Does anybody on here ride their kids around in their Miata? My daughter is 4 and begging me to go in the "race car". I have a pretty high end and well reviewed car seat for her and a roll bar. Its a 92 without a passenger airbag. I would also get to enjoy the car a lot more if she could ride with me.

 

I don't have my car any more but I used to do this all the time, my two kids both loved it.

We have two standards here, both ISOFIX and a conventional type tether thing. I had a steel plate made up with the correct thread for the tether fixture and mounted it where the passenger harness bolts would typically go. Kinda hard to explain but it worked really well and was more than secure.

I think my daughters were sadder than I was the day I sold my MX-5:

 

I give my daughter a ride every day into school and back, sometimes on the weekends running an errand. She absolutely goes around telling her pre-school friends that it's her car and Daddy just borrows it - with a smile so HUGE it is a delight to watch. If this is what Father-Daughter relationships are built on, then I am willing to lay this foundation!

 

the 01's and up have two teeth behind the passenger seat to anchor a child seat. I've never seen anyone do it though but have thought the same as my 3 y.o. loves the "race car" too. But it is a 99 (no baby seat hooks) so I would have to run the belt though it and i'm not sure his car seat would fit in the lotus seats anyway.

following this thread

 

All the time. '90 with OEM seats (no passenger airbag).

You know, back in the day I used to ride around in the back of my Grandfather's F-250 on the interstates. I also rode bikes (a lot!) without helmets as I played every afternoon/evening unsupervised.

There comes a point where you just gotta' live a little.

 

When I was a kid my parents always drove me around in our Miata with the passenger airbag removed! It's now my project car

 

My son loves Zoom Zooming in my 91. I like to keep it short and minimize heavy traffic driving though. Not a lot of crumple zone or protection from side impacts even with a roll bar. Other than the less than optimal side impact protection, a properly mounted car seat with either the passenger airbag turned off or no airbag it should be just fine. Your 92 shouldn't have a passenger airbag so you should be fine. I think the only tricky ones are the 94-97 that don' have a switch to turn off the passenger airbag. I couldn't do it in my wife's old 97. I also use the special clip that comes with most seats to tighten the seat belt to hold the car seat as tight as possible with minimal play. The earlier seat belts do not lock the car seat in tight enough.

 

Took him for his first ever ride in the Miata on Father's Day 2017. He was still rear facing then. My son didn't care much for the sun shining in his eyes and wasn't sure what to think of the world whizzing by. Sensory overload. I think I took him for maybe one more ride when we switched him to forward facing before I shipped the car back to my dad. But when I have it again I plan on taking my kid for as many rides as possible.

https://flic.kr/p/VnqSCA

 

Once my daughter moved to a forward facing seat I started taking her in mine and she loves it. This was one of our first rides:



I made a tether to my rollbar (that went in right after the video) that helped a lot as far as holding the seat in place. If we're going somewhere she'll usually beg my wife to stay home so we can take the miata.

 

I think one of my winter projects is now getting the car ready for her seat! I'm going to come up with something to mount the rear strap to the roll bar and I think I have found a solution to add the LATCH system to the existing bolt holes for the original seat belts. Will be just as safe as anything I rode in as a kid.

 

I wouldn't bother with the lower anchors once you're forward facing. They're weight limited anyhow, and that weight limit is most likely below the weight limit of your child safety seat, so your child will outgrow the lower anchors before they outgrow the seat. I'd just use the safety belt that's in the car to secure your child safety seat along with the top tether. But as always, be sure to check the child safety seat instructions for your particular seat.

 

My sons is 3.5 and he really wants to ride in my "Miata race car". He tears around the house yelling that he's a Miata race car and he's backfiring. I've got to wait until he is a bit bigger to get a high back booster that will fit in my passenger Kirkey. My '02 has a passenger airbag which can be switched off with the key. That was a huge selling point for me.

I think we just went around the block like this, but here he is when he was 6 months old:

 

I strap the child car seat to the passenger seat with a seatbelt and it's tight and secure, then disable the airbag with the key switch.

my son is 5 now and I've been taking him on rides since he was 3. He loves top down cruising.