Three car seats?

[KevinS40]

Hi all.

Has anyone ever tried to fit three car seats along the back seat of a 2005 S40 at all, and succeeded?
We have a five year old, 4 year old, and a little surprise arrival due December, and I'm trying to figure out car seat configuration! The back seat does not look all that wide for 3 seats, I'm wondering if anyone has done this at all?

Thanks for any input!

[dme123]

I bought a P2 V70 to solve much the same problem, and you CAN fit three child seats in that but it is damned tight. I'd say your chances of getting anything other than 3 boosters across the back of anything smaller are absolutely zero, sorry. You might be able to put the 4 and 5 year olds in booster seats with backs either side of the new rear facing baby seat in the middle perhaps?

I bought the V70 after unexpected twins, having found that there are very few cars indeed that you can fit three proper child seats into unless you go down the MPV route. It's an option to consider if you have to replace the car.

[KevinS40]

Ye, I don't really wanna have to change the car, only got it just before we found out! So changing car is not what I wanna do! Found a place who do kind of a bench car seat that seats three kids but at a cost of £1200! Gonna have to go to a shop and haul their car seats out to the car park and see what fits I think! Finding it difficult to go by dimensions as stated on line for seats.

[martinrpeachey]

3 carefully selected isofix seats should fit, providing the 40 series has 3 isofix anchor points. You won't have to worry about the faff of trying to thread the seatbelts through the seats in such a crowded space too.

[KevinS40]

Good point...
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the isofix anchor points are available for purchase for the S40 thru volvo. I don't think mine has them fitted, being an optional extra, but surely I could fit them still.
Just spoke to volvo, their car seats are £130 each, but are not isofix which is a pain.

[martinrpeachey]

I've no idea weather the 40's came with isofix or not, I can't see why you can't retrofit them tho.

I was thinking about a proper Volvo car seat but my lad is ready for just a booster soon so I'll not bother.

[KevinS40]

Well I'll sure ask the question. Would much rather have them isofix than belt, like you say....absolute pain to strap them in all the time.
Thanks for the input!

[martinrpeachey]

I've seen crash photos of a V40 that was in a head-on of a combined impact speed of about 80mph. The driver was quite badly hurt, the passenger got away with a few cuts and bruises. In the back was a young child in an isofix seat. The car was a mangled, inrecognisable mess but the seat had stayed put and the child was badly shaken but otherwise, fine.

I won't post the pics but it was a miracle anybody walked away. I can't see a belted car seat fairing as well as the isofix did.


EDIT

I can show you this pic...


http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g413/martinrpeachey/Snapbucket/IMG-20130924-WA0012_zps417b15ea.jpg

[iainmd]

Sorry to say there's absolutely no way you'll get 3 child seats across the back seat of an S40 or a V50. They have only 2 ISOFIX anchorage points and we have about the skinniest ISOFIX seats available (Britax Kidfix) and you can't fit a very thin adult in between let alone a car seat.

I'm afraid to say that if you have 3 kids you're going to need a bigger car if you want to carry them safely with 2 adults onboard.

I know from experience that with 2 child seats in an S40 or V50 there's precious little space left between the two rear seats.

If you don't have ISOFIX they can be retrofitted (as I had on the S40) but 2 is the maximum you can ever hope to fit. Even if you chose not to use ISOFIX (which I wouldn't) there's no way you can safely fit 3 seats along the rear seat.

Iain

[martinrpeachey]

Well, there's a definitive answer :)

[iainmd]

You could put a forward facing seat in the front, 2 seats in the rear and, only if you have the world's skinniest partner who doesn't mind being crushed and can operate as a transformer to put the middle seat belt on, your partner in the middle of the back seat.

We've done that twice for a very, very short distance and my wife cursed like fury. She had to train as a contortionist to get in and out as well.

Sorry, I know it's not an answer you'd hoped for but honestly we've had about every car seat money could buy tried by Mothercare in their car park and we've bought a couple of others as well to get narrow enough just to make the seatbelt points in an S40/V50 accessible for the car seats.

The S40/V50 has sculpted rear seats that aren't flat which doesn't suit car seats at all well. It narrows the useful width of the seat and makes the middle seat a bit of a token gesture.

Iain

[KevinS40]

Oh nooooooo :realmad:
That has just wrecked my evening. Sure I would loose a fair whack if I sold the S40! Can't believe my luck...or lack of!
Not what I wanted to hear, but thanks for the input.

[iainmd]

I always intended to limit my child count to 2 for that very reason, plus the thought of 3 or more filled me with dread, although not as much as the thought of a Zafira or Citroen C4 Picasso (one of the few cars you can get 3 car seats along the back seat of)!

Friends of ours traded their V50 for a C4 Picaso for that very reason. They spent ages trying all sorts of cars for 3 car seats along the back seat and it was the only non-7-seater they found that fitted the bill.

There are consequences to having more than 2 kids unfortunately.

[MacV50]

How much are you going to loose on the S40? Might be worth shelling out on the system that let's you have 3 car seats across the back.

However, with all the rubbish you have to cart around for baby, you'll probably find the boot lacking even if you do sort out the seats

I'm firmly in the no MPV camp but my partner has a daughter too and we find the V50 tight in the back with one seat, one booster and my partner's daughter in the middle.

The only thing I'll consider is something like a Discovery as we have a dog too so really need the space. Once my youngest moves to a booster it'll be a bit better in the back so hopefully we can delay the inevitable for a year or 2

[Trog thou Meatier]

We've managed two Graco Juniors on either side of a booster. Attaching the middle belt is a real pain though. If your five year old is big enough for a booster alone and your four year old is big enough for a Junior then you might get away with it if you can find a thin enough baby seat.

Having said that I do agree with the other posters - you really need a better solution.

[nbuuifx]

We've taken 3 kids and 2 adults a few times, we put one child seat in the front, one in the rear and a booster in the rear. Leaving the middle seat for the extra adult.

I didn't get too much moaning! We did select the smallest booster possible, it wasn't ours but we borrowed it. I got the impression it was just one of those cheap emergency booster seats (it didn't have a back and not much padding).

Don't know if that helps at all!

Our other car has no problem and can fit a full size car seat in every seat (Ford Galaxy) - you can get 3 across in the middle row plus another 2 in the rear and one in the front if you haven't got any adult passengers - so if you want to increase the family size again - they're a good choice for that! :)

[KevinS40]

Thanks for the above guys. I'm yet to get my teeth into a plausible solution, really hoping not to change the volvo but will have to see. Had a look into the 3 bench seat, it's a whopping £1200 odd! No idea what I'd even get for the volvo now, too hesitant to look!

[dme123]

Thanks for the above guys. I'm yet to get my teeth into a plausible solution, really hoping not to change the volvo but will have to see. Had a look into the 3 bench seat, it's a whopping £1200 odd! No idea what I'd even get for the volvo now, too hesitant to look!

I know the things you're talking about. To be honest £1200 on that might be cheap compared to the cost of changing your car! It's called a multimac I think?

Bet it has resale value too once you're done with it.