2001 or 2002 Dodge Stratus help for SIL

[mburks26]

ok im so confused bout her seatbelts they lock but only when you turn the car on. I am letting her use my Fisher Price Safe Embrace for a few weeks til we can get the Apex 65 ordered or make sure it will work. I have installed my 2 seats in her car and it gets tight but I have only done that when the car is on.
I went and installed the fisher price one today when the car was off the male part slides freely along the belt Lap and shoulder belt in all 3 spots then I went to lock the seat belt and it wouldnt lock until she turned the car on does she need a locking clip? with the fisher price one it has lockoffs I used that but then locked the belt anyway.
I dont know if when she turns the car off the seat belts unlock and then when you turn it back on you have to relock it anyone with this type car either a 2001 or 2002 Dodge Stratus 4 door leather seats standard. has teathers but no latch.
I wont see her again til monday or around the 15th.

[snowbird25ca]

There's no such thing as a latch plate that can only lock when a vehicle is turned on, so it must have been a coincidence. ;)

A dodge stratus likely has lightweight locking latchplates. The best way to test this is to sit in the seat yourself, buckle the seatbelt, pull it tight on yourself and then try to pull straight up on the middle of the lap belt. The lap portion should stay locked, but the shoulder section will continue to move freely.

Lightweight locking latchplates are notorious for sometimes allowing the belt to slip - they only work if the lap & shoulder section are parallel to each other. You can try twisting the buckle stalk up to 3 turns to get the buckle & latchplate lower down - hopefully enough so that the lap & shoulder portion will sit parallel to each other. Failing that, you can flip the male portion of the seatbelt a half turn and then buckle it. In some vehicles it may be necessary to twist the buckle stalk a half turn as well in order to get it buckled.

Have you read the vehicle manual? The child restraints section will detail exactly how the seatbelts are to be locked for car seat installations. Any vehicles 1996 and newer having locking seatbelts, and there are none that are electronically controlled. They're all mechanical - either in the latchplate or by engaging a locking retractor by pulling the belt all the way out. Almost all dodge's of that time period have the lightweight locking latchplates, but double check the manual. I can promise you that it's not related to whether the vehicle is running or not though. :thumbsup:

[azgirl71]

I am sure this was a coinsidence. THe only seatbelts that react to the engine being on or off are the automatic shoulder belts which the Stratus doe not have. :)

Snowbird is right. If you need to you can flip the latchplate as well as twist the belt stalk.

[SusanMae]

I had a plymouth breeze..and can't remember the year...I think 98 or 99.

Anyway--it's the same "car" different label though. I *think* I had switchable retractors...but I haven't had that car in over 2 years...so take that with a grain of salt. I do remember that it had free sliding latchplates on the outboard seats, a locking latchplate lap only belt in the center, and no tether anchors.

Try buckling the belt...and then pull up on the lap belt. It should be hard if not impossible. If so then she has locking latchplates. If you can make the lapbelt longer, but with some resistance...try flipping the latchplate 180* when you install the seat. You'll still be able to pull the shoulder belt out..but that's ok since the lap belt with be locked.

Susan

[mburks26]

well this is what happened when i installed the seat
while the car was off got it in and went to pull the belt all the way out let it retract in like alr does in my truck it did not lock as soon as she turned the car on i pulled it out again and it retracted back and locked.

everytime I have installed my dd car seat in her car the car was on and i pulled it out let it retract and it locked.
I have no clue on what the heck that means

she does not have the book got it used.

the 2004 dodge stratus has light weight locking latch plates and elr someone else on another board has a 2002 said its the locking latch thing for now she has a seat with built in lock offs that are being used is that

[snowbird25ca]

Did you try buckling yourself in and then pulling up on the lap belt to see if you could loosen it?

Seatbelts are mechanical for the most part - not electronically controlled. The exception being the motorized belts on front seats - and those can never be used to install a car seat in position.

Is it possible to take a picture of the latch plate? I'm sure it must have lightweight locking latchplates. I don't know what type of phenomenon you have going on with the shoulder portion locking when the vehicle is running because it makes no sense... but the shoulder portion doesn't matter if the lap portion is locking anyways...

So sit down in the seating position, buckle yourself in & tighten the seatbelt, then pull up on the lap section in the middle - straight up, as if you were picking up a handle, and see if it loosens freely. If you need a comparison of what I mean by freely, you can compare by doing it in the drivers seat of your own vehicle.. ;)

eta: Contact Dodge and get a replacement manual for the vehicle and then you'll also get some additional info. Or see if the dealer will let you look at a manual anyways. It's important to make sure that there isn't other important details that are being overlooked due to not having the manual. :twocents:

[mburks26]

well she left to go back home today i wont see her or the car again until 15 th.its the belt isnt in the right angle the locking clip on the fisher price seat wont do anything cause its on the shoulder part.

[ThreeBeans]

Ok, the Dodge Stratus DOES NOT HAVE HAVE A LOCKING RETRACTOR. So when you got it to 'lock' you must have just jerked hard on the seatbelt and engaged the emergency function; it DOES NOT LOCK AT THE RETRACTOR.

The Dodge Stratus has lightweight locking latchplates. You do not need to 'lock' the shoulder belt.

[mburks26]

Ok, the Dodge Stratus DOES NOT HAVE HAVE A LOCKING RETRACTOR. So when you got it to 'lock' you must have just jerked hard on the seatbelt and engaged the emergency function; it DOES NOT LOCK AT THE RETRACTOR.

The Dodge Stratus has lightweight locking latchplates. You do not need to 'lock' the shoulder belt.

ok so the shoulder part being in the lock off in the fisher price seat is usless here great I dont have a clue if the belt is in locking mode then.
If by chance we just can not figure out if the belt is in locking mode could we use a locking clip. anyway then is she takes out the seat to be used in another car (her car will not be going anywhere) leave the locking clip on it where it is and then when she installs it again back in her it should be right where it was before?

[snowbird25ca]

Maybe we haven't explained what we mean by a lightweight locking latchplate well enough? :confused:

You know how a lap only belt with a tail has a locking latchplate - pull on the tail and it tightens the lap portion - as long as the tail and the lap belt are parallel to each other the belt stays locked? A lightweight locking latchplate works basically the same way, except instead of a tail, the shoulder portion of the belt is there. The shoulder portion is on an ELR - it has to be in order to limit upper body movement in the event of a crash. But if you pull on the shoulder portion of the belt, it snugs up the lap section and that lap section will (well should anyways,) stay tight despite the movement in the shoulder portion of the belt. As long as the lap portion and shoulder portion are parallel to each other in the buckle, then the lap portion stays locked and the shoulder portion will move freely in and out of the retractor until the moment of a crash or a sudden stop - something that would trigger the ELR.

The shoulder portion is NOT what is restraining the car seat, the lap portion is. This is the same in any vehicle - the lap portion staying snug is what keep the car seat tightly coupled with the vehicle. Vehicles with switchable retractors have the shoulder belt stay tight, but what that is accomplishing is having the entire belt so tight that there is no slack to go back in to the lap portion. What a locking clip does, is holds both the lap and shoulder belt in the same position in relation to each other, so that - again, no slack can get back into the lap portion.

Built in lock-offs, like on the fisher price seat and the britax convertible seats, work by holding the shoulder belt in position. What this is doing, again, is keeping the shoulder belt taught so that there isn't any slack to move into the lap portion of the belt.

So for all intents and purposes, pretend that the seatbelts are like a lapbelt. If the lightweight locking latchplate isn't holding, then flip the male end of the buckle a half twist *after* having properly tightened and removed all the slack from the seatbelt, and that should cause the latch plate to hold - same as with a lap only belt that has a tail.

Does that help some?

[snowbird25ca]

Just to clarify a little further...

Sometimes it seems like something isn't working when only the shoulder portion is taken into account... Did you try installing the seat, removing the slack & then checking for movement at the belt path? The seat should stay tight, but the shoulder portion of the belt will still be able to be pulled from the retractor... IF you have more than 1" of movement at the belt path, then worry about twisting the buckle stalk or flipping the latchplate. It could be that you guys were just focusing on the shoulder portion of the belt itself and not whether or not the seat was moving once installed tightly...

[ThreeBeans]

Snowbird said it.

If a seatbelt has locking latchplates, it functions like a lapbelt. It locks at the buckle. Once you pull it tight it is by definition locked. The shoulder belt locks in emergencies only.

[mburks26]

i did this so fast i thought she had alr i buckled the seat in see if it moved i tried to pull the shoulder belt out like an alr didnt lock so i put the shoulder belt in the lock off part of the fisher price safe embrace seat which is at the top where it holds just the shoulder belt.

Im not even sure if the belt is angled right. Im so confused now I get that it should hold the at the lap part if its at the right angle if not its not locked and it would be eaiser to turn the latch plate upside down and possible the buckle stalk up side down to help.

right now ifs its not at the right spot since im not near the car will the lock offs keep it tight then

the reason why i thought on the locking clip and leaving it on the belt when she needs to switch seats then i know she would have to put her weight in the seat and make it tight because my sil didnt know you needed to put weight in the seat to make it tight. she never had the other seat in the car tight at all she would just buckle it in and be done with it.

[snowbird25ca]

right now ifs its not at the right spot since im not near the car will the lock offs keep it tight then

Yes, the lock-off is holding the shoulder portion so that the seatbelt is essentially a fixed length between the lock-off and where the lap belt comes out of the car.

To put it simply, there is no loose belt between the lock-off and the latchplate to go back into the lap portion, so the lap portion won't loosen up even if the latchplate isn't holding properly.

the reason why i thought on the locking clip and leaving it on the belt when she needs to switch seats then i know she would have to put her weight in the seat and make it tight because my sil didnt know you needed to put weight in the seat to make it tight. she never had the other seat in the car tight at all she would just buckle it in and be done with it.

Technically speaking, you really don't have to put your whole weight into a seat. For many seats, simply applying pressure with your hand/palm while tightening the seatbelt is sufficient. While we all like to get rock-solid installs, it's important to remember that an acceptable installation is less than 1" of movement at the belt path (where the seatbelt goes through the shell of the carseat.) If she can get that with putting her hand in to push on the seat and tightening the belt with her other hand, it's really all she has to do.

The lightweight locking latchplates when they work properly, are infinitely easier than even just rebuckling a seatbelt with a locking clip already installed. Often times just buckling it in the first place is a 2 person job. She's much better off knowing how to tell when the seat is tightened properly and doing it that way without a locking clip.

It's also worth pointing out that locking clips should only be used when they're necessary as in vehicles that have an ELR belt only - pre 1996 vehicles only - and not all of them, would need locking clips. Locking clips are a pre-crash positioner. They're not designed to stay in place in a crash. Their job is to hold the seatbelt tight until the moment of a crash - at which point the ELR would lock. They will almost always either "ping" off, or else bend/deform under the forces of the crash. Because it's common for them to pop off in a crash, they do pose a projectile risk. If a vehicle needs them to have a seat installed properly, that's one thing. But they shouldn't be used unless absolutely needed. :thumbsup: