Help installing Triumph

[sherirs04]

This is for my moms truck. It is a ford(newer model) truck 4 door. It has latch. We installed the triumph LX but it has quite a bit of give to it. I can move it back and forth more than an inch. I put all of my weight in the seat and tightened the latch belts. I am thinking it moves so much because the latch belt just threads through a hole to the other side. Meaning that it is not attatched to the seat itself(like my marathon). Is it suppose to be this way? To me it seems like using a lapbelt. Do you have any suggestions how to get a better install? We are also looking at the triumph advance. Would the latch belt be the same?

Thanks so much.

Sheri

[SamPacey&Joshua]

The Marathon and Boulevard are the only seats that have those LATCH bars you like. Any other seat (as far as I know) has the LATCH strap like the one on the Triumph.

Are you installing rear-facing or forward-facing? Are you absolutely sure you have the LATCH belt going through the correct beltpath (under the foot area for RF and behind the back for FF)?

I'm going to assume you're installing rear-facing here. When you put your knee in the seat, make sure you're not putting it right on top of the LATCH belt (I've done it many times, lol). Use your weight to rock the seat side-to-side as you pull the LATCH belt tight. If possible, pull the free end of the LATCH belt back through the beltpath to get a better pulling angle on it. Are you checking for movement right at the beltpath (not at the top)? Just use one hand and push/pull it right at the beltpath...and as you know, you shouldn't get more than 1 inch of movement.

Did you just buy the Triumph? It has a terribly short back and low rear-facing weight limit...most kids outgrow it rear-facing very early. If possible, I would return it and get something different. The Triumph Advance would be a much better choice because it has a taller back and top slots, along with a higher rear-facing and forward-facing weight limit.

[sherirs04]

Yes we are installing rear facing. That sucks that you have to pay $300 to get a good seat. I absolutely love our marathon. I guess I was expecting all seats to install that tight. I agree about the advance. We were going to get it at target but they did not have any out. I think they just started getting them in.
The movement I am getting is if I grab the top of the seat and it moves back and forth(side to side) more than an inch. But I am sure we will come across these same problems with the advance. The belt does not move but the seat does.
Our graco snugride had these same problems. But worse. So I am very cautious to put her in a seat with too much movement. Not to mention my mom's driving scares me!
I definitley did not put my foot on the other end of the latch. I basically climbed in the seat LOL. Is the marathon the only seat that tethers rear facing? Wish I had an extra 300 laying around!

[snowbird25ca]

All convertible car seats that aren't rf tethered are going to have that movement at the back/top of the shell like you're describing, and it's normal and safe. What matters is that if you try to move the seat at the belt path, that there is no more than 1" of movement side to side or front to back. The top of the car seat might be able to reach all the way to the back of the seat, but as long as there's no more than 1" of movement at the belt path, it doesn't matter.

To answer your question, Britax convertibles and the Sunshine Kids Radian are the only currently available convertibles that can be tethered when rf'ing. Apparently the Recaro is also supposed to be able to be tethered rf'ing, but nobody has actually gotten their hands on one of them yet...

I think those who've used a rf'ing seat that tethers in the past just aren't used to having a rf'ing seat that moves at the top of the shell like that. There's no hard data showing that rf tethering on seats that allow it is safer, although it's believed to be safer in side impact collisions because of the added stability and intuitively it seems safer. But last I heard, there's no hard data showing that.

Anyways, I wouldn't stress about the type of movement you're describing, and if you really can't get the LATCH belt any tighter and there's lots of movement at the belt path, you could always install it with the seat belt. :thumbsup: