hogscar replied:

TJM sell a beam which is mounted across the back of your wagon it is fitted with three child restraints. It takes up room and I'm not sure how much but it is certified by the transport department.

geocacher (djcache) replied:

We have the same problem in a Forester and a Dual Cab Courier but only when it's our turn to do the kinda run and take an extra.

I don't think your extension idea is a good one. It would significantly change the geometry of the junction of the lap sash belt at the tongue and where that is positioned. The potential as a worst case is significant (and possibly fatal) internal abdominal injuries.

While on the topic of kids safety in cars my personal bent is seeing people with young kids in or out of booster seats in the front seat. This is bad enough in any car due to the fact that the anti submarining mechanism in the seat base (designed to stop an adult sliding under the seatbelt in a forward impact) is not designed to stop a child much under 40kg (about 12y/o) from ending up floating around the foot well. On a car with front passenger airbags the force at which they inflate and the fact that they are designed to deflate in a controlled manner with a minimum of around 40kg impacting with them means that the potential for them to kill a child of less than 40kg is significant, and the chance of serious injury even greater.

Read your owners manual very carefully before letting your kids under 12 sit in the front seat no matter how much they love it or whinge if you don't.

I hate pulling broken kids out of cars, particularly when it's preventable.

Dave

Member - bushfix replied:

G'day Matthew,

give Morrie a call at Mobility Engineering

if anyone knows, he should.

flappa replied:

Ahhhhhh . . . after reading this 4 or 5 times . . . its finally twigged what you are talking about.

You are after a seat belt extender , that fits into the existing belt clip , so the new clip is easier to reach (ie would be about 6 inches long).

We have had the same problem.

I saw one many many many years ago (but didn't need one back then) , now that we need one , cant find one.

I dont think its the sort of thing that you could get made up.

barnzzi replied:

Hi
We had the same problem in our Pajero.
In the end we decided the easiest thing was to move the oldest child in the back back seat and buy a basket to go on the roof. We throw all our clothes bags and lighter softer stuff up there as well as the gas bottle. We were told though we could only put the eldest in the back if her eyes (when on her booster seat) were higher then the top of the back seat (safety reason). Hope all goes well with number 3.
Kate