Installing infant car seat in a Class A MH

[followingsea]

I am looking at installing an infant car seat in our Class A that is 20 years old. I have come to the conclusion that it is not safe.
We are planning a 200 mile trip with our 18 month old grand daughter next Friday. This a test for a longer trip next fall.

She loves the MH and camping but she has only arrived in the car.

Except for the front captain chairs, the only other seating with seat belts is side facing couches. I would be surprised if these belts are bolted to the frame.

I also watched some crash tests with the test dummies sitting at a dinette like we had in a previous HR. Everything came apart.

Unless I get some advice on how to make it is safer for the baby, I think following us in the car is the best way to go. Help Please!

[Lv2Roam2]

We're in the same situation with a newer coach ... haven't found a safe way to secure a car seat. Briefly considered the co-pilot seat but decided against.

Looking now at installing a tie-down through the floor behind a side-facing couch inside a slide-out and putting the seat against the forward wall of the slide-out. Still not convinced that's a good idea.

We join you in hoping for some solid info on the safest course of action. Meantime - the Jeep follows behind with the carseat.

[Dutch Star Don]

I'll bet that the seat belts on your couches are bolted to the floor. We have a couch, in slide, right behind the passenger seat. We place the car seat as far forward on the couch as possible This puts it against the slide wall. We then put a pillow between the car seat and slide wall. In an accident, the seatbelts will hold, the slide wall will stop forward movement.

I'll never say that you should be unsafe, but you can also make yourself crazy trying to meet 2020 Federal Seat Belt Standards.

[theroc]

We've now stopped taking the grandkids on any trips where they have to be inside the motorhome. Sure, the chances of having a catastrophic accident may not be that great but just the thought of one with children in the coach scares us to no end. Sure, we're in the minority as most here on the forum think we're too paranoid.

Unless the forward facing seats at the dinette can be modified so that they can handle the proper anchoring of the belts, we will not be transporting children on trips. Somebody said that Thor on some models is now doing so?

The organizations that are advocates of child passenger safety agree with you, Kit and Rita. There is just no safe way to buckle them in.

What they recommend, of course, is if families that do take regular trips in an RV to use a towable non-motorized RV where the children can be buckled in safely using traditional techniques in the tow vehicle.

Recommendation at end of this article:

RV Travel With Children

[nehog]

I know of no child/infant seat that can be used in a side-facing position. Perhaps I'm wrong?

The couch seatbelts in my coach are well attached and I'd trust them. However, finding a child seat compatible with that position will probably be impossible. I'm guessing at best you will need to use the co-pilot's seat.

[Calilsv]

I strap my son in the front caption's chair facing forward, to me its the safest seat in the RV. The reason we don't do this in cars is because of airbags deploying, although that is a mute point now since most cars can have the front airbag turned off, or it disables itself because of the child's weight.

I dont see any problem with this, there are many parents that are forced to have their kids ride in the front seat since they may only only a 2 seater car, no different then an RV's front caption chair.

[followingsea]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

I'll never say that you should be unsafe, but you can also make yourself crazy trying to meet 2020 Federal Seat Belt Standards.

Still doing research but we have installed the car seat on the couch on the slide. Clearly if it is windy, she follows in the car.

Yes, you can make yourself crazy answering the question what is safe enough. I did integrated and we had numerical criteria for protecting workers and our neighbors.

Let me be blunt, if it is unsafe to transport a child in a MH, it is unsafe to transport a child period.

Check out post #5 in this old discussion.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f59/rv-sa...ion-53350.html

[Dutch Star Don]

I love my grandkids more than anything else, but some of the reasoning for not transporting them in an RV is absurd, because that same reasoning means they can never ride in a car either. You can only do your best to ensure they're safety, but they are more likely to be injured or killed in a passenger car by a drunk driver than an accident in an RV.

[Sweetbriar]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

I love my grandkids more than anything else, but some of the reasoning for not transporting them in an RV is absurd, because that same reasoning means they can never ride in a car either. You can only do your best to ensure they're safety, but they are more likely to be injured or killed in a passenger car by a drunk driver than an accident in an RV.

Give it up Don. I'm with you on this but you'll never convince those who have already decided.

[followingsea]

In the 45 years between bringing home our first and first grandbaby, a lot has changed for the better. Now they make you have a properly installed car seat when leaving the hospital.

Many of the concerns are still the same. Forty five years later I have a lot more experience with root cause and safety analysis. After being bombarded by public service ads about sleeping position and watching a baby that refused to sleep that way, I looked at the statistics.

You should not get drunk and sleep with a baby. You should not leave baby in a car with the windows closed. There are some clear ways to avoid tragedy but sleeping position is not one of them.

My point is there is a difference between avoiding risk and avoiding tragedy.

Recently near us a rock hauling truck lost control coming down the mountain lost control and rear ended a MH stopped for the construction. The MH went over the concrete barrier and landed on a rental car full of German tourists who were also stopped for construction. The truck driver and the tourist were killed.

At the time we were considering buying a place within hour of where the kids lived. Not a road we wanted to drive frequently. We looked closer. Found a single wide on a nice lot. However, I would have to deal with road rage and buy a gun. Not a place I would want to leave unattended or have family come to check on.

A year ago, the kids moved to a house where we can park the MH beside the house when visiting. When your ‘indoor person’ daugher-in-law suggests making trips in the MH, it something you want to make work.

One approach is looking for the tragedy we want to avoid.

Headline: “5 killed, 13 injured after motor home crash on I-35”

Like many news articles, it was a little confusing. Was it a truck or MH?

“Authorities said all five of the family members killed in the accident were not wearing seatbelts. According to the crash report, only two of the injured, including the driver, were wearing seatbelts. …….More than 30 emergency crew vehicles were on the scene at the time of the crash. The Freightliner box truck had been converted to include living quarters. The vehicle was also towing a trailer.”

The driver was 17, more than 18 passengers in the MH (?), returning about a thousand from a motorcross racing event. Also it was not a Class a like we have.

Headline: “Couple killed in motor home crash during family trip to Disneyland”

The scary part of this story is it is one exit past where we are going. Coming down a hill on I-15 a front tire blew and:

"[The RV went] down an embankment, through a highway fence, across 900 South, through a vacant lot and into the condo complex,"

The grandparent is the front seats were killed. Four adults and four children went to the hospital but not killed.

I was very impressed with how the Class A held up. It drove through a block privacy wall and into a brick building. The building was a total loss along with a car in a garage. Behind the front seats, all the windows and body were intact.

Then I looked at some statistics:

According to the 2015 Traffic Safety Facts FARS/GES Annual Report medium/heavy duty truck based MH accounted for 16 fatal accidents with 29 MH passengers involved and 8 deaths in the MH. More died in golf cart accidents. I also looked at the years of the two events above and they show the number of passengers skewed the numbers a little bit.

Statiscal analysis has its limits. I would be more comfortable reading details report on each death and if there was something that could have prevent the death.

My conclusion is that it is sufficiently safe to have restrained passengers in a MH on a medium duty truck frame.

[followingsea]

Thanks all!

Our granddaughter had a great time riding in motor home. Even got her mom to go for a hike in a state park.

New problem, our just right MH got too small.

[99Foretravel]

We faced this same problem a few years back. Had two kids in car seats and did not want them belted in sideways...

Our short term solution was very heavy ratchet straps looped around the sofa frame. One faced forward, one faced backward and there was still room between them for a full sized referee... I mean adult. Now keep in mind that the sofa is not bolted down in any manner that the automotive industry would consider acceptable BUT IT IS BOLTED DOWN AS WELL AS THE SIDE FACING BELTS.... Upon inspection, the captain and co-pilot seats are not bolted down in a manner I would consider well engineered either. This worked for us for three years until booster seats replaced the hard shell seats. I would not let them ride in boosters without shoulder harnesses even facing forward. Phase two of the kid friendly class A involved mounting a pair of bucket seats with integrated lap belts behind the co-pilot seat... We now have four full size capatins chairs with integrated seatbelts.

Back to your problem, if you are still using a hard shell seat with the full built in harness strap it to something solid and have fun. If you are using a booster style seat then its co-pilot seat or take your chances facing sideways (Not a chance I would take for my kids).

[Pirate]

I read not to put the seats sideways. We put our granddaughter in the passenger seat (in her chair). It's the only safe seat in the RV.

[Dark Sky]

I grew up riding in the back of pickup trucks, but I definitely want to do better for the granddaughter. We put her car seat in the front co-pilot chair, and strap it in with a cargo strap and the seat belt. However, this is nowhere near as safe as putting her in a vehicle with proper attachment points for the car seat and crumple zones. On shorter trips Grandma drives the car separately instead of towing.
This whole issue is one that heavily favors a truck and trailer instead of a bus.