Your 100's as family vehicles

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

TTO5 said:
Ok so 2000 doesn't have latch system. Is there a tether hook up on this year?
Click to expand...

There's nothing back there. No in-seat latch, no overhead tether, no floor tether. But aside from the convenience of the easy seat removal, I've found the old-school seat belt to be just as secure if you do it right. It is a PITA to route the belt through the seat, but once you get it threaded it's pretty easy to cinch up. Just extend the belt completely and it will ratchet back in and won't extend unless you completely stow the belt. That, and the fact that it's a 6,500 lbs armored tank keeps the kiddos completely safe.

Edit:

From this thread, here's a retro solution. I would never do this, however, as the dynamics of a crash restraint system are beyond my skills. What seems logical and strong may not be so in a crash.

Another discussion here with more OEM retro ideas from a 2001.
 
Last edited:
re_guderian said:
human adult??? :confused:
Click to expand...

You could totally do it on shorter trips. Kids in center and side with an open seat on the other side. 100's are surprisingly roomy. The bigger problem is getting to the center seat to buckle in junior, especially on a lifted truck.
 
re_guderian said:
:lol: seriously? I'm 6' 4" though. I find the middle row stifling, even when I have it to myself, let alone with two car seats...
Click to expand...

Deep no, but wide yes. And as I said for short trips it works. The third row becomes a problem with car seats. Either you put the seats in the third row or you trap passengers in the back.

Even in my buddy's 4G 4R with a seat in the middle you can sit in one of the sides if you need to.
 
Hey MeWantLC, I posted some info about 2 across and an adult on your 200 post. Plus it looks like there is a pic here for 3 across in a 100.

2 child seats in the back works best with the car seats next to each other leaving either side for an adult. Plus the 100 has latch rear passenger and middle, very nice feature.

03-04 LC would be good years to start with that would have all the latches, tethers and rear air bags.
 
re_guderian said:
:lol: seriously? I'm 6' 4" though. I find the middle row stifling, even when I have it to myself, let alone with two car seats...
Click to expand...

I agree. I'm 6'3 and would never volunteer to sit in the back seat, let alone the 3rd row
 
@TTO5: Sorry, did not realize your was a 2000. Sorry for the bad info, and like OregonLC said, he is correct.

@OregonLC: "Deep no, but wide yes. And as I said for short trips it works. The third row becomes a problem with car seats. Either you put the seats in the third row or you trap passengers in the back."
The problem with having car seats in the third row is that there is no tether anchors if the children car seats are something different than just booster seats. Yes, you could still install the seats with just the seat belts, but the tether provides more stability to the children car seats, even to the Radian 100 which is on of the best convertible forward facing seats without using the tether if you car does not have one.

@all: so it looks like for two car seats in the second row, plus either wify or "monster" in law it would be good for a 10 hour trip, correct?

Cheers,

MWL
 
Ya, I wouldn't do kids in the 3rd row. But not because I buy into the tether advantages, rather because of the proximity to the glass and the rear crumple zone. Safer in the middle. A correctly installed seatbelt restraint works as well or better than the latch systems I've seen. Not to mention I've had the latch pop off in my Outback. That was user error, kind of. It clicked just didn't seat completely. Never had that with a belt.
 
Same as everybody else. Wife had a 4runner, but when we had second kid I wanted to get rid of a car payment and have some more room, an old LX was a perfect solution. It hauls groceries, my two kids, dog, kayaks, tons of crap, no reservations about taking it anywhere, is AWD so I don't have to worry about wife sliding all over the place, and is one of the safest vehicles on the road. It will be in our family until it dies or the kids are gone, or we get another LX. We would probably have two if I didn't need a truck.
 
sounds like none of you guys have ever had to sit in the 2nd or 3rd row of a different brand SUV of similar size....sitting in the back of a Cruiser would be a LUXURY. my parents own an 05 Tahoe and compared to my Cruiser which is 3 years older, the Cruiser feels superior in every way no matter what seat you sit in (3rd row included, since it reclines), and I'm only 5'10"! just think "airplane economy class w/o seat recline" - no thanks!
 
I would think there would be a way to loop the tether over the back of the seat then down through between the seat bottom and back seam to mount the tether directly back to the carseat itself. Then cinch it down wrapped around the seat back and call it good. I have the child seat systems in my 2002 but always try to double up using the seatbelts. Probably overkill but it is what it is. The car seat LATCH systems are only better than seatbelts when it comes to portability and ease of use. All of the actual research and professional opinion on the subject of car seats says that utilizing the existing seat belt systems are in fact the "safest" options. I did a lot of research on it because my wife was really anti pre 2001 LCs and I was having trouble finding a 2001+ that suited our needs.

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD
 
I have two radian sunshine car seats in our 98 lx. I use the seat belts and secure the top tether to the small cargo ring behind the seat. It wrecks the tops of the seats but I do believe it keeps the seats a little more stable side to side. Our 4 runner had the latch system, I can't tell a significant difference.
 
I have a 2000 and I use the tether tie downs behind the second row too for my 3 year old twin's car seats. It works out well and give you that extra piece of security feeling.
 
My kids have outgrown car seats and boosters but when they were smaller, I used the cargo hooks as the top tether anchors as well. It left a big dent in the top of the seatback but kept the seats very secure from shifting side-to-side. And the dents in the seat were not permanent. You can't see them anymore.
LATCH is simply a system that's supposed to be a little more idiot-proof than people using the seat-belt to secure the car seat. Also, the LATCH system I think is generally limited to kids under 30 lbs. My Britax Regent could hold kids up to 60 lbs and still utilized a 5-point harness, which would not have worked with the LATCH system anyway once they got heavy enough to exceed its limit. I never owned a car new enough to have it when my kids were small enough to be able to use it (they are 10 and 11 now)
 
TXLX100 said:
I have two radian sunshine car seats in our 98 lx. I use the seat belts and secure the top tether to the small cargo ring behind the seat. It wrecks the tops of the seats but I do believe it keeps the seats a little more stable side to side. Our 4 runner had the latch system, I can't tell a significant difference.
Click to expand...

dries001 said:
I have a 2000 and I use the tether tie downs behind the second row too for my 3 year old twin's car seats. It works out well and give you that extra piece of security feeling.
Click to expand...

marcfj60 said:
My kids have outgrown car seats and boosters but when they were smaller, I used the cargo hooks as the top tether anchors as well. It left a big dent in the top of the seatback but kept the seats very secure from shifting side-to-side. And the dents in the seat were not permanent. You can't see them anymore.
LATCH is simply a system that's supposed to be a little more idiot-proof than people using the seat-belt to secure the car seat. Also, the LATCH system I think is generally limited to kids under 30 lbs. My Britax Regent could hold kids up to 60 lbs and still utilized a 5-point harness, which would not have worked with the LATCH system anyway once they got heavy enough to exceed its limit. I never owned a car new enough to have it when my kids were small enough to be able to use it (they are 10 and 11 now)
Click to expand...


Thank you All!!!

Did you all seat two car seats plus one adult in the second row at any time? Any comments?:D

Cheers,
 
MeWantLC said:
One more question:

Has anyone have two car seats and an adult on the second row seats? I have a convertible big britax (1 1/2 year old), and a front facing britax (4 year old).

Cheers!!!
Click to expand...

I have 2 huge britax seats, both fwd facing and I can fit an adult easily. I have the seats side by side
 
MeWantLC said:
Thank you All!!!

Did you all seat two car seats plus one adult in the second row at any time? Any comments?:D

Cheers,
Click to expand...

I have both my car seats outboard, works fine with one adult in the middle. I keep one of the third row seats in the back in case we need another seat. The Radian seat bottoms are relatively thin and narrow so I think they offer a little more room than some seats.
 
MeWantLC, space in the 2nd row depends largely on what type/brand of car seats. I have two Britax carseats and a small adult will fit in the middle but I don't think it is that comfortable.... nor is it easy for that adult to fasten their own seat belt. I don't think 3 Britax carseats will fit side by side.

However, I also have the Radian (Diono) brand car seats (same as TLX100). They WILL fit three across. They will actually fit 3 across in our 5 series BMW too. Legroom is also increased for both the front row and 2nd row when using these. And the adult in that 2nd row will have more elbow room.
 
We just bought a 2003 LC to be our new family car. It's replacing our built Isuzu Trooper. Both are great vehicles, but Isuzu's are getting harder to find OEM Parts in a timely manner. It's nice to go bigger, go V8, and add about 1 mpg. The Trooper has more headroom though. But, the LC amenities are very nice and the vehicle is really stable. We were on I 25 Thursday after they opened the roads in Wyoming on a sheet of ice and it did great!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom