoulder strap, the booster is unnecessary. As pigman1 said, the point of the seat belts in the house are concerned is to keep the occupants from being projectiles in a collision or an unexpected maneuver. None of the seats or seating positions are structurally sufficient enough to provide occupant protection as you would have in a vehicle car seat. This doesn't mean it is unsafe, just that seat belts and restraints are not as useful or beneficial and the type of benefit they provide is different.

Harrydavidson
Explorer
Explorer
Thanks for the opinions everyone, especially pigman1.
I’m in full agreement, but I may have trouble convincing there parents.

pigman1
Explorer
Explorer
You've found the problem that's faces parents and grandparents since RV's first were built. To begin, the ONLY tested and approved seat belt/seat combo in ANY RV is the co-pilot seat. That said, there may or may not be seat belts installed by the builder in the dinette area, or on couches, but these have not been tested to any uniform standards or requirements. There are just not standards, and some installations may be good and some not. When reading car seat instructions, you will find warnings about putting the car seat only facing forward or rearward, and the use of the tethers for the top of the seat back. When car seats are placed on dinettes, the structure below them would probably collapse in a crash, or the seat go forward far enough to have the occupant strike the table. An occupant of a car seat strapped in a sideways position faces possible spinal injury, and that is more serious in a booster seat than a toddler seat with molded sides. OK, that's all the bad news, but there are definitely positives as well. A child belted into a car sear will not become a missile in the event of a crash. He will not be running about and susceptible to driver braking and evasion maneuvers or just rough roads. As far as the laws are concerned, ALL law enforcement officers will not even be looking to seat belt use behind the driver and copilot seats. That rear part is considered a house, not a motor vehicle. If perchance an officer issued a summons for a child not in a car seat in the rear, any judge would immediately throw the case out, and probably have a talk with the officer for wasting the court,s time. So does that mean that the children should not be belted in the rear? Obviously not, but the best you can do is the best you can do. RV's have an outstanding safety record because they are HEAVY, and in any crash, heavy ALWAYS WINS. (that's just physics). Occupants are usually above the line of the crash so damage to the passenger compartment is usually less than to the lower areas. Finally, there is a lot of crush area between the passenger compartment and the intruding obstacle. All these mitigate the injuries to RV passengers. Wear your belts, belt the kids in to the best of your ability, and have fun. THe kids will love it and so will you.

Before retirement I was a licensed safety engineer and set up the child safety seat program in Delaware, where we trained law enforcement, fire and EMS people, medical people, educators, and others in proper use and installation of car seats.
Pigman & Piglady
2013 Tiffin Allegro Bus 43' QGP
2011 Chevy Silverado 1500
SMI Air Force One toad brake
Street Atlas USA Plus

craig7h
Nomad
Nomad
I would do this, it may not be correct but in a MH you have to think out of the box.

You did not say how old the kids are, if they are the age for front facing seats of either type. I would find your coaches seat belts and just use them. They are truly "seat belts" and will help. If the kids are in the rear facing seat age group, I guess I would use the seat belt and just strap them in, using their seat.

There is not really system for seat belt use other than the front folks. I would make sure you have an adult who can supervise the kids as they are going to want to look around and stuff while you are driving.

Good Luck safe travels
Itasca Meridian SE 36g
Road Master Tow Dolly

DrewE
Explorer
Explorer
Yep, buckle the seats in with the seatbelts that you have. Front or rear facing would be preferable to sideways-facing.

In some states, the laws requiring child seats don't actually apply to motorhomes (as with some other classes of vehicles, such as busses). In others, they do.

wildtoad
Explorer II
Explorer II
Obviously a front facing seat would be best, but not usually available. There should be a few more belted seat positions in a sofa or dinette. Strap the seats in and perhaps add some pillows to keep them from moving side to side.
Tom Wilds
Blythewood, SC
2016 Newmar Baystar Sport 3004
2015 Jeep Wrangler 2dr HT