Eleventh

I have a Safety 1st Go Hybrid Convertible Booster



which I like for the three point harness, but it really requires a top tether to install properly, which the vette doesn't have. I've used it in a rented C6, but it was a real pain in the butt to get in and wasn't friendly to the seat vinyl.

I'd be interested in any recommendations. Bonus points if you found a both a good fit and a good color match for a kalahari interior!

48supertruck

I think you will be surprised, there is no LATCH system in the seats either. The owners manual says they are there but there is no hooks in the seat to hook to. I bought a booster only for my 4-1/2 year old but I am not happy that GM decided that this was not important.

Eleventh

No surprise, I'd read owner's manual, it actually says there is no LATCH, albeit in a very roundabout way.

page 3-33 "Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH System)"

"Some child restraints have a LATCH system. As part of the LATCH
system, your child restraint may have lower attachments and/or a top
tether. The LATCH system can help hold the child restraint in place
during driving or in a crash. Some vehicles have lower and/or top
tether anchors designed to secure a child restraint with lower
attachments and/or a top tether. Some child restraints with a top
tether are designed to be used whether the top tether is anchored
or not. Other child restraints require that the top tether be anchored.
A national or local law may require that the top tether be anchored.
In Canada, the law requires that forward-facing child restraints have
a top tether, and that the tether be attached.
Your vehicle does not have lower anchors or top tether anchors to
secure a child restraint with the LATCH system."

Suns_PSD

This is a big deal to me and really puts a wrench in my plans to order a 2015.

If anyone comes up with a solution, please tell us about it.

BAD2000TA

Does anyone know why Chevrolet did not include the LATCH system in the C7? I was reading that in the owners manual, too, and I'm concerned on what can be used as my son is only 3-1/2 and will need something other than the standard seat belt. Is it just that the Corvette is not kid friendly?

505hp

I think its not kid friendly because its just not safe to put a child in any front seat. Even if you had an Escalade they always recommend putting kids in back seat as thats the safest spot for them.

48supertruck

I guess I missed the "some" and "may" in the description. Sneaky General Motors. I am in the process of finding a booster that fits in these sport seats. I am on my second one and it does not fit down in the seat. I will post my findings when I find one that works for me and my daughter.

Eleventh

Age / weight?

Basically, if the child needs to be rear-facing, there is no solution that will work in the front seat in my opinion. [In an earlier time and days my father welded brackets for a baby seat into the hatchback section of his '63]

Ages 2-5 (per CDC, see your state regs and seat recommendations)
Once you are front-facing by weight / age, I think you will have options that can work. Most car seats can still work with a three point seatbelt harness, they don't require LATCH. Check your state (TX?) regulations, PA and FL do not require a LATCH seat.
I'd look for something that has good lateral head support for the child, given how easy it is to pull Gs on a corner.
And a hard back, so that it can use the seatbelt w/o a top tether.

Then when they get bigger, (I think they say up to 80 lbs), you can use a booster seat, with the standard seatbelt in the car. There are actually few boosters that use LATCH in my experience.

Carnut12

I agree, my childs safety is worth a lot more than what kind of car I drive. I am not sure if the OP has another car and is just talking about emergency use only, but if this is a DD I would buy a 4 seater until the child gets a little older.

Eleventh

Thanks, let me know how the experimentation goes. I've had good luck with a Bubblebum

for the backseat of a 4-seat GT car. It was the only booster seat narrow enough to fit. I'd prefer something more substantial for the front seat, but the bubblebum is gentle on leather.

Big Dan 427

Can the air bag be disabled on a C7, if not I would not put a kid old in there!

Adrian-S

Does the passenger seatbelt "click" once pulled all the way so it locks tight onto a child seat?

Eleventh

I have done the four seater thing. My daughter is 6-years old and over four feet tall. Pennsylvania laws require her to be in a booster seat until she is nine years old.

I fully intend to roadtrip with my daughter in the front seat, this isn't an 'emergency car' thing. There is nothing inherently unsafe about having a larger child in the front-seat of a vette - as long as the airbag is disabled and you use an appropriate restraint/booster to adapt the seat belt. Is it higher risk than the backseat of an SUV? Sure. Is it an unacceptably high risk, no.

Eleventh

C7 has the automatic disable for the passenger airbag if it does not detect an adult weight in the seat. I couldn't find in the owner's manual what weight of passenger will cause it to enable/disable, but there is a visual display on the dash telling you the passenger airbag is disabled.

I intend to switch back and forth frequently (child/adult), so I will test that the system works properly when I'm using a booster seat. Typically there is a way to pull a fuse to permanently disable the passenger side, I haven't researched that for the C7.

bgood

subscribing to this thread. Nice to see useful information

Carnut12

Got it, 6 years old can use a regular booster, correct? My 7 year olds use the regular seat belt with just the booster seat, I would assume that would work. Based on the picture you had in the original I made a false assumption that she was younger.

Eleventh

Agree, at that age/weight/height, a 'no-back' booster is all that is required.

We still use the full harness booster shown in the original post in the back of our SUV because my wife likes the harness. But that brand doesn't really work without a LATCH top tether.

So I'm looking for the standard sit-on booster that 'fits' the sport seats well. Something like this:


Problem is that
a) most of the boosters out there are very wide, you often can't fit three of them side-by-side in the back seat of a full size SUV.
b) some are designed with no consideration of protecting the seat material, so you end up having to pad it.

Not sure what will fit a C7 yet.

Carnut12

Look at Target, the Cosco brand, that is what we 911 owners use in our back seats, they are very narrow. That said you will need to put a towel or protector under it, the bottom is plastic. I have 2 for my twin 7 year old boys and they work great.

http://www.target.com/p/cosco-no-bac...oster+car+seat

Eleventh

I hear you. It kind of looks like a infant seat, but it's actually a lot bigger and good as a full-height harness up to 65 lbs. It's a relatively unique design in that you get the full harness, without needing a hard back, like all the other boosters. So you can fold it up and stick it in a suitcase on airplane trips. It uses the top tether to tension the harness.

Eleventh

That is pretty narrow (15.75") for a booster, most of them run > 17", often 19". Thanks for the recommendation. I use a Bubblebum (13") in my DB9 as the rear seat starts about 17 or 18" wide but narrows in the back to no more than 14" wide and Cosco-type won't fit. Shouldn't be a problem in the C7, there it will be more a matter of which one has a good width to match the bolsters.

[separate rant on how dumb it is to have to use a mandatory booster when the backseat is so small that the seat belt position is already appropriate without the booster (it comes out of the seat at below shoulder height for my daughter) and the booster puts my daughter's head into the roof of the car. Not sure if it is as bad for you w/Porsche]