So my Wife is due in September. Anyone else have kids and a Ranger? I'm trying to decide how safe it would be with a babyseat. I'm able to turn off the airbag, but I don't think it has those latch's in the back??
Due to work schedules I will most likly drop baby off at daycare and Wife will pick-up....

My other option is to get a F150 crew cab, but that might be a tad long for my garage.... I'd hate to go to a 4 ft box.
Or I could go to a SUV of some kind. I don't "need" a truck, but it's nice to have my own and not borrow my FIL's, plus I can use it at work occasionally and not have to swap veicles with him.

All in all I would like to keep it as it's paid for. I'd rather not start payments again at this point.

 

i had my daughter in my ranger all the time as long as you put the car seat in right and turn the air bag off the baby will be safe

 

How long is your garage? My truck barely fits in my garage, but it fits. Leaves me with more than enough room to walk behind it. I have to pull in the tow mirrors now though, lol

 

Yeah my F150 crew cab with 5.5' bed fits in the garage with about 18" to spare.

 

My Girlfriends best friend has a baby, and if we pick her up, it is a pain in the a$$, baby in passenger seat, girlfriend and her friend jammed in the back, without people in the back is fine, but it is still kind of a pain....
My thoughts, when i have a baby....second vehicle...car...for sure

 

that was one of the main reasons i bought a crew cab F-150. not that i dont think a baby would be safe in the ranger, it would just be too cramped. my F-150 fits in my garage too, barely, but it does. i want to say the F-150 is like 20 or 21 feet long

 

IDK about your 99, but my 01 has a baby seat teather attached to the underside of the passenger seat. You just fish the seat hooks to it at the base of the seat. Babyseat instructions should be in your owners manual.

But if the Ranger is your only vehicle right now, you'll need a second vehicle or trade it in for a family vehicle, or at least something with rear seats.

We have the Ranger and a 2 door Civic.......the Civic is our current family vehicle, but it's a PITA to get the baby seat in and out. We're getting a 2010 Civic sedan for the wife and as a family vehicle.

 

you can use a baby seat in the front, but make sure it is with the airbag off. I wouldn't trust a rear-facing baby seat in the front seat, even with the airbag off...

I keep trying to convince Momma to let me have the baby seat on the weekends so I can load up the 9 month old and go places in the truck, but she aint too keen on the babyseat in the front seat, even with the airbag off.

Search around, there is a guy who built a frame for a babyseat to go in the rear part of the cab...

 

I should mention that we have an Accord so that would be used the majority of the time.
The truck would come into play for bringing Baby to day care and if my Wife had the car for something else.

My garage is a normal 2 car garage.... If I don't have anything in front of the truck I can walk around it somewhat comfortably.

Maybe the best thing is to borrow a carseat from a relative for a week or so and practice taking it in and out to see how much of a pain it might be.

 

I used my 95 when we had our first. no passenger side airbag at all, no anchors in the seats. the car seat we had in the truck has a little metal piece that locked the seat belt. never had a problem. but now with two kids, not even possible. my oldest will go places with me from time to time, but not as much as we used to.

 

My truck has the anchors on the seat and ive seen quite a few people with babies in the front seat and someone else in the back jump seat

 

well my finance is pregnant, ive got a car im rebuilding, she has a crossover

thought i had for the truck was to build a bench seat. tube frame, weld it to the cab itself got ideas. we'll see.

 

My wife and I Just purchased at 2006 Ford FOcus for the Family car so we dont have to try and fit my wife and i and kids on the ranger when we have them.

But for your input i used to take my nephews in my 01 ranger and never had any problems with the car seats.

 

I wouldn't want to use a baby seat in the front of the ranger even with the airbag off.
I know you don't want a 4 ft bed but honestly I really liked my sport trac. The bed is 6' with the tailgate down and you said you don't use it much anyway. We took a handful of trips with four adults and it was plenty comfortable. The platform is all based off of the ranger so it should be familiar, as well as less expensive than a comparable F150. They aren't so lame once they are lifted with decent wheels/tires on them. Here are some pictures of my 05 sport trac if you want to look.
My 2005 Explorer Sport Trac 4x4 (lots of pics)

On the other hand I really like my F150 but an F150 is going to set you back more.

 

for future referance in case anyone needs it, the truck does not have a tether ancor from the factory, but you can get one for free from any Ford dealer. Sorry, I don't have the p/n handy, but it's in the owners manual. Also there is a way to lock the seat belt so make sure you read up on that as well.

as for me I'm keeping the truck for now. I have another 7 months before the stork arrives. I'm going to bust my butt over the summer to get one final bill paid off, then it wouldn't be bad to have a new car payment.

 

how do you turn off the airbag if there is no switch under the radio/cubby hole? do you have to go to the dealer and ask them?

 

i know some of the newer fords shut the passenger one off automaticly when there isnt a certain amount of wieght in that seat, i know thats how my 05 F-150 is. i think it requires over like 40 or 50 pounds or something in order to activate that airbag. not sure if the ranger is like that or not though, my 01 has the switch.

 

just get a car it's more room and easy with babys

 

If you already have a car, then there's no need to get another car. Your truck will do fine with the seat mounted properly and the airbag off. My daughter loved riding in the truck when she was in the rear facing seat because she could see me, instead of just staring at the back of the seat. My older sister got into an accident years ago with my nephew in a rear facing seat in her 96 Ranger with absolutely no issues.

Edit: Oh and by the way. Congratulations!!

 

I had my son in the front seat with me when he was first born and both he and I thought it was great. He could look and see me and if he fussed I could just reach over and put the pacifier in his mouth or even feed him while I was driving if I had no other choice.

Now that he is older, he would much rather ride with me in the truck vs with his mom cuz he can see what going on in front of the truck instead of stareing out the side window of a car.

I would much rather have my child in a truck vs a car as the truck rides higher and offers more protection than a car does if you are in an accident.

 

yea, mine does that too. but a bag of laundry sets it off. my backpack with lasprop would read "pass airbag off" but the light would go off with a large bag of laundry

 

This topic is relevant to me