3rd Seat Safety

[warnett]

I'm a new member that is seriously considering purchasing a 2005 XC70. It has 65k miles and is a certified used vehicle at a Volvo dealership. It seems to be priced right at $21k. It has the fancy wood steering wheel, HU-850 radio with iPod hook-up, leather, 3rd seat, sunroof and bi-xenon headlights.

We have 3 kids aged 4, 2 and 3 months and our small SUV isn't working for us anymore. I really don't want to buy a minivan. Will the XC70 be practical for us? Is the 3rd seat safe for a smallish 4 year old girl? The 3rd seat is my wife's only hang-up. She doesn't think the 3rd seat without a car seat is as safe as a 5-point harness Britax in the back of a minvan. What do you guys think?

By the way, I grew up driving Volvos so I'm kind of excited to get back behind the wheel of a Volvo. My mom refused to drive any other car maker after my sister and I wrecked her 240 in 1990.

[MoeB]

Assuming your 4-year old weighs 50-88 lbs and is of sufficient height, I think the XC is practical for you and your family. If your 4 yr old is too small then she shouldn't be seated back there. Regardless, your wife could be right about the Britax being safer. I really don't know. Some people have also expressed concerns about nonlaminated windows and rear-facing seats, due to the apparently small amount of collision force needed to cause the rear window to shatter.

[Keiland]

I would be very wary about placing my kids back there, at the mercy of every cellphone using halfwit floating around in their 5,000lb+ SUVs. Seems like a huge safety compromise for the most precious of cargos. I have three small children also, and after looking at an XC70 w/rear facing seat, which gave me the creeps, the dealer showed me one with the built-in booster seat option instead, which gave me enough room for my 7 and 4 year old daughters + my newborn son and his rear facing baby seat in the center. The setup works so perfectly for us that we bought the car. I highly recommend looking at cars with this option.

[warnett]

I'm looking at XC90's now. I'm not very comfortable putting my 4 year old in the seat with a booster with two big car seats in the other two seats. For some reason I have this vision in my head of us getting t-boned and the other car seats squishing her. She'll probably be safer in her Britax Marathon in the back of an XC90 or a hideous mini-van.

[skibo]

I have to agree that the rear seat is less safe than the 2nd seat, but I think you would have to take into account how often it will be used. In my case, I only really need this a few times each year when needed more than 5 seats.

Using it every day is a different situation than using it only in rare cases.

[Sasquatch]

I remember riding around in the family wagon with the dog in the "way back" with a pillow and a sleeping bag. If I was good, Dad would open the rear window all the way.

It's surprising any of us are even here at all.

[Keiland]

I remember riding around in the family wagon with the dog in the "way back" with a pillow and a sleeping bag. If I was good, Dad would open the rear window all the way.

It's surprising any of us are even here at all.

Yeah..I remember those days! Of course, back then there were less cars, no family SUVs, and no cell phone-using drivers...

[littlewaywelt]

The rear section is designed as a passenger compartment, unlike many manufacturers which consider it a cargo compartment. There are many pics around the web of smashed xc70s. The rear section is designed to maintain the space by flexing up between the 2nd row and 3rd row to absorb impact. It's very safe. I have boosters and the 3rd row and I have no issue using the 3rd row safety-wise.