LATCH limits: inconsistency in corporate limits

[southpawboston]

there is this table (http://www.saferidenews.com/pdfs/LATCHApp_B_pg105.pdf) of LATCH limits for different car makes.

well i was thinking, sometimes a car is made by one manufacturer and then marketed and sold as another brand. case in point: the saab 9-2 is a subaru impreza. built on the same assembly line in japan with the same parts. in fact, the saabs and the subarus are even on the assembly line at the same time on a given day. they are *identical* except for the front nose, some badges and the owner's manual. however, these are the published limits for LATCH in saabs and subarus according to saferider news:

Saab: 40 LATCH, 40 tether
Subaru: 60 LATCH, 60 tether

so which is it for the saabaru? okay, i think i know the answer... it must be 40 since that's what the official publication says. :rolleyes: but it just makes me roll my eyes because of the idiocy of arbitrary corporate limits. from this, i *know* the saabaru LATCH system is good for 60 lbs, but officially it is only useable to 40. just thought i'd point out the inconsistency... :)

there are many other such cases of "sister twins" (ford escape/mazda tribute, for example) where the same inconsistency is noted (ford has 48 lbs limits, mazda defers to carseat mfr).

for the techs out there, does the LATCH manual have any more specific information that may clarify these inconsistencies?

[CDNTech]

I've been told that Canada will be visting this issue over the next few years and to expect them to be telling vehicle manufacturer's they need to up their LATCH limits to 65lbs to comply with the new 65lb weight limit allowed on seats here in Canada.

We'll see what happens, but it would be a great way to eliminate the confusion/misuse of LATCH over 40/48lbs.

[UlrikeDG]

I've been told that Canada will be visting this issue over the next few years and to expect them to be telling vehicle manufacturer's they need to up their LATCH limits to 65lbs to comply with the new 65lb weight limit allowed on seats here in Canada.

With our luck, manufacturers will up the weight limits only on vehicles sold in Canada, so rather than having one weight limit across the board for a mfg'er, we'll have some vehicles with the higher limit and some with a lower limit.

[papooses]

Heh, Ulrike, I actually snorted out loud at that :rolleyes:

Southpaw -- have you read the stinky thread with minutes from the January (I think) CEU chat in the "Senior Community Members" area of the Coffee Break section...? I remember copy/pasting some of the info, but not sure if this specifically was addressed then: the chat might offer some insight on that :confused: