airbag and child

gerrycollins

with a new baby on the way soon we were messing with car seats and carriers etc the other day to see which one would suit best for both our cars. I have a 307 and she has a 99 Yaris. now i can turn off the passenger airside bag in my car but she cant so when she is travelling on her own the child will have to travel in the back and that scares me because she will be turning back every 5 seconds to tend to the child

Have checked the manual and there seems to be no system of turning off the airbag so can anyone help is it possible to turn it off and on again without too much hassel?

Dont want to go to toyota garage yet as they will probably charge me for telling me the obvious

alias no.9

Best solution is to put the baby right behind the drivers seat where she can't see or reach the baby regardless.

stevenmu

Exactly, the baby should be in the back (even if airbags can be turned off), the driver should be up front driving. Most babys can survive longer than 5 seconds without being tended to, even when crying

PaddyFagan

Hi

This came up in another thread recently - I have a (now) 12 month old baby, and we have exactly the same routine. In the end I found travelling in my wifes car (where the car was in the back) much more comfortable for everyone. Babies normally sleep in a moving car anyway, so it isn't a big deal most of the time - if they are awake and crying it's better that you're not tempted to reach over an tend to them while driving - if you need to attend to them, you'll have to stop anyway.

On the previous thread (a quick search should find it) there was mention of both mirrors & video systems that allow you keep an eye on the baby while you drive if you want.

Paddy

ds20prefecture

gerrycollins wrote:

Have checked the manual and there seems to be no system of turning off the airbag so can anyone help is it possible to turn it off and on again without too much hassel?

I have the same problem and the same concern. To get the airbag switched off you need a letter from your insurance company "allowing" the garage to disconnect it, then the garage will charge you to disconnect it (half a day on my Skoda) and then they have to issue an engineer's report which you give to the insurance company. It must be done by a Toyota garage, and apparently there's no guarantees that it won't go off in an accident anyway.

The good advice I received here was to put the child in the back.

Hobart

stevenmu wrote:

Exactly, the baby should be in the back (even if airbags can be turned off), the driver should be up front driving.

Most seats for children of this size are made to be rear facing and should be used in the front passanger seat of the car. You can have the air bag removed or deactivated by a toyota dealer if you want. I would not have a newborn in the front of the car with the airbag switched on, ever.

Seth Brundle

I recall answering one of these threads before and I managed to pull out some stats that showed it wa safer to have the child seat in the back (ignoring airbags) but I can't find it now.
Generally newborn and young babies will fall asleep when the car is moving anyway. The bigger risk IMO will be having the child seat fitted incorrectly.
if you are in doubt head over to Tony Kealys in Walkinstown for professional advice.

Mr Magnolia

PaddyFagan wrote:

Hi

This came up in another thread recently - I have a (now) 12 month old baby, and we have exactly the same routine. In the end I found travelling in my wifes car (where the car was in the back) much more comfortable for everyone. Babies normally sleep in a moving car anyway, so it isn't a big deal most of the time - if they are awake and crying it's better that you're not tempted to reach over an tend to them while driving - if you need to attend to them, you'll have to stop anyway.

Paddy

What he said,

If the child is behind the passenger seat(which is the part of the car least likely to be hit in an accident) your wife should be able to position her rear-view-mirror to see both the baby and out the back.. As Paddy said if you need to attend to them you'll have to stop anyway.

loyatemu

the back seat is safer regardless of whether the airbag is disconnected or not.

you can get a mirror that attaches to the rear window to allow you to see what the baby is up to.

gerrycollins

thanks for the replies and they are what i generally thought of myself but u know women ha ha anyways a bit of advice never went astray thanks again