Child Seat Woes in VE Series II

[AussieCanuck]

Hello everyone.

Been in a brand new VE Series 2 SV6 for two weeks now, and the kids (9, 7 and 3 years old) are less than happy with the car. Our previous car was a VS. My partner and I, on the other hand, are loving the iQ... and the rest of the car too of course .

The problem is the youngest child's car seat. It covers the belt buckles. The seat's in the middle and causes the two older kids to struggle with putting on their seat belts. They wrestle for many minutes with locating the buckles that lie buried behind the car seat. This was never a problem in the VS, which seems to have had a similarly sized back seat, but the seat belt design was different.

I wanted to move the car seat to the outside, behind the driver's seat. However, there's no anchor behind the outside seats. The anchor is only present in the middle.

Wondering what's involved in moving the anchor to the outside.

Ideally, however, I'd like to keep the seat in the middle as it keeps the two older ones apart. Hence, I'm wondering if any VE owners have found a car seat that fits the car well.

Thanks in advance,

Regards.

AC

 

[Benboy]

Have you consulted with your dealer? If not, suggest that you do - after all they sold you the vehicle. Don't let them think that their obligation(s) end when you drive out the gate.

 

[VTSS350]

I have a sportswagon and it has 3 fitting points. I have two baby seats in it and its perfect. You should be able to fit extra mounting points. They should just bolt in.

I fitted two to an MY07 subaru liberty and it was easy!

 

[greenacc]

Not sure about the sportwagon, but in the sedan there is a factory fitted anchor point for the middle seat, and threaded bolt holes on 2 sides. The bolt holes are plugged with plastic screw plugs to make them look nice and you just remove the plug then screw in the bolt that comes with all child seats, and your ready to carry 3 kids. Check for similar plastic plugs in the wagon.
The best place for this info is in the owners handbook. Child seats are ALWAYS well covered in there as Holden doesn't want any lawsuits from parents blaming them for not telling them how to secure thier child seats.
As for your comment on the VS, I fully agree. The VS was 10 centimetres narrower than the VE, and yet still had a much bigger boot, and the same size back seat and larger door openings to get kids and bulky items into the car more easily. I think someone at holden forgot that people actually need to carry stuff in their cars.

 

[Lumps of cheese]

As above, there is definately anchor points on the outside seats in the rear. You just need to unscrew the plastic bung that's there and then just screw in your seat anchor.

 

[VTSS350]

Not sure about the sportwagon, .

You dont have to be as I already said they come with three mounting points.

As has already been said most baby seats come with a mounting bolt, its just a matter of removing the blanking plug and putting the bolt in.

 

[UFO]

i too have a sportswagon- 3 mounting points definitely.

safest spot for baby capsule is passenger rear (sedan or not), and there will definitely be a mounting point there. i know you are probably looking at it from a practical point of view in keeping 7 and 9 separate, but I'd be having 9 behind driver, 7 in the middle, and 3 on the passenger side. Plus that way the driver seat can move back a little more with having no capsule to contend with.

 

[Jaliza]

You can also buy seatbelt extenders. I had the same problem in a Kia Sportage

 

[Dayvo]

When I bought my series 11 VE it already had 3 mounting points in the rear. You can move the middle mounting point to the outside .

 

[MYVESSV8]

ADR states must have 3, plastic plugs are covering them, also can depend on seat brand and the base shape interfering with buckles