Re: Car Seats. Bought my dream truck, now i'm pregnant. Send Help.

Send help. I bought a brand new Tacoma TRD off-road access cab in 2016 without thinking of the possibility that I'd one day spawn a child. Lo and behold, i'm now pregnant and need to fit a rear facing car seat in the world's smallest back seat. Any tips, tricks or car seat suggestions are appreciated.

The sales guy at Toyota is on my butt to trade in for a used Camry and I just...can't...

 

If it makes you feel any better, my wife and I just found out our first is on the way and I have an access cab 1st generation Tacoma...you think your backseat is small, you should see mine lol. And it even has a car seat hook up, which Toyota must have put there as a joke.

Fortunately I have the ability to turn off my front passenger air bag so that makes the front seat an option if needed, I don't think they make vehicles with that option anymore. But I'm looking into getting a separate DD instead.

I have heard of people with 2nd gen access cabs making car seats work in the back, with the front passenger seat all the way forward using the smallest car seat they could find. But it seems like most people opt for a larger vehicle.

 

My DCSB has “loops” behind the back seats to help tie in a baby chair. Maybe yours does also. They also work to secure coolers.

PS. My 2014 has a sensor that will turn off the passenger airbag if the occupant is too light (e.g, my backpack). There is a light on the dash.

 

Buy a double cab... problem solved.

 

Trade in for a 4Runner or double cab

 

Suck it up and trade it in for a DC Tacoma. I tried to make an access cab work but it didn’t.

 

How did you get pregnant? Lol, just kidding. You can make it work in the back, just slide the front seat all the way forward and buy a real nice adjustable car seat. Good luck with everything. Welcome to TW.

 

Trade in for a Double can.... just keep in mind the rear is as big as a corola so it’s still not very big.

 

ac is pretty brutal if you have infant(s); if you can even find a infant seat that fits on that small a seat, which in and of itself is kinda sketch. dc might be the route you wanna go unless you do a car seat in the front and to me thats a no-go situation.

 

Not sure if this law is universal but, in my state, it’s illegal to put a baby in a car seat in the front. They have to be in a rear facing car seat in the backseat for the first 2 years. Then at 2 years old, you can turn them to forward facing but they have to stay in the back. Not sure what age they can legally sit in front seat. I don’t think it’s until they are old/ big enough to be out of a booster seat. So that’s several years. Might want to check into the laws in your state.

Congrats to your new addition.

OP, congrats to you also.

 

You can put them in the front as long as you have an airbag that is able to be turned off. Issue is that modern cars nowadays (to my knowledge) no longer offer the on/off switch for airbags, so most newer vehicles you're forced to put them in the back no matter what.

https://www.babycenter.com/0_car-seat-safety-air-bags_396.bc

scroll down to "what if I have to put my car seat up front" section

You can even get a on/off switch custom installed if you have no other option.

That being said, it's going to be a last resort option for me. We're getting another vehicle just because it'll be safer all around.

 

Congratulations!

I used to have a 2nd gen Access Cab and it let me turn off the passenger airbag but I couldn’t really have put my little bugger there because that was the wife’s seat. See if you have that. I have a double cab now because I wanted to stick with the Tacoma and needed a truck bed but even the double cab has a tiny backseat and if you trade vehicles solely for your growing family a 4Runner would likely be a better choice.

 

I love that!

 

I don't see the problem....should be plenty of room in the back...short bed or long bed?

 

Hey, RedTACO. Apologize to the lady. I know you didn't consider your post well, and we get crass on here, but that was uncalled for. Still, you apologize to her.

Three words: Subaru. Trade it in for the safest car in the world. You owe it to your child. The CrossTrek was rated the safest car in the world by Europe's equivalent of our NTSA. It scored a 207 out of a possible 215. The nearest car to it, ever, only scored a 196, some Mercedes if I remember right. STILL a 4WD, STILL pretty badass on all but the worst trails. Inexpensive too. My daughter bought one, a Premium model, for $22,300 +TTL. Take your high-resale equity, go in there, drive a good deal, control the sale and come out with a payment less than you have now. Keeps its value only second to our Tacos. It'll make a fine first car for your child too. And that will be here before you know it. They grow up too fast!

Both my daughters drive Subbies. That Turbo Forester is BAAAAD! SCREW a Camry. You can get a better car, for less, one that keeps its value better.

 

Trade in for a DC. I have a booster seat and a car seat in the back of mine. The kids don’t complain (even if they did they are kids) and the wife and I have enough room. Congratulations and good luck!

 

Last week I traded my beautiful 2016 tacoma sr access cab with 38k for a trd off road manual trans double cab FOR THE EXACT SAME REASON...

I’m my case it is worse... mi wife three years ago told me “do not buy the access cab, we are not going to fit” so imagine.. she will remember me of that moment FOREVER..

I held the car exchange for a year and basically drove my truck like a coupe... when my lovely son was riding behind copilot basically my wife almost didn’t have any legroom and when I wanted to use my truck and bring my wife and kid I put the car seat in the middle between both seats and we barely fitted..

It is a personal decision, in my case I’m paying 50 bucks more monthly for my 2019 trd off road manual trans (this time I decided to get what I wanted from the beginning and keep the truck until my kid starts driving) got a better interest rate and put down 2k... so I basically upgraded for not too much money... I fought for a good deal.. visited 5 dealers...

I’m extremely happy with my new roomier taco but Ill pay it of in six years.

I will not make the same mistake again.

Lesson learned.

Good luck.

 

People laugh at us for having a Sienna and no kids. She bought it for the dogs. Luckily for me it’s the SE edition so bigger wheels, ground effects.

Congrats on the baby!

 

It’s automatic, in the seat.
There an ‘airbag off’ and ‘airbag on’ indicator to the right of the HVAC panel that lights up when sensing a light-weight adult sitting in the front passenger seat.

 

But can you turn it off manually? I could be wrong but I didn't think Tacomas have that feature anymore, if you were to put something like a car seat in the front the airbag would automatically come on right?

My 04 has a switch where I can turn it on/off by using my ignition key. I can turn it off and leave it off indefinitely until I put the key in and manually turn it on again. But like I said, it'll only be for 'as needed' situations, regardless if I can turn it on/off the front seat of a 1st gen just isn't a safe place for a kid. My truck will be promoted to weekend warrior duties once I get myself a DD, which was always the plan anyway. The timeline has just been accelerated now lol.