Making an F-350 Regular cab more family friendly (child seat mounting idea)?

[IHDiesel73L]

My '03 Regular cab was great for me, my wife, and my dog, but now that the baby has come along, our only expo vehicle has become a lot less comfortable. I have a bench seat and though there is ample room in the middle for a child seat (and a latch anchor for the middle position installed at the factory-the manual also mentions that a child seat can go there), my wife and I were told that the middle seat can be a risky place in a pickup because the driver or passenger airbag could hit the corner of the seat (it's rear facing) with a glancing blow which of course would be enough to cause harm to a young child. Right now when we travel in the truck the infant seat goes on the passenger side (airbag off of course) and my wife sits in the middle. First and foremost that puts her in a position with no shoulder belt and no airbag. Secondly it's just very uncomfortable because she's 5'10" and all legs so she's all crunched up because of the tunnel. Needless to say we're not taking any long trips that way-60 miles to grandma's is about the limit. A new truck is definitely not in the budget unfortunately. So I had this idea:

What if I were to swap two buckets into the truck, leaving the middle where a center console would normally mount, open? That way I could have a mounting bracket custom built to fit the child seat base that would bolt directly to the floor. Mounted low and far back enough, it would more than clear the airbag should the unthinkable ever happen. I'm going to talk to a few other Super Duty owners I know so that I can measure the distance between the stock buckets, but from what I hear it's about 16" at the narrowest point, which should work for our seat. I honestly think that, done correctly, this could end up being much safer as it will be more like a permanent mounting, rather than a temporary one which most child seats are. If anyone could send me detailed measurements/pictures of their truck with buckets it would be appreciated!

 

[Saiyan66]

I definitely like your idea of bucket seats with an area in the middle that has a solid mount for the carseat. I was thinking of something similar, but ended up getting a crew cab. It should work great because the carseat can be mounted lower than your sitting level so shoulder room will be more, and with no seatback it can also be mounted against the back wall of the cab giving more space between it and the dash.

 

[bfdiesel]

Before you modify any of that you might check into how the law will treat it if you get pulled over. Safer or not they may still write you a ticket or worse try to press charges for child neglect. I have lived in a couple of areas that were more than happy to pull crap like that.

Both air bags should go off about the same time at the same speed, if they both glance off the seat they will cancel out. The one air bag glancing would be no worse than a side impact of at least 30 mph or a high speed roll over.

My $.02 I would make sure the seat I had would provide good support for the babies neck, and keep an eye out for a crew or extended cab that may want to trade for a single cab still going to need something different or switch back to the bench when the kid switches to a booster seat.

 

[Rot Box]

Regular cab Cummins with manual trans + car seat + 2 adults = The reason me and my soul mate (the truck... not the wife lol) sadly parted ways

The best advice I can give you is to just be patient after about a year or two (depending) you can turn the car seat so it faces forward which takes up a lot less of space. Then after they grow a little more they only need a booster which is even better... oh except when kicking the truck out of gear becomes a really fun game! DOH I made the jump from that regular cab to a quad cab (01 style dodge) and the car seat was a pain in that too. Hate to say it but now might be the time to start considering a different truck with more cab space :-\

 

[Ozrockrat]

In our E350 ambulance conversion I have fitted a set of these seats including the jump seat. I mounted the jump seat lower and it slides back and forward so that our grand daughter is about the same level as us when in her car seat (forward facing thankfully). The jumpseat has the mounting points for a childs seat. http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/pts/2759451275.html

 

[IHDiesel73L]

Before you modify any of that you might check into how the law will treat it if you get pulled over. Safer or not they may still write you a ticket or worse try to press charges for child neglect. I have lived in a couple of areas that were more than happy to pull crap like that.

Good point-never thought of that.

Both air bags should go off about the same time at the same speed, if they both glance off the seat they will cancel out. The one air bag glancing would be no worse than a side impact of at least 30 mph or a high speed roll over.

An airbag hitting a rear facing child seat will almost certainly kill or severely injure them. That's why I came up with the idea of eliminating the seat entirely and mounting the child seat all the way back bolted to the floor so that it's far away from the airbags.

In our E350 ambulance conversion I have fitted a set of these seats including the jump seat. I mounted the jump seat lower and it slides back and forward so that our grand daughter is about the same level as us when in her car seat (forward facing thankfully). The jumpseat has the mounting points for a childs seat. http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/pts/2759451275.html

I wish those were somewhere on the east coast-the shipping would cost more than seats-$200 seems like a steal! I would mount the two buckets and leave the middle one out (if you could do that) until she was out of the rear facing seat. Pretty slick.

 

[Buliwyf]

I would just use the wifes car until your kiddo is big enough to ride normal in the middle seat of your truck.

Or trade the truck for a CC LB or XC LB. Short cabs aren't too friendly. We've all grown up in them as kids, but the new laws are tough.

We used to just sit in the middle with no booster seats, and our mothers just held us as infants. Man times have changed. But I'm pretty sure the average mom drives a whole lot more aggressive then they did when I was a child. So maybe the strict child seat laws are a good thing?

 

[Ozrockrat]

What if I were to swap two buckets into the truck, leaving the middle where a center console would normally mount, open? That way I could have a mounting bracket custom built to fit the child seat base that would bolt directly to the floor. Mounted low and far back enough, it would more than clear the airbag should the unthinkable ever happen.

Have you thought about the difference in vibration levels if you "hard mount" the child's seat. In normal operation the foam and suspension of the seats provides a level of vibration/shock damping. If you hard mount it there would be a lot of vibration/shock transmitted directly to the child's seat and the padding on those is not very thick. I hard mounted a child's seat in my sidecar but just leaving my hand on it for the first test ride made me decide to put the foam original seats back in and them attach the child's seat. There was a lot of vibration (mind you the F350 should be a bit smoother than my 1963 BMW/Ural rig).

Anyway just something else to consider.

 

[bfdiesel]

You could look into what it takes to disarm the air bags there is a way to do it since it takes 12 volts to fire it. it may be as simple as pulling a fuse from what I have been able to find.

 

[kjp1969]

I would suggest disabling the airbags at a minimum, but really really you're looking at a different, more suitable truck. You don't want to screw around with your newborn. Think of how you would be trying to explain to a cop: "Yeah, but I built this metal bracket. . ."

 

[78Bronco]

I would suggest disabling the airbags at a minimum, but really really you're looking at a different, more suitable truck. You don't want to screw around with your newborn. Think of how you would be trying to explain to a cop: "Yeah, but I built this metal bracket. . ."

X2

Just had to buy a bigger SUV to transport the whole fam damily safely and in comfort. We weren't happy about selling the Pajero but the Expedition does it all and more.

 

[Buliwyf]

I hard mounted a child's seat in my sidecar

Wait.........wut?

:Wow1:

 

[IHDiesel73L]

Think of how you would be trying to explain to a cop: "Yeah, but I built this metal bracket. . ."

LOL...in all fairness I was going to have a friend fab something that would be pretty professional looking and safe-he is a civilian machinist who works for the Air Force and does some pretty nice stuff. I see your point though-sadly I don't think that I'll be able to hang onto my old regular cab anymore...

 

[Patman]

I would contact FMC. I guarantee they have multiple crash tests and Data for days as to how the airbags react with a center mounted seat. Most driver bags will not reach past the diameter of the steering wheel more than an inch or so. and with the passenger bag off I would expect it is fine, but again, without the data to back it up I wouldn't take the chance either.

 

[IHDiesel73L]

I would contact FMC. I guarantee they have multiple crash tests and Data for days as to how the airbags react with a center mounted seat. Most driver bags will not reach past the diameter of the steering wheel more than an inch or so. and with the passenger bag off I would expect it is fine, but again, without the data to back it up I wouldn't take the chance either.

I'm sure they have the data somewhere, but they're not sharing it-I tried. I called the dealer, explained the situation, asked if there was another number I could call, etc... I guess the other problem is that there are so many different kinds of carseats, and there's no way to account for installer error, etc... Why didn't I buy a crew cab to start!?