Rear facing car seat for Subaru Outback?

Question

My 1 year old has just outgrown her infant seat and I need to buy a convertible seat to replace it. I have a 2003 Subaru Outback and I've heard that installing a rear facing seat in this make and model can be a nightmare. I'm looking for seat recommendations from people that have this car and have successfully installed a convertible car seat in a rear facing position.

Answer 1

Try doing a search at car-seat.org.  There are many great car seat techs who can help you too!

Answer 2

General consensus is that you WILL be able to fit a car seat, depending upon model, in the outboard (rear driver & passenger positions) but not in the middle. Apparently installing a car seat in the middle of a Subaru is a no-go, in fact, check your manual, some Subarus specifically recommend not installing car seats in the middle position. And you can't use LATCH in the middle either, only on the outboard positions, but seatbelt is just as safe as LATCH.

Britax Marathon fits well both rear and forward facing in both side positions, which means Britax Decathalon and Boulevard will also fit since they are the same seat shell, just different features. Marathon is the base model.

The Britax Marathon/Boulevard/Decathalon (These 3 are the same seat, just different variances of luxury additions, with the Marathon being the cheapest base model) can be found for regular price of $269, and on sale at Albee Baby online for $209-$219. The Marathon a wide open easy to route belt path, which makes using it correctly a lot easier, as do the built in lockoffs, which mean you never again have to use a locking clip. I can get it into 4 different vehicles in under 2 minutes. Because of the way the base is made, it fits in most cars. And, it is worth the money, b/c it lasts usually twice as long as most other car seats (all car seats expire 6 years after the date of manufacture) lasting a baby till they are 5-6 years old, where most at Walmart will only last till 2-4 years old. Rear faces to 33lbs, then forward to 65lbs. and top slots 17inches tall, lasts most kids to ages 5-6 years old.

A tech here got a rear facing Recaro Como in there. (Rear to 33lbs, forward to 70lbs, though its a really tall seat, and for that price, I'd rather have a Britax with true lockoffs, Recaro has backpedaled saying the 'lockoffs' on their seats aren't lockoffs, but just belt guides, since users quickly realized they weren't actually locking the seatbelt). http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t...

Most importantly, keep rear facing as long as possible. Turning kids forward at 20lbs/1year is an outdated practice that could cost you your child's life!

1)A forward-facing child under 2 years old is 5 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age.

2)A child's vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old, before then, she is at great risk for internal decapitation. The spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches in a crash BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 inch before it snaps and baby is gone.

3)Current research suggests that children under the age of two years are 75 percent less likely to die or be seriously injured when they are riding rear facing.

4)In a recent article from Injury Prevention, it was found that the odds of severe injury to forward facing children age 12-23 months old was 5.32 times higher than a rear facing child. (Car Safety Seats For Children: Rear Facing For Best Protection; Injury Prevention 2007; 13:398-402.)

It works this way: when you get in an accident and run into something, the car stop suddently, but everything and everyone in the car keeps moving in the direction the car was moving when it stopped, in most accidents, this is forward. So in an accident with a child in a forward facing seat, his head, the heaviest part of the body on babies and toddlers, flies forward very forcefully and easily snaps. If that same child is in a rear facing seat, his head tries to fly forward but is supported by the back of the rear facing seat, so there is no stress put on the child's neck and spine.

Check out this photo album exclusively of rear facing kids, many of them much older than 12 months: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum...  There isn't a single documented case of a child breaking their legs b/c they were rear facing in an accident. There are, however, lots of cases where children have been killed and seriously injured where a rear facing seat would have protected them better.

Evenflo Triumph Advance fits well rear and forward facing outboard, too, and these are TOP picks in seats.

The Evenflo Triumph Advance (not the original Triumph, make sure it says Advance) is a great seat. $150 version at Babies R Us has padding similar to Britax seats, top slots of 17", harnesses to 35lbs rear facing, and 50lbs forward facing. $120 Walmart version just has little less plush padding. Wide open belt path, easy to install, though it doesn't have built in lockoffs. The harness adjusts at the front of the car seat, you don't have to take the car seat out of the car just to raise/lower the straps. It's one of only 2 seats that does this (The Britax Boulevard is the other, I believE), and it has infinite harness adjustment so the harness always fits perfectly until its outgrown. No more tugging straps to tighten them either. You tighten and loosen the harness using k***s on the side of the seat. As a major bonus, it can be used in a recline position even in forward facing mode. Awesome for kids who still sleep in the car. I LOVE THIS SEAT! LOL My son, who is too big for every other car seat at Walmart has the same amount of room in this as the Britax Marathon.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t...

Answer 3

Use these sites they are very helpful..........

http://www.carseatdata.org/

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babie...

http://www.epinions.com/Car_Seats--revie...

http://www.parents.com/baby/gear/car-sea...