This describes a locking latchplate doesn't it?

[SusanMae]

I'm still trying to help my friend in FL...She's got an 02 Ford Windstar.

Here's what she quoted from her manual:

Safety belts with locking cinch tongue
The locking cinch tongue will slide up and down the belt webbing when
the belt is in the stowed position or while putting seat belts on. When
the locking cinch tongue of the lap/shoulder combination seat belt is
latched into the buckle, the cinch tongue will allow the lap portion to
become shorter, but locks the webbing in place to restrict it from
becoming longer.
Before you can reach and latch a combination lap and shoulder belt
having a cinch tongue into the buckle, you may have to lengthen the lap
belt portion of it.
1. To lengthen the lap belt, pull
some webbing out of the shoulder
belt retractor.
2. While holding the webbing below
the tongue, grasp the tip (metal
portion) of the tongue so that it is
parallel to the webbing and slide the
tongue upward.
3. Provide enough lap belt length so that the tongue can reach the
buckle.

Now I"m not sure if it's from the van manual or the carseat...she's got Enspire's.

Susan

[CDNTech]

That is a lightweight locking latchplate (they've changed the new curriculum to just call it a locking latchplate). It keeps the lap portion locked *when* the lap/buckle/shoulder portions are all parallel to each other.

If the buckle lands right beside the belt path it can cause these portions to not all be parallel to each other.

The fix is to do one of two things...
1. Twist the female (short) buckle stalk up to 3 full 360 degree twists to bring the buckle away from the belt path OR
2. Flip the male end of the seatbelt 180 degrees. This will result in the seatbelt having a single twist in it, but it will force the lap/buckle/shoulder portions to all be parallel and therefore locked.

The easiest way for her to confirm it is a (lightweight) locking latchplate is to do the following....
Have her sit in the seat. Buckle up and take all slack out of the lap portion of the seatbelt. Grab the seatbelt in the middle of her lap and pull straight up/out. If it is a lightweight locking latchplate, the seatbelt will *not* loosen.

[SusanMae]

That's what I thought....I told her how to check and to flip the latchplate....I thought she was in FL...turns out she's in Norfolk, VA!!!!

I KNOW we have some techs near her. They are moving half way across the country next week and will be in the car for 3 days. She has 2 little ones and is 28 wks pg. So she's stressing and wants to make sure her little ones are safe on this long ride....off to look up a tech for her!

Susan