Dodge Caravan owners, will this work?

[DreadpiratK]

Just wondering if anyone has done this... We have a '99 dodge Caravan, 7 passenger, but there will be 8 of us going to Disney in September. We are hoping to rent/borrow a 12 passenger van from a family member, but just in case I'm working on a backup plan. The rear seat of our Caravan which seats 3 can be moved to the front, and we found another identical seat to put in the back, making it an 8 passenger van. Does anyone know if this will work? Not ideal obviously, it will be closer quarters then we'd like for the 18 hour drive (over 2 days) but cheaper and more fun than 2 cars. I know that there may be issues with load capacity we'll have to look into, but two of the passengers are 3 and 5, so together weigh under 100 pounds, and no is very large in my family. Anyway, has anyone here ever configures a Caravan this way, and how tight was it?

 

[Minniemouse07]

Unless the extra seat is specifically designed by Dodge to be added to the van, complete with a seat belt for each passenger...I wouldn't use it. I'd be too afraid of it failing in a crash situation if it wasn't from Dodge.

 

[Psychodisney]

I think you could do it...if you mean taking a big bench from another Grand Caravan. It would mean people climbing over to get to the back seat. The seat belt situation would be fine. I would have never thought of it!

 

[dawnn12]

i had a dodge before... you have to look at the latches the seat goes into the best way to check it out is to take the front seat or seats out(you didnt say if you have captain's chairs or the small bench seat) move the big bench seat to the front and see if the latches in the floor will match up..... one thing you have to think of is how will the people that are sitting in the back seat get into the back seat(there will be no room to get thru at all) i hope that helped alittle

 

[Kellydelly]

We have a Caravan so I just asked my husband this question. He said he doesn't think the tracks will line up for the larger bench to fit in the front bench spot.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

If you fill all of the seats, where will you put luggage for 8 people? We have to fold down the back seat of our minivan to make enough room for luggage for the 4 of us. If the back seat is up, we have very little cargo space.

 

[msmickminn]

I have been a loyal caravan owner for quite some time now. I believe that middle area only has brakets for the smaller/shorter bench seat or 2 captains seats.

 

[scrappingizlife]

I have a Caravan and I can't imagine trying to fit luggage for 8 in that small trunk. Also With two benches, how are the people sitting in the way back going to get in and out of the van?

 

[SandrA9810]

My sister has a town and country, she put in a second bench to make room for every one. She has 6 kids and all of them are in booster/car seats. The bench seat already has the middle buckle, and the van has the two over the shoulder buckles on the side for middle and rear seating.

Unless your current bench can be moved forward and used in the middle position, then you can't do it.

I know with the mercury villager, there's four captian's chairs and one bench. The two middle chairs can be removed and the bench slid forward to be used in the middle, or slid all the way forward folded up to allow for the entire back area to used for cargo.
Benches generally aren't designed to be taken out, as to why they're on the track. But it is possible.

 

[WDW1st-timers]

I have a 2000 Caravan and we move the 3 seater up to the 2 seater position every time we go to Disney. Yes you could possibly get another 3 seater and then both would be for 3 people. The middle person would wear the lap belt which is already in the seat itself and the two end people would wear the two shoulder harness belts which are attached to the van itself. So unless it's a weight issue of being too much weight for the tires (which I highly doubt) I really can't see a problem other than the tight sqeeze to get into the back seat.

 

[aceys_h0ney]

We accidently put the 3 seater in the first spot once when putting the seats back in ours so it might work. It would be tight and people would have to climb but if you can make it work safely for everyone give it a shot.
ETA it was our 1997 Town and Country which is almost identical to the Dodge Caravan. My MIL drives it now and was considering putting the 3 seater in the first spot and ditching the other seat for more cargo space.

 

[Beavers5]

We've used the long seat in the middle many times. I have friends that use two long seats to have enough space for their kids. Getting in and out is similar to getting in and out of a two door car's back seats; because the long benches are made to fold forward. (Obviously, they won't be able to fold forward if there are car seats on it; so, you may want to put the 3 and 5 year olds on the back seat). My concern would be luggage space. With a family of five, we fill up a cargo container on the roof for two weeks in Florida.

 

[snugglepeas]

I used to have a 98 dodge caravan and would often take out the front bench and move the back bench up so that it would fit 5 people and lost of cargo space so I dont see why if you can find another back bench why it wouldnt work.

 

[laurafergie]

I have a 2005 Caravan and we have put the large seat in the middle many times.

 

[rapmarks]

we have a 2001 Dodge caravan and use the three seater int he middle position. But it would be very hard for the back row to get in and out and where would you put all the luggage.

 

[Mom2Ben02]

That is a pretty awesome idea, actually. I would put the kids in car seats in the back seat, along with the next most flexible person Then, you could fold down the middle seat and they could climb over to get in and out.

 

[Minniemouse07]

If your center seat is lapbelt only I would only place children in harnessed car seats there (not booster seats). Lap only belts are dangerous and can cause seat belt syndrome if used during a crash.

(I'm a volunteer child passenger safety technician so seating positions and seat belts are always running through my brain!)

 

[tinkermom23]

It looks like you have a lot of responses and I'll add another.

We have a '99 Grand caravan and I just went out to check. Ours would not work to do it that way. We have captains seats in the middle and the 3-seat bench from the 3rd row will not fit in the tracks where the captain seats are. If yours actually does fit, then a third row seat exactly like yours should work. It's not too hard to try it out before hand, just mover your seats around and see what fits.

Good luck.

 

[MandM-Mom]

We also move our 3 person bench to the middle sometimes, so we can take out the third row and have more room for cargo space in our town and country, we have tried to put the 2nd row in the third spot but that won't work because its too short for the latches in the floor, but adding just another long bench and ditching the short 2 seat bench would be a great idea to get more seat room!

 

[tar heel]

If it's a Grand, there's still a good bit of luggage space. If it's not, then luggage could be an issue. We use a cartop carrier on our 2000 when we go to the beach, but there's not question that it affects the gas mileage and smoothness of the ride.

This is certanly an interesting idea -- I'll look forward to hearing how it turns out.