Car seat in rental car question

[cinjam]

For the first time we've decided to rent a car rather than using a town car service. We are staying on-site, and will still be using Disney transportation, but would like peace-of-mind of having a rental car available. Car is only $20 more than the town car service too! And now I can have more than a 20 minute grocery store stop.

Anyway, I have a bunch of questions relating to what I should do about car seats:

I have two kids: 5 1/2 (50 lbs, about 48 inches tall) and 2 1/2 (39 lbs & 37 inches tall).

I'd prefer to not to rent car seats or boosters from the car rental company (for a variety of reasons).

For my 5 1/2 yo: in one car we have a britax marathon & in the other we have a belt-positioning booster. I was thinking I would bring just the base of the BPB. Is it ok not to have the back? What are the height requirements (rules) for having vs not having the back? Can I gate check the base?

For my 2 1/2 yo: in both cars we have britax marathons. They are huge. First, can someone confirm that he is too young for a belt positioning booster? I believe he has the maturity to stay in his seat, plus he is a very large child, but his age just seems too young. He is almost at, and at the time of the trip may be at or over, the 40lb limit of most rental seats. Although the Marathon goes to 60, the thing is huge and DH will grumble at the thought of lugging it through the airport to gate check it. My thought is to check it as baggage. Anyone ever done this? How should I protect it (a box?, a bag?, etc)

We are already gate checking two strollers

Any opinions, suggestions or advice you may have is welcome.

edited for typos (and I am sure I missed some!)

 

[kathi29]

For the 5 1/2 year old, the backless booster should be fine. The biggest requirement you will need to check is that the back of the seat or headrest is no lower than the tips of your child's ears. My DD is just now 48" tall and in some vehicles would have a problem if there were no headrests. The concern is protecting the child from whiplash in the event of a crash.

As far as getting the booster there, what I do is take the armrests off and pack the seat and arms in a suitcase. (I have a turboboster. If this is what you have, just make sure to bring the screws and a screwdriver to reattach the armrests as they are integral to the function of the seat)

For the younger, I would use his seat on the plane. He will be comfortable and in a familiar seat, and he already knows that when he is buckled in he can't be up and running around. We (car seat techs) don't generally like to see kids under 5 out of a harnessed seat if at all possible. They tend to fall asleep and slump over, and they don't have the reasoning skills needed to make them understand that they cannot move around. If he is out of position or moves the shoulder belt behind him, he could be very very seriously injured in a crash.

 

[cinjam]

I was hoping there was a car set tech around here

I hadn't thought about him (the 2.5 yo) falling asleep. It just felt wrong to put him in a BPB. I will bring the marathon.

Truthfully, I didn't want to put him in his car seat on the plane. I have done just that for the 2 other trips we've taken him on (although I used a Century Accel for those trips - it was smaller than the marathons - but it was almost 6 years old this spring so I tossed it when spring cleaning). With the trip we did last February, he was about to turn two, he ruthlessly kicked the seat in front of him for most of the flight down. Although maybe since the marathon is so big his legs will be more-or-less "trapped". And then from a safety stand-point, I'd like to see him strapped in on the plane.

Thank you for your suggestions - I truly appreciate the help.

Edited because it is a BPB, not a PBP! I am a sad excuse for a typist!

 

[KristinU]

I have nothing to add on the seats, you got some great advice from someone more qualified than me

But I wanted to add something that worked for us on a recent trip with DS 2: we told him that the person in front of him didn't feel good and needed to rest so he needed to help by not putting his feet on their seat. He needed to be reminded once on one flight and twice on another - not bad IMHO. Hopefully it works again when we travel in September!

Have a great trip!

 

[kathi29]

Glad to help.
And kudos to you for recognizing the expiration of the seat.

We often recommend the Cosco Scenera/Touriva for traveling because it is lighter and can be had for under $50. But if you son is approaching the 40 lb limit that won't do you much good.

If you decide to check the MA, I would find a duffle bag large enough to fit that and the booster seat. And I would gate check the bag. I know it would be pain to haul the bag through the airport, but there is less risk of it getting lost that way. And have you seen the way luggage gets thrown around? A seat could get pretty banged up that way.

 

[snickerboo]

I think the booster law in Florida is 6, IIRC. I think the base of the booster is fine but I would bring a seat for the other one. We gate checked our seats because I didn't want to chance them getting lost. We were able to hang the car seat from our stroller handle using the space through which the belt normally goes (does the make sense). It made wheeling them through the airport much easier. For our return flight, I checked them as baggage. Delta had large plastic bags that fit over them easily.

 

[cinjam]

Kathi - you are right about them throwing luggage around. I really wouldn't want to damage the seat.

We are flying Jet Blue, which I understand has seats that are slightly more roomy than other airlines. I am going to work on DH tonight that for the trip down, we should put our son in the car seat on the plane. And if that does not go well....well it's only for 2.5 hours...I'll learn a lesson and for the trip home I will gate check it.

Someone had once suggested you could put the car seat on your back, like a back-pack, using the harness as arm straps. I will have to try it out.

Even if I gate check it, I am still going to bag it somehow (I am off to ebay next to check out my options); we've gate checked our strollers & they come back to us pretty banged up and dirty.

Thank you everyone for the help.

 

[Karrie Davis]

Someone had once suggested you could put the car seat on your back, like a back-pack, using the harness as arm straps. I will have to try it out.

Even if I gate check it, I am still going to bag it somehow (I am off to ebay next to check out my options); we've gate checked our strollers & they come back to us pretty banged up and dirty.

QUOTE]


You can get a cover with wheels & backback straps at babies r us. We got one there and love it. We travel all the time and our car seat looks great, the bag it travels in has all the damage It fits the Britex Marathon and that is the biggest I know of.

 

[tjmw2727]

Florida law only requires children 3 and under to be in a child safety seat, there is no booster law at all.

So your 5yo is fine but your 2 yo will need a carseat. If you prefer a carseat for your 5yo we used a backless booster for our dd's at that age while on vacation and packed them in with the checked luggage.

We did use a carseat for our dd's on the aircraft until about age 3 1/2 ish especially if we had to use one on the ground as well. FWIW, the AAP and FAA recommend that children use a safety seat on the aircraft until 40lbs. However, its not required so "if" you think your toddler is ok with the lap belt you can either gate check the toddlers carseat or check it through with the luggage in addition to the booster. Otherwise, when I did choose to use the carseat it on the aircraft either dh or I would sit in front of our dd in case of seat kicking.

TJ

 

[cinjam]

tjmw2727 - I was thinking of putting DH directly in front of DS (the one in the car seat). The type of plane were are on is 3 seats aisle then 3 seats, right now DH is all by himself in the row to our right (how did he get to be the lucky one!?!). I had thought if I put him in front of us, our nosey kids will be sticking their fingers in between the seats trying to get to him (fun) and annoying his seat mate (not fun).

I have to think about this :

 

[cinjam]

You can get a cover with wheels & backback straps at babies r us. We got one there and love it. We travel all the time and our car seat looks great, the bag it travels in has all the damage It fits the Britex Marathon and that is the biggest I know of.

Karrie: Is your cover like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/JL-CHILDRESS-CA...ryZ66693QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[mexican-mouseketeers]

Or you can use this:
http://www.ababyoutlets.com/gogo_babyz_kidz.htm

I took dd (3y9mo) to NYC and I pulled the carseat behind me in the airport, and the wheels are easy to put on and take off for use in a car.

Julie

 

[cinjam]

mexican-mouseketeers - that is a great idea to get around the airport. I am booking marketing everything I've come across and will make DH review them with me when he gets home - thanks!

 

[Barak's Disney]

We checked our belt positioning booster as luggage - the flight attendant at NW just put a big, clear plastic bag around it and looped it a couple of times. We got it back just fine and I didn't notice any damage.

 

[kathi29]

We checked our belt positioning booster as luggage - the flight attendant at NW just put a big, clear plastic bag around it and looped it a couple of times. We got it back just fine and I didn't notice any damage.

And therein lies the problem. You often wouldn't see any visible damage, but you don't know what stresses have been applied to the seat that may affect the safety of it. You wouldn't know that until it failed in a crash, and by then you have used your child as a crash test dummy.

 

[vcunning]

The State of Florida, Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, has published the following guidelines from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):

Child Passenger Safety

But here is the actual Child Restraint Law for the State of Florida:

2005 Florida Statues

There is quite a difference

 

[kathi29]

Of course there is a difference. Florida's laws are terribly flawed in the area of keeping our kids safe. What the law says is not even close to best practice, and very far away from reasonable. Have you ever looked at a small child in just a lap/shoulder belt? They don't fit. Seatbelts are designed for an adult male, not a small child. So many states are enacting booster laws. Hopefully Florida's next governor will care more about child passenger safety and not shoot down a booster law the next time it is presented.

Small children put the shoulder belt portion behind their back - this prevents their upper body from being restrained in a crash. The forces on their neck and spinal cord can cause severe injuries or even death. Or they may leave the shoulder belt improperly positioned across their neck, or tuck it under their arm. No matter what, the shoulder belt will not be able to perform as it is designed, and the child will be the one to suffer.

Small children slouch down in the seat to get comfortable - then in a crash they submarine out of the seatbelt and become a human projectile. Alternately, they may stay in the seat. As the belt tightens and locks when a crash happens, the lap portion "looks" for something solid to stop it. With a booster seat, the seat performs this function. In just a seatbelt, the child's spine performs this function - but not until the seatbelt has passed through and crushed internal organs.

Graphic? Yes. But also a very likely scenario and not one that I would be willing to risk my child's life in order to test.

 

[vcunning]

Kathy,

I agree with you . . . the laws don't cover what you should actually do as parents. Apparently Florida even admits that by publishing "recommended guidelines". That is what we like to follow.

I did publish the link to the laws because some of the other posts referenced "I think the law is". I thought I would offer the exact statute. Also, I published the NHTSA Best Practices, because although legal in FL, they clearly state a 5-year old in just a seat belt is unacceptable.

I'm with you 100%. I go with NHTSA guidelines.

 

[kathi29]

sorry

I should have gone with my instinct that we were on the same page. Sometimes the fingers engage before the brain has a chance to direct them.

Florida's law is a sore spot with me ever since I was told at my tech course that the reason Jeb squashed the booster law was because he didn't want to "inconvenience the soccer moms"

 

[DisneyConvert]

I have to respectfully disagree with the safety at any cost approach, as I and most other 40-somethings posting on this board somehow got thru childhood without the nanny-state telling our parents how to strap us into automobiles.

That being said, I always wear a seatbelt and make sure my child 48 lbs, 5 years old is suitably restrained when we travel. In our home cars, he sits on a booster seat. Obviously, he means the world to me and my wife.

In Florida, we are pleased that driving with a seat-belt around him in the backseat won't get us thrown in jail. For 10 short car trips in Florida each year, I can only pray for the same caution and luck that I do when ever I drive in New Jersey.

Given the effectiveness of the Federal Government around many other areas, including safety . . . I would prefer to listen to Doctors, Police and other parents for their advice.