Car seat in the middle F-350 regular cab bench seat?

[Badfish740]

My wife and I just found out that we're expecting so I need to figure out what the safest way to strap this kid in is. I have a regular cab F-350 and a crew is just not in the budget. I know that I can turn the airbag off on the passenger side and the seat will be safe there, but my wife and I ride in the truck together a lot and IMHO the middle seat is not the safest for her with just a lap belt. Also, as per the owner's manual there are car seat anchors in the passenger AND middle seats. Everything that I've heard says don't put the seat in the middle because the driver's airbag can still hit something the middle as expands outward. Why would Ford put the anchors there if its not safe? Here's the thought I had (and I'm sure I'll get some pushback on it)-a good friend of mine is a Ford tech and could disable the driver's airbag for me. Anyone else ever do this?

 

[Flatbedford]

We put a car seat in the lap belt of my '96 F250 all the time. Thankfully, we never "tested" it, but it seemed to be well anchored.

 

[mayhem]

Don't disable the airbag, strp the kid into the middle seat and go driving. The Latch anchors and low mass of a child will keep the seat from shooting very far forward in a head on collision and the airbag won't reach the seat at an unsafe distance.

 

[billb3]

We went cross-country touring for a whole Summer with a new born in 78.
Bassinet strapped down between the two front seats. Safety net over the top of the bassinet held in with rods through the net and loops in the side of the bassinet. Kid would have stayed in if we rolled over.

 

[Badfish740]

We went cross-country touring for a whole Summer with a new born in 78.
Bassinet strapped down between the two front seats. Safety net over the top of the bassinet held in with rods through the net and loops in the side of the bassinet. Kid would have stayed in if we rolled over.

I get what you're saying-the irony is that unlike in 1978 the thing that could save my life in a crash (airbag) could snap my child's neck like a twig. If my truck didn't have a driver's side airbag I'd put the seat in the middle and be done with it. I even called Ford today and they couldn't give me a straight answer.

 

[Flatbedford]

I hadn't considered the driver side airbag being an issue for center passenger.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Congrats on the little one! I sold my Dakota due to the child seat issue. Can you just put the kid in the wife's car and drive as a family in that?

I don't know if I'd want a little squirt screaming in my ear for an entire drive. When my 15 month old gets into a mood she can scream the entire drive and it's too cold to roll the window down like you can in summer. That sound will really bounce around the cabin.

Matt

 

[Badfish740]

Congrats on the little one! I sold my Dakota due to the child seat issue. Can you just put the kid in the wife's car and drive as a family in that?

I don't know if I'd want a little squirt screaming in my ear for an entire drive. When my 15 month old gets into a mood she can scream the entire drive and it's too cold to roll the window down like you can in summer. That sound will really bounce around the cabin.

:lol: According to the guys on the Powerstroke forums the diesel lulls them to sleep We have to figure something out because my truck is what we use for all long trips (both sets of grandparents are 50+ miles away) because the fuel doesn't cost us anything as opposed to gas which just keeps going up... I think I'm actually going to look at swapping the seat since '06 and later trucks have a shoulder belt for the center passenger, which would be better for my wife and the little one can go in the passenger seat with the airbag turned off. The XL model bench sucks anyway-I found that out on our first annual trip to Maine last summer.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Congrats
Was going to send you a link from carseat.org, but then figured out it was you

 

[Badfish740]

Congrats

Thanks!

Was going to send you a link from carseat.org, but then figured out it was you

If there's one thing I'm good at its finding a forum that will tell you how to do something :lol:

 

[billb3]

We went cross-country touring for a whole Summer with a new born in 78.
Bassinet strapped down between the two front seats. Safety net over the top of the bassinet held in with rods through the net and loops in the side of the bassinet. Kid would have stayed in if we rolled over.

I get what you're saying-the irony is that unlike in 1978 the thing that could save my life in a crash (airbag) could snap my child's neck like a twig. If my truck didn't have a driver's side airbag I'd put the seat in the middle and be done with it. I even called Ford today and they couldn't give me a straight answer.

Yeah, well we did rear facing without think about it.
Course, no air bags and it was a van, so air bags wouldn't be a "issue" there anyway.

rear facing in passenger seat ( not the middle) with air bag off is what I've read.
instinct would tell me to put the seat in the middle safe from side impact, but that's apparently wrong.


Do not disable the driver's bag.
If you do anyway, please keep current pictures around for the reconstructive surgeons .
Or better yet, find pics of what a face looks like that ate a steering wheel.
It's not pretty.

 

[firefighterjake]

No answer . . . but I do have a congratulations coming to you Badfish!

 

[nate379]

What's the problem with the 8ft of bed space? hehehahaha!

 

[Badfish740]

What's the problem with the 8ft of bed space? hehehahaha!

How else am I going to show my boy (actually we're not sure if we're going to find out) that Ford trucks are the only way to go if he's not sitting right next to me? :lol:

 

[OhioBurner©]

Hmm never really thought about the drivers air bag being an issue. I've got a reg cab F150 XL that we had the seat in the middle all the time. Wouldnt really be possible for my wife to go in the middle though with the stick shift. We had to buy a different seat for my truck to even clear the stick, most seats wouldnt. Made a few 8-9hr out of state trips like that too... then we got the crew cab and it is much easier now. The carseat issue was a good reason to get the wife to let me buy a new truck!