car seats - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Ravenlotus · RV-Dreams Family Member

car seats

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

Most motorhomes have seating with seat belts for travel.

The normal setup is in the dinnette area. The benches will have seatbelts. I would put the carseat, facing backwards, in the bench that has the back towards the front of the motorhome. To me that would be as safe as any car location. You can always add additional tie down points for a carseat to any RV seating setup since most are made using wood or steel framework.

I would say travelling with a toddler in a carseat in a motorhome would be much more pleasant than in a car or truck. You have better access to the toddler since you can stand up and walk around while travelling down the highway.

Keep in mind, I'm no expert on child safety but using common sense to provide my two cents.

Ravenlotus · RV-Dreams Family Member

thanks. I just wasn't sure what to do. if we are able to afford a moterhome sooner than we expected. because thats what I really want is a motorhome. since we will be fulltime. yeah, my daughter is 3 right now. but we may be able to get on the road by the time she is 5 or 6. so we would still need a carseat or booster seat.

featherstory · RV-Dreams Community Member

My daughters have just turned 1 and 4. We have a motorhome and drove around with it a little bit a few months ago when we first got it. We put the youngest in the front passengers seat and the oldest is in a booster seat which we put on the couch, and strapped her in with the seat belt. It seemed very secure to me.

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

It would be a problem in our coach. I don't think car seats are designed to be mounted sideways, and all our seatbelts for passengers are in the couches that both run N-S.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Dan's point goes beyond just being safe. There may be a number of states that require a child seat to be rear facing. Now, having said that, it is unlikely that a police officer would be able to see into the RV to determine a child's seat was installed illegally. It would depend on whether the RV was a class C or a class A.

But, even then, should you be stopped at a traffic checkpoint or be involved in an accident, they would be able to check.

Terry

mcw50 · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm not sure what laws and regulations are about car seats in motor homes, but in our old coach that had a booth dinette, car seats did not fit between the bench and the table unless we lowered the table like we did for a bed. In our newer coach we have a table and chairs, so we had extra seat belts installed on the N/S sofa and our three grandkids rode side by side. (Can you say elbow jabs??) When we first got the coach, only two needed to be in car seats. We figured this is safer than just sitting "loose" somewhere. We were once astounded by a salesman who told us the "in-motion" satellite was great for letting kids watch TVon the bed while on the road.

Mary