Can child seats touch each other safely?

Hi,

We are currently trying to fit three car seats in the back of a Ford Mondeo; we can fit a rear facing infant seat on a base (belted not ISOFIX), a slim high back booster non harnessed and a forward facing harnessed slim type high back booster. Only issue is they are all touching and whilst I have room to put my hand between the two boosters to buckle and unbuckle my eldest, I have had conflicting advice. Some people say it's not safe for the seats to be touching, others say once you have room to put your hand between to buckle and unbuckle it is safe, but in reality unless I move up to an SUV, any seats you fit three across in a family-sized car are going to touch off one another.

I would love to hear any advice or research to say whether it is safe or not to have them touching (mainly in regards to side car impact).

Thank you

Mary

Mary McSweeney

Sep 2019 Filed under: child or baby seats

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Expert answer

Hi Mary,

No, you don’t need to be worried if the seat sides are touching or rubbing together. After all, as the car leans over in corners, the seats will lean too and rub in different ways, so it’s not really an issue. As long as you can safely reach the seatbelt release in an emergency, and as long as the seatbelts are fitting properly across everyone’s shoulders, you should be fine. And of course that there's no danger of one seat pushing the release button for another.

Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Advisor
@neilmbriscoe