Toddler in a GTD?

[charles]

Who has experience of taking their toddler in a 40?

My son is now 3 and a bit years old and I'm wondering how I can take him out in my 40. Safely!

I've had a look around on the UK government road safety website and it seems that he's too young for a booster seat and will have to use his car seat.

This shouldn't be too much of a problem but I'll have to remove the passenger 4point harnesses and replace with a standard 3point seat belt.

So, does anyone have any experiences or thoughts to share?

Thanks in advance.

Charles

 

[Julian West]

Charles,

I'm sure he'll be fine as long as he can reach the brake pedal. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Ian K]

[ QUOTE ]
Who has experience of taking their toddler in a 40?

My son is now 3 and a bit years old and I'm wondering how I can take him out in my 40. Safely!

I've had a look around on the UK government road safety website and it seems that he's too young for a booster seat and will have to use his car seat.

This shouldn't be too much of a problem but I'll have to remove the passenger 4point harnesses and replace with a standard 3point seat belt.

So, does anyone have any experiences or thoughts to share?

Thanks in advance.

Charles

[/ QUOTE ]

Charles,

Does UK law specify age or weight? In California we have arguably
some of th etoughest seatbelt laws. Ours are based on age
and weight - a smaller older child is still required to be
in a car seat due to his/her size. And a larger younger child
is not exempt due to his/her age. But these rules are in
place specifically for 2 and 3 point belts due to their design,
4 and 5 point harnesses are inherently more secure. At 3
years of age, your child's bones are solid enough, but
his size would allow him to fall out of standard 2 and 3
point systems - which are designed for larger than average
men. A 4 point should allow you to snug him in enough so
that is not an issue. However, the law is the law, and most
safety laws do not take full racing harnesses into consideration.
So, unfortunately, for legality sake, you'll probably have
to fit a 3 point belt and hook up the car seat accordingly,
regardless of how safe he would be in the 4 point.

Ian

 

[Devin]

I've actually taken my toddler (now 4) in my cobra replica with a 4 point harness and this is what I did:

A child's safety/car seat.
Use just the lapbelt portion of the harness to fasten it down and secure shoulder harnesses away (tucked behind the seat in my case)
Tighten one side almost all of the way back to the attachment point and loosen the other side to extend through the seat's designed loop-through anchor points.
Then buckle together and tighten.

I found that the childseat's design as well as your car seat's bottom design/construction make a bigger influence on how secure these fit together and make an appropriate sitting angle for the young passenger.

I would suggest trying each seat you may own (we had several/one per car) for the best fitting an even shop around if those don't work due to design.

Manufactures still have a long ways to go in my opinion on making a truly safe and universal child seat.

Devin