new passat wagon center rear-facing snugride want to use LATCH

[martinc]

Hi - I have a 2008 VW Passat wagon and a 2 y.o. Graco Snugride which a good friend lent me for my newborn. I want to install the seat in the center of the rear bench, in the rear-facing position (of course). I succeeded in doing this myself using LATCH and took the car to my local police station to get their seal of approval. The technician there flipped through the owner's manual for the car and told me that the car was not designed to allow installation of a car seat in the center position via LATCH. She also mentioned something about the distance between the two LATCH loops being too wide. I took her word for it and allowed her to re-install the seat using the seat belt, locking clip and a pool noodle which she didn't measure very carefully before cutting. It took her half an hour and a fair amount of trial and error. The setup works, but it's an unsightly mess compared to what I had before, which was clean and tight and also met the 45 degree incline requirement. I checked the VW user manual and it's clear that the car IS designed to accommodate a center car seat. I'm worried that if I had to flip the rear seat down for some reason and then re-install the seat HER way it would take longer than LATCH, which I can do easily. Would it be unreasonable to ask the cops to look at this setup again, or do you believe that the seatbelt approach is the appropriate one here? Sorry for the long post.

[Jeanum]

The tech was correct. VW allows center installations with the seatbelt, not with the lower LATCH anchors. Here's a link to an article explaining why lower LATCH installations aren't allowed in some vehicles such as yours in the center: http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=33718

If you'd rather use LATCH to install, then you would have to reinstall the base outboard behind the driver or front passenger seat. The key is to use an installation method allowed by the vehicle manufacturer and the carseat manufacturer for the specific vehicle seating position to achieve less than one inch of movement at the Snugride base's belt path. :)

[krystin_21a]

I am not a tech, but from my understanding VW does not allow for set up in the center with LATCH at all. When we installed our Snugride and now the Marathon in the center of our 2007 Jetta, we used the seat belt with no problem.

[jdchic3]

You shouldn't need a locking clip in a 2008 vehicle. Sometime in the 90's all vehicle belts were required to have some type of locking mechanism, either at the retractor or at the latchplate, and your vehicle manual should explain how to engage your type of locking mechanism when installing a car seat. Also, with a SnugRide you don't need the noodle. You should be able to use the adjuster foot to change the incline level.

[jen_nah]

You shouldn't need a locking clip in a 2008 vehicle. Sometime in the 90's all vehicle belts were required to have some type of locking mechanism, either at the retractor or at the latchplate, and your vehicle manual should explain how to engage your type of locking mechanism when installing a car seat. Also, with a SnugRide you don't need the noodle. You should be able to use the adjuster foot to change the incline level.

Actually this is not the case in the Passat. The seats are rather deep (bucket style) so a noodle is needed to help achieve the 45 degree recline even with the base foot all the way extended. Also the Snugride is NOTORIOUS for needing a locking clip on lap/shoulder belts with a locking retractor. Over a very short period of time the seat starts to lateral lift (tilt to one side due to the locking retractor). The only way to get rid of lateral lift is either have the parent reinstall the seat frequently which leads to a high rate of misuse. Or us a locking clip which the parents doesn't have to remove as frequently and cuts down on the chance of misuse.