My car doesn't have a latch

[addiesmom]

My 1999 Toyota Camry doesn't have the latch, but from what I have read so far it is alot safer for smaller children. Can I have a latch installed? Or do I have to buy another vehicle.

[wendytthomas]

Where did you read that? It's not true at all. Seatbelt and LATCH are not safer than one another. LATCH is just supposed to be easier.

Wendy

[addiesmom]

Thank you for clearing that up for me. This is all very new to me. Is it the tether anchor. Or am I just really confused. Help! I also posted my question in the wrong place before I realized it. Do I need to move it?

[unityco]

Using the TOP tethers WITH your seatbelts is safer than using seatbelts alone, but LOWER anchors and seatbelts are equally safe. You can have top tethers installed in your car, but you cannot have lower anchors put in.

Many on this board have the manual with the parts number you will need to get top anchors in your car. I'm sure one of them will chime in!

HTH!

[wendytthomas]

The top tether can be retrofitted. The lower anchors cannot. However, for smaller children they should be rear facing, so the top tether is not needed. How old and how heavy is your child?

When it comes time to have a forward facing seat, though, the tether anchor part number is 73709-12010 and it's called the "Bracket sub assembly, tether anchor." You can get it from Toyota. It'll be $12. However, your year car will have to have the filler panel modified before the outboard tethers can be installed, and the dealer will have to do that.

Wendy

[joolsplus3]

1999 Camries are particularly difficult to get the top tether added. I've known people who've paid upwards of 200$ for it to be done (lots of cutting through the filler panel). Fingers crossed your dealer is more reasonable (free... Toyota's not usually, but we can always hope...).

[addiesmom]

My dd is 11mo old and 22lbs. I just ordered a Britax bv yesterday, doesn't it have some kind of anchor on it for rf. Sorry, this is my first time dealing with this and I don't even really know the difference in latch or anchor all of this is very confusing. Thank you for all your help though.

[joolsplus3]

Just follow the seatbelt installation instructions for rear facing :) For the rearfacing tether, you'll use the 'tether connector strap', tie it to the rear leg or back of the seat track of the front seat, then clip the top tether hook to it after it's installed. There are some Britax installation videos here that might help http://www.carseatsite.com/videos.htm#rear-facing%20videos

[addiesmom]

Thank you so much the videos will help alot.

[scatterbunny]

LATCH=Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren. It is a system comprised of lower anchors (located in the vehicle seat crack) and top tether anchors (located in the rear window deck of sedans, in the cargo area of some minivans, SUVs and wagons, on the back of vehicle seats in some wagons, vans and SUVs).

Law mandated that top tether anchors come standard in all vehicles before it mandated that lower anchors come standard. So, some vehicles as early as the mid-nineties started coming factory-equipped with top tether anchors, while others waited until the last minute the law allowed and didn't come factory-equipped until 2000 or 2001.

The lower anchors would be used in place of a seatbelt install, while the top tether anchor should be used for any forward-facing seat, whether it is installed with lower anchors or seatbelt. Lower anchors are not meant to be safer than a seatbelt install, they are only meant to be easier, and in some cases they aren't.

Your Boulevard can be top tethered rear-facing (only Britax and Sunshine Kids allows rear-facing tethering), but you don't need the factory-installed top tether anchor to utilize the rear-facing tether. Follow the Boulevard manual instructions and use the D-ring. :)

I hope that cleared things up re: the LATCH system.

[addiesmom]

Okay now I understand. Thanks for all your help!