Child in Roadster

Vip · Jul 10, 2014

Looking to buy a Roadster to add to my Model S. I am trying to convince my wife. She has concern about driving around our 7 year old child in the front seat of the Roadster.
Anyone here that can help with any information or experience?
Thanks in advance!

wiztecy · Jul 10, 2014

Here's my feedback on it:
Priceless! Boy Rides in Tesla Roadster 2.5 for First Time (Video) : TreeHugger

smorgasbord · Jul 10, 2014

California’s Child Passenger Safety Seat law will now require children to ride in either a car seat or booster seat until the age of eight, or until they reach a height of 4 feet 9 inches. This law also requires children who do not meet the age or height requirement to ride in the rear seat of a vehicle unless the vehicle has no back seats, the restraint system cannot be properly installed or the rear seats are already occupied by children under age eight. However, the law still maintains that a child may not ride in the front seat of a vehicle with an active passenger airbag if they are under one year of age, less than 20 pounds, or riding in a rear-facing child safety seat.

Link: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/about/leg/newleg.htm

If your son is over 4' 9", then it's OK in CA - or you may want to wait a year. Since Roadster has no back seats it will be legal for him to ride - but you and your wife need to decide how safe that is. On the Lotus forums, some people have installed airbag switches, which then enables a narrow car/booster seat to be used.

Jackyche · Jul 10, 2014

Maybe I read that wrong but in summary:

a)8 years old OR 4'-9" --> just sit there
b)under 8 and 4'-9" --> need booster/car seat
c)under 20 pounds OR needing rear facing seat --> a no-no (unless you disable airbag)

So I don't see why you'd have to install a switch just to use the booster seat.

supersnoop · Jul 10, 2014

The manual specifically says that children under 12 should not ride in the car. My daughter is 11, so I'm legal, but not recommended.

strider · Jul 10, 2014

The reason for that 12-year-old reco is because it does not have an advanced airbag (with a weight sensor that adjusts airbag power based on weight on seat). That's also a primary reason that production was ended but that's another thread.

So if you disable the airbag via a switch then you only have to worry about your local state requirements. I've been meaning to look into adding a switch so I could take my son along when necessary and not have to fire up the Jeep. My son is a few months away from moving to a booster so this will move up my priority list soon.

smorgasbord · Jul 10, 2014

strider said:
The reason for that 12-year-old reco is because it does not have an advanced airbag (with a weight sensor that adjusts airbag power based on weight on seat).

The safety issue is related to hitting the airbag before it's fully deployed. The typical recommendation there is that the child is at least 10" from the airbag. In Roadster without a child/booster seat, that's easy. Even easy to get double that distance. With child/booster seats, however, the child can be sitting too close.

GSP · Jul 10, 2014

strider said:
The reason for that 12-year-old reco is because it does not have an advanced airbag (with a weight sensor that adjusts airbag power based on weight on seat). That's also a primary reason that production was ended but that's another thread.

So if you disable the airbag via a switch then you only have to worry about your local state requirements. I've been meaning to look into adding a switch so I could take my son along when necessary and not have to fire up the Jeep. My son is a few months away from moving to a booster so this will move up my priority list soon.

This is a very important point. The older "full power only" airbags can be very dangerous for children and even very small adults.

Parents need to understand this well so that they understand the risk and can protect their child.

GSP

richkae · Jul 10, 2014

I installed the airbag switch in my Roadster. You need to get a form from the NHTSA and take it to an approved airbag shop.
My son, who is now 8 and half has been riding in it regularly for almost 4 years.
Before I bought the Roadster I made sure this was possible, because I wanted to be able to use it to take him to and from school.
First I had him in this booster: Young Sport - RECARO Child Seat - Group I,II,III
Now he just uses a regular backless booster seat.
( The Roadster seat is narrow, you need to test fit the booster seats to find one that works )

There is no way I would ever let him in a Roadster without the airbag switch.

strider · Jul 11, 2014

Thanks Rich! I was looking at this one:
Harness to Booster Car Seat Performance SPORT â€“ RECARO
which looks like the US version of yours. Ok, now to find a shop in the Bay Area I trust to be slicing into wires

NigelM · Jul 11, 2014

The OP doesn't say where he lives but I think most (all?) states (like California mentioned up-thread) simply require the same precautions as if your child was sitting in the rear seats.

My daughter was 7 when I first got the Roadster and always used a booster seat until she was tall/heavy enough to go without. Now at almost 11 she stills loves it. The biggest problem was finding a booster seat which would fit in the trunk when not in use; I ended up with a BubbleBum which stored nice and small in the trunk.

Vip · Jul 11, 2014

Nigel, thanks for your experience info. I am located in Ohio. Not sure about the laws here which I will have to look up. My son is turning 7 next month but he is a tiny guy (36 lbs). Like the BubbleBum idea. Did you get an airbag switch installed to turn off the passenger airbag?

richkae · Jul 11, 2014

strider said:
Thanks Rich! I was looking at this one:
Harness to Booster Car Seat Performance SPORT â€“ RECARO
which looks like the US version of yours. Ok, now to find a shop in the Bay Area I trust to be slicing into wires

That's probably actually the one I have. I got it 5 years ago, my memory is terrible. I just googled "Recaro Young Sport" and pasted the link.

NigelM · Jul 12, 2014

Vip said:
Did you get an airbag switch installed to turn off the passenger airbag?

No, but my daughter was/is a good 28" away from the airbag compartment.

smorgasbord said:
The safety issue is related to hitting the airbag before it's fully deployed. The typical recommendation there is that the child is at least 10" from the airbag. In Roadster without a child/booster seat, that's easy. Even easy to get double that distance. With child/booster seats, however, the child can be sitting too close.

You're right although I do note that the booster seat raised my daughter up but not forwards; given the slope of the seats it was actually moving her slightly away from the airbag compartment.

spaceballs · Jun 11, 2015

Just in case anyone encounters this.

I had an airbag service switch installed by a local company (NHTSA recommended per their paperwork), and they were not able to get the airbag light to turn off during their testing/verification steps. They had no issues with this on 1.5 roadsters, but on my 2.0 it wouldn't work with their tools (they updated the latest firmware, etc.) So after the switch was installed, I drove a few blocks to the local SC and told them what happened, and they where great about resetting the light!

m0rph · Jun 11, 2015

My son is just over 4ft. I use just the sitting part that I took out of his BMW Junior seat. It fits perfectly!

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