We desperately need some advice as to what moles of child carseats work in RVs as the rental firms don't hire carseats. We have a 3 year old and an 18 month old and will be travelling around California in December for 3 and a half weeks. I understand that the RVs only have lap belts (excluding driver and front passenger seats)… any recommendations on what brands/models of car seats work in RVs???
Much appreciated!

Do some reading on side-facing seats and safety. Look at the owners manual of the car seats you own. Most (?all) specifically state that they are not for use on side-facing seating, which is the kind generally available in RVs. If you do a Google search on side-facing seatbelt and/or car seats you will find a number of articles, including from NHTSA, indicating this.

And while seat belts are now required on side-facing seats, they offer limited protection for anyone. Seat belts and shoulder harnesses are designed to contain the passenger within a vehicle and work most effectively in the same directional plane (front/back) as the vehicle is traveling - such as when forward momentum of vehicle abruptly stops in a crash.

I did not make this up - do some research. It is more complicated and a more difficult decision than which car seat to choose.

Thanks Gail. I totally appreciate your comment… I realise the difficulties of side facing seatings and its limitations hence posting on this forum.

I figure lots of families must travel in rVS so how do people keep their little ones safe?

Also we'd probably buy car seats in LA, rather than bringing ours from home given our existing ones require should strap seat-belts.

Any further thoughts Gail or anyone else?

We want to keep our children restrained as best we can.

Thanks

Have you looked into CA laws on child restraints? If sounds as if there might not be any available that qualify for such small kids in RVs.

Frankly I wouldn't be willing to take the risk (obviously older kids are a different issue).

This question intrigued me for some reason. I did some more reading on-line. It seems that no child safety seats are approved for side-facing. You have some tough decisions to make.

See the posts on your other thread.

Car seats wil be the least of your problems . . .

Thanks all for your replies. I found out from several of the companies that they are unable to take two children under the age of four. So whilst its possible to have a child in a baby seat and a child in a forward facing booster seat, the older child must be four.

So -no RV hire for us!

Good decision, KiwiMomma! And what people have been advising on your other thread too.

Thanks for reporting back. I think you will be happy with your decision. Enjoy your trip.

Terrific - an RV for this trip is not a good idea, so their rule probably saved you.

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