Child seat?

[Olga]

Anybody recommend a good child seat that would fit in the back of a 340?

Thanks! Olga

[macplaxton]

A child seat forum / specialist might be best for that!

Seatbelts are there, so no problem fixing it in.

Child Car Seats

Google is a handy thing like

[Ronnie]

Most child seats will fit. The problem with fitting one in a V300 is "buckle crunch". The female buckle is on a piece of webbing, making it too long. This means the buckle sits over a part of the seat. In an accident situation lateral forces act on the closed buckle, crunching it, and can mean it can release inadvertently

My solution to this was to delete the piece of webbing.



Unfortunately I deleted the modification picture - but basically I cut away the seatbelt material shown above and shackled the buckle directly to the seat belt mounting. The eye is quite tight so I actually used two small shackles. I wired the shackle pins to ensure it didn't come open. This is a fisherman's trick and stops the pin coming loose - and checked their security whenever I removed the seat.



I had a thread on this somewhere.

For tinies - a rear facing babyseat is always best. Get one with a dock so you can just drop the baby carrier in and out. We used a Graco one for both our kids:



The foot sits in the footwell of the car and with the strap across the rear of the dock means the whole thing is very secure for high speed deceleration. Laterally it's less secure. As part of my work I've looked after a lot of kids who have been in high speed traffic accidents. Babies are usually okay if they're strapped into a proper baby carrier, even if it comes loose. I've looked after babies who have been "ejected from the vehicle", to use critical care terminology, and have been fine apart from a few grazes. I would recommend you leave the carrying handle upright so that it acts as a roll bar for the little one if the worst happens.

For bigger kids you want a chair which is secured at 3 points - and these are usually left in on a more permanent basis. We have used a Chicco Shuttle seat for both our kids which has an old school tubular steel frame. Very heavy duty and surprisingly cheap. I'm not sure whether they're sold anymore. On these seats you strap the chair into the car, and then use the chair's integral straps to secure the child into the seat.




For bigger kids yet - you need a booster seat type arrangement. We use a Maxi Cosi Rodi XR - very comfy, good padded seat. These use the actual seatbelt to restrain the child and the seat in one. Their main function is to put the diagonal belt in the right place so that it doesn't run across the child's neck, avoiding neck trauma and stopping the kid "submarining" out under the diagonal belt.



All the best

[Olga]

Thank you so much Ronnie - a really really useful and helpful post!

[trabitom99]

Interesting post, thanks for that! Never thought about the problem of the buckle rubbing against the side of the child seat ...

A thing that concerns me a bit though - as far as I know one of the biggest problems regarding children in child seats is human error - kids sitting in the wrong type of seat, no seat at all, sitting in one with the straps too loose, etc. The thing is, if every parent with a long buckle starts deleting the webbing to shorten it, the scope for human error is increased still further. Would everyone be as meticulous as you, checking the security of the shackle pins every time the seat is removed? Would people use the "right" quality of shackle - maybe there are parts around which aren't designed to cope with the forces involved in a high-speed crash?

Knowing what you do for a living, I'm sure your seat belt modification has been done to the highest standard, and will have been a safety improvement. The question is, will that also be the case for the people following your advice?

Tom

[Ronnie]

Good point, Tom and thanks for your concern.

I did think about this after posting. Basically I posted a description of what I did - I have edited my description a little to reflect this.

Anyone who modifies their seatbelts do so at their own risk and I take no responsibility for the consequences. And I sincerely recommend that people only do this if they feel confident they can do it right. Regardless, I do believe that this mod, if done properly, is safer than risks associated with buckle crunch. Google the term for more info. The problem with the V300 is that ALL the car seats I tried suffered from this. So the only solution is to modify, or drive another car.