I bought my T100 when kids were starting to come along and sold my '96 Tacoma 4x4. The T has worked fine w/r/t rear seat room, leg room and space for a front seat passenger.

As the kids have gotten older (6 and 8), I find that their heads are protruding above the child seat in the back seat. This means the head only has glass behind in case the truck is rear-ended.

How are you folks carrying back seaters around dealing with this issue?

I'm stumped as to how to fix it without having to sell my beloved T100.

The lack of head rests in the back is a concern for me, too. That and the absence of shoulder belt in the middle position.

My 6 year old still needs a booster seat and I use a high back booster for him. My 8 year old will fit in that in a pinch, but usually I put her in the front (seat all the way back and I have no passenger side airbag). The 3 year old still is still in a car seat that works with the lap belt only center rear position. As they get bigger (and with one more on the way), my options with toting them are getting limited. Right now, I can carry the whole family safely, but that ends in March. We're pretty much going to be relegated to the Sienna for trips...

The big thing is avoiding the head mashing the glass first.... I know I am going to have the same problem in about 3 years when my 3 year old is 6... I am probably going to use some carpet tape and put a minicell foam pad onto the window so his head bashes that first.

boy thats a cheerful thought.

The good news is that there is a lot of truck to get squashed and impact energy that will get absorbed in the event of a rear end collision.

Jeff

Guys,

I have to say that this does little to assuage my concerns.

If the glass breaks, any support is gone and whiplash or worse will occur... not to mention what happens when the head snaps back to whatever small amount of cushion we could place there.

I have a trailer hitch on my T100 too.. which won't do much to cushion a rear impact... it probably worsens it.

What does the Tundra do in this regard? It's been a while since I looked at the Tundra.

some in the desert community have done hiback seats in the rear. I havent looked at them in person to see what kind of leg room that setup would have to offer.

I'm not sure what year it started - 2003? - but all trucks I have looked at have a shoulder belt and head rest for all seating positions. That includes double cabs and extended cabs.

Similar to the foam idea, I'd wondered if you could bolt a beam/board from corner to corner to form a head rest/restraint.

I'm not looking forward to replacing the truck...

Jake,

Do you have a link for the hibacks? I wonder what this looks like.

Scott,

A beam bolted corner to corner seems like it would pretty much restrict the view from the rear view mirror. Plus, it would have the disadvantage of making the head slump forward... or so I envision.

I don't see a practical solution at the moment.

This issue never even crossed my mind when I moved from the Taco to the T.

Frankly, the Tundra never held much interest to me.

I dunno what I'm gonna do.

It has been a while but I used a headrest that had a couple of suction cups on it and stuck it to the window. Came off a lot so siliconed the cups and worked fine until it became uncool to ride in the back with dad. Can't remember where I got the headrest.

with an accident though as long as one of the two vehicles squash it will be ok... I got drilled at a stop light (stopped) from the rear by a range rover doing 45 mph... the clown behind the wheel did not notice
a) the red light
b) the line of stopped traffic
c) the bright red subaru with 3 kayaks strapped to the roof at the end of the line.

So, got hit, and was pushed 35 feet into a sentra which was totaled by my car.

I was able to get out of the car, and say
"what where you thinking?"
to the driver of the range rover.

My car was totaled 17K damage without considering frame damage, and it lost a total of 28 inches off the back, but there was no intrusion to the passenger comparment. the range rover lost about 4 inches off of the front.

So, I bought another sooby almost imeadiately... With our trucks though, there are what seems to be crushable members off of the bumper, and the bumper will deform as well. The trailer hitch is a bonus for you and a stinks to be the guy who rear ends you... the hitch will be like a spear that will punch through the other guys grille, fan, radiator, hoses, and probably stop at the engine block, by which time your bumper should be slowing down the guy too.
Our bumpers on the T is pretty high up, so we will hit the squishy bits of most cars. Getting hit by a semi though is going to end up badly. every time.

I wonder if my little guys legs are going to be too long making the no headrest problem a moot point... hope toyota has a fullsize turbo diesel by then