MCF

Has anyone heard of this!? I told a co-worker that has a new VW CC and a newborn that I have our rear facing car seat installed in the center position in backseat of the E350 and that I can still get to my driving position (I am 6'4") without any problem except that the canopy on the rear facing seat just touches the back right side of the driver seat. He said he has read/heard that you have to be careful with things touching the back seats on German cars because that can cause air bags to deploy even with slightest impact. Anybody

Disclaimer - my coworker does stay at Holiday Inn Expresses a lot....

ImInPA

That is total BS. All airbags have to conform to the same standards. To single out German cars is just ridiculous. Hopefully the child in the car seat got the intelligence genes from the other parent. I was just with a friend who has an E350 wagon, helping him bring home some mulch and a couple sacks of concrete. The wagon was packed pretty full. On our way home, a truck pulled out in front of him and he slammed on the brakes (I was following behind him and slammed mine on too). Two of the bags of concrete slammed into the back of the front passenger seat so hard that the passenger front seat-back was broken and would no longer recline. Number of airbags that deployed: 0 The folks that stay at Holiday Inn Express, at least in the commercials, seem to know what they are talking about. Not sure where your co-worker is staying, but, he/she has to be one of the most ill-informed folks out there.

MCF

Thanks. That is what I figured. Could not figure out why air bag sensors would be tied to the back of front seats.

ttoE550

Here's where I am a bit confused re the placement of the car seat: Air bags *are* located in the seat backs. And if the safety seat is touching the front seats and the airbags are deployed in an accident, wouldn't there be a good chance the air bags would hit the safety seat?

By comparison, I don't think having the safety seat touching when directly behind the passenger seat would have the same issue. I always put my kid's safety seat behind the passenger seat because, in my old Subaru, the safety seat pushing on the zipper for the air bag caused the zipper to open. Just continued this with my 550.

Maybe the guy remembered center safety seat touching front seats can be dangerous, but got confused about why. I do that all the time, so I have more forgiveness...

MCF

Huh? THere are airbags in the seatbacks of the front seats?? They protect passengers in the back seat!? I don't think that is correct. If so, you could never put a child safety seat in the back seats. I have my positioned in the center position in the back.

ttoE550

Sorry, had a brain fart. In my Subaru, the seat did pull open (split open) the zipper for the fabric containing the airbag, but the air bag was on the other side. All this stuff is maximally important to you now, but you'll probably be getting everything confused like I am when you move on the later stages!

ttoE550

And, oh yes, the side airbags are in, well, the side of the E-class seats. In my old Subaru, they were more towards the rear of driver's and passenger's seats.

MCF

From everything I have read and been told, it IS safe to put the child safety seats in the side seats even with side curtain air bags and those air bags 'pop' from rear to front along the doors and do not 'pop' inwards to the passenger compartment.

EmE247

Was about to say **** MCF...u got one real lemon...

Grats on the kid. Put the car seat in the middle. Safest position statistically and no worries about the airbags. People can even sit next to the car seat in the rear as long as they are not too large.