Honda Civic as a family car

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Mudpuppy
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Location: Sunny California

Re: Honda Civic as a family car

Post by Mudpuppy »

Dave76 wrote:
Mudpuppy wrote:
Dave76 wrote:The Elantra Touring is probably what he's looking for.
That model is no longer being made. It was replaced by the much smaller Elantra GT hatchback with the 2013 model year.
New ones are on dealer lots.
Not for long, particularly not once year-end model clearance happens. The "new" Elantra Tourings are an endangered beast in the USA market (although you can still get the equivalent i30 station wagon in the European markets).
Dave76
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Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2012 8:05 pm

Re: Honda Civic as a family car

Post by Dave76 »

Then it's a good time to buy.
epilnk
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Re: Honda Civic as a family car

Post by epilnk »

The most important thing is how well the car seat fits your car. NOT the quality of the car seat, contrary to popular opinion; all of the carseats on the market meet safety standards and there actually isn't very much difference between the top scoring seat and the bottom. So the safest seat is the one that fits your car, is properly installed, and that you use correctly 100% of the time. In a small back seat (I had a Jetta), some seats work much better than others, it's just a matter of fit. Borrow some to try if you can, or look online, and when you do buy a seat immediately install it in the store parking lot, bringing it right back inside if it doesn't fit well.
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tadamsmar
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Re: Honda Civic as a family car

Post by tadamsmar »

These pages seems useful. A couple of facts.

72% of car and booster seats are misused.

The middle of the back seat is the safest spot in a vehicle.

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/c ... sheet.html

http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ ... ilies.aspx

http://www.seatcheck.org/
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tadamsmar
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Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 12:33 pm

Re: Honda Civic as a family car

Post by tadamsmar »

You can get you seat installation inspected for free:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cps/CPSFitting/Index.cfm

Looks like fire departments do it near my zip code.

If you had any doubts, you could buy a seat, get it checked out in your car, and return it if there was a problem/
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bru
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Re: Honda Civic as a family car

Post by bru »

We were just at the Pediatrician with our 4.5 year old. He made a spiel about car seats and I think he said kids should be in the back seat until they are 100 lbs. For us that will be a long time. Our son is still in his convertible car seat and we use the three point harness. He's probably ready to use the cars' belt with the seat as this will make it easier to get him in and out. BUT we have the car seat in the middle seat and our CR-Vs middle belt comes from the roof in the cargo area, not very convenient for grabbing. Although I know it isn't the safest I think I will have to move the car seat to one of the outboard seats.

In our Elantra, when needed we put the car seat in the outside rear seat behind the passenger but this is rare as we try to use the CR-V when we drive with our son.
Dave76
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Re: Honda Civic as a family car

Post by Dave76 »

I hated shoulder restraints when I was a kid.
epilnk
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Re: Honda Civic as a family car

Post by epilnk »

bru wrote:We were just at the Pediatrician with our 4.5 year old. He made a spiel about car seats and I think he said kids should be in the back seat until they are 100 lbs.
My son is going to find this very awkward in drivers' ed.
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