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      03-14-2013, 08:13 PM   #1
fatmatt0116
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Baby Car Seat

Anybody here have any experience with baby car seats? I just went to the police station today to have mine installed and the police officer there said it could not be installed in the middle of the X5's back seat because the armrest could hit the baby during an accident. When it's installed behind the passenger seat, there isn't much room left for the passenger.


Does BMW make a car seat?
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      03-15-2013, 01:16 PM   #2
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Interesting comment! I was told that it is better to put the seat in the middle as it protects better from side impacts. I recommend to get a second opinion.
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      03-15-2013, 10:45 PM   #3
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By arm rest you mean the pull down cup holder in the rear? I would take my chances with a padded arm rest hitting a baby than a car if you Tee boned. The middle is always the safest spot for kids. Can the arm rest even fold down with the seat in place?
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      03-17-2013, 04:38 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvan Lake V35 View Post
By arm rest you mean the pull down cup holder in the rear? I would take my chances with a padded arm rest hitting a baby than a car if you Tee boned. The middle is always the safest spot for kids. Can the arm rest even fold down with the seat in place?
I know right? That's what I've always heard but the cop said it couldn't go in the middle in the x5.
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      03-17-2013, 06:28 PM   #5
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Then according to the cop you can almost never put the car seat in the middle of the back seat since most cars have a fold down arm rest. I'd be willing to bet that the armrest won't move in an accident and if it did it would be an unbelievable amount of force from the rear and if it did 'push/pull' out how much force would it have to actually harm a child in a rear facing car seat.

I'd take my chances with placing the child in the middle than the edge during an accident.

Also, why did you goto a police station to have your car seat installed? I also live in socal and never heard of that before. I know certain people don't tighten it well enough, but i've made sure to make it super tight and pull and push on it to ensure it doesn't move that much, if at all.

BTW, i also have an X5 and have always placed my child in the middle (rear facing and eventually foward facing). After having another, we had them next to the doors.
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      03-17-2013, 07:21 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mavic1010
Then according to the cop you can almost never put the car seat in the middle of the back seat since most cars have a fold down arm rest. I'd be willing to bet that the armrest won't move in an accident and if it did it would be an unbelievable amount of force from the rear and if it did 'push/pull' out how much force would it have to actually harm a child in a rear facing car seat.

I'd take my chances with placing the child in the middle than the edge during an accident.

Also, why did you goto a police station to have your car seat installed? I also live in socal and never heard of that before. I know certain people don't tighten it well enough, but i've made sure to make it super tight and pull and push on it to ensure it doesn't move that much, if at all.

BTW, i also have an X5 and have always placed my child in the middle (rear facing and eventually foward facing). After having another, we had them next to the doors.
Good to know, thanks.
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      03-18-2013, 06:38 AM   #7
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Interesting. Down here it's the fire department that offers this as a service, maybe try them for a second opinion.

BMW does make a couple of car seats, but I believe they are all forward facing, which is usually minimum 20 lbs and over age 1 (they all say keep rear facing as long as possible). You didn't mention how old your child is but I am guessing newborn (or soon to be) if you're just now trying to figure this out, and that you are installing a rear facing seat since that's the only way an armrest can hit a baby.

We have an Orbit infant seat which gets installed onto a circular base (and turns, its pretty cool) and the front tip of it is about 8" off the seat. That may be high enough to block the armrest pivot and prevent the armrest from going down. Not 100% sure though. We have two kids so no using the middle for us.

I would suggest to go to the local parental extortion store (i.e. Babies R Us) and try out a couple of car seats and see if any of them sit high enough off the seat and block the armrest pivot.

The only downside to installing in the middle is lack of LATCH connectors, meaning you have to secure using seatbelt, so it's a trade off. Those LATCH connectors are pretty sturdy. Fwiw we never used the middle even with one child, and in the X6 it's ok for my wife as passenger, just enough room not to be uncomfortable.

Btw, one of the arguments against installing in the middle seat is that in a rear collision, there is nothing to stop the baby seat flying through the windshield if it gets unmatched somehow. I don't have any studies to cite, but my gut feeling tells me that either way, you can't win - you trade off one piece of mind for another potential danger. We chose the side because in a side impact with the side curtain airbags and the sturdy BMW construction, plus the front seat in front of the child seat, it was in our opinion the safest option. Also rear collisions are more common the side collisions.

Last edited by ddk632; 03-18-2013 at 06:44 AM..
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      03-18-2013, 08:58 AM   #8
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I agree with mounting the car seat in the middle. This is where my seat is mounted and I doubt the armrest would cause any injuries - it would take one heck of an impact.
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      03-19-2013, 09:55 AM   #9
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You can use the latch connectors when placing the child seat in the middle. Just connect one to each one of the "pairs". That's what I did.
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      03-19-2013, 10:39 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mavic1010 View Post
You can use the latch connectors when placing the child seat in the middle. Just connect one to each one of the "pairs". That's what I did.
That's a big NO-NO when installing child car seats. The latch mounting points are not designed to be used that way.
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      03-19-2013, 11:01 AM   #11
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Maybe you can explain why latching to one of the pairs is wrong? I don't understand why there'd be any risk....

Update:

Ok. I should've google'd first. I understand the risk. However, it can be done and dependent on the MFR of the car seat and car mfr. Recaros (the one I used) are OK with it (greater than or less than 11" spacing) but not with BMWs.

Last edited by mavic1010; 03-19-2013 at 11:09 AM..
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      03-19-2013, 02:13 PM   #12
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Is it difficult to use the seat belt to secure the car seat? What's the down side?
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      03-19-2013, 02:13 PM   #13
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Is it difficult to use the seat belt to secure the car seat? What's the down side?
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      03-21-2013, 04:33 PM   #14
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Hi:

I used the recaro car seat (link below) in the middle of the back seat, with latches used from the left and right side of the seat. There is no latch for middle seat, but you can use the latch connectors on the either side of the left and right side.

http://www.recaro-cs.com/us/product/...o-proride.html
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      10-08-2014, 08:40 AM   #15
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Ugh. I'm going through this right now. I have a Keyfit 30 and have it secured with the latch behind the passenger seat. But the passenger seat needs to be moved forward quite a bit and my wife isn't exactly comfortable since she's tall. So it sounds like mounting it in the middle is up for debate also.

Pros for mounting it in the middle: less risk when there is a side impact.
Cons for mounting it in the middle: more risk for the kid flying forward in a rear end collision.

Not being able to use the latch in the middle is annoying.
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      10-08-2014, 11:09 AM   #16
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Hold on... If a carseat is attached securely/properly even if in the middle, it's not going to become a projectile. Latch is super simple to use and I don't know why folks have a hard time with using a carseat with that system in place.

I also don't agree with the OP's original post about the line the cop said. That cop doesn't seem to be saying accurate info.
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      10-08-2014, 09:40 PM   #17
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Police is bullsh***ing ... we have two car seats, one behind driver, the other in the middle (infant), and they are perfectly safe and fit fine ... If you have the option to slide the rear seats, you can slide them all the way to the back and tilt them as far behind as possible, I know cars w 3rd row have sliding rear seats
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      10-09-2014, 02:18 PM   #18
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Yep, agree with the last two posts as well. We've got two little ones. Admittedly, the rear facing car seats take up a ton of room, but that's only temporary and think of how much bigger the car will feel once you turn them around.

Personally I wasn't a fan of rearward facing because the way I see it, the most likely accident I was going to get into was being rear-ended. In a rearward facing seat, that allows an awful lot of whiplash on a little one in a rearward facing seat...

As soon as I was able to turn them forward facing, I did (20 lbs/1 year old). I know everyone says kids are safer facing backwards, but you also have to consider if you have big kids, they'll only fit for so long rearward facing. Our daughter had her legs bent because she was too tall and couldn't stretch out... I turned her forward facing.

On a side note, we also found that both our girls were happier forward facing as well because they could see more.

Just my $0.02. Good luck.
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