98 Passat, help with carseats

[Unregistered]

Hello. I just downsized in vehicles and went from a minivan with LATCH to a Passat that does not have it. I need help installing my carseats! I have a Britax Marathon (FF) and a Graco TurboBooster. Obviously, I've got the Graco one figured out but don't know how to install my Britax with the seatbelt. I'm contacting the local VW dealership on Monday to see (crossing my fingers) if I can get the entire LATCH system installed but until then I need that seat installed correctly. Thanks if anyone can help! I have the manual on the carseat and am looking at it but it makes me nervous without LATCH. Thanks again.

[lovinwaves]

First of all L(ower)A(anchors)T(ether)CH(ildren) is no safer than seatbelt, and vice versa. LATCH was created to hopefully be easier than a seatbelt install...in some cases it simply isn't.

The Lower Anchors are what the little bars are that are located in your seatbite(crack of the seat). The Top Tether is the bar that is located in a back window, cargo area, or behind the seat near the bottom.

I believe your vehicle has neither. The Top Tether is going to be the only thing you can have installed. Unfortunately, having the lower anchors installed is not going to be an option. BUT, the good news is...you don't need them anways :)

A ff'ing install using a seatbelt with a Marathon is super easy! You can either use the built-in lockoffs that are already on your seat, or you can use the vehicles "switchable retractor" seatbelt to lock the seat in. (I am almost positive your VW will have this feature). To find out you will need to pull the buckle all the way out, veeeerrry slowly. Once you have reached the end of the slack let it feed back in slowly. You will not be able to pull anymore slack out. If you can then you do not have a switchable retractor.

So you will need to place the carseat in your vehicle seat, making sure the seat is in ff'ing mode. Go ahead and thread the seatbelt through the ff'ing beltpath, and buckle it in. Now at this point you can either place a hande in the bum area of the carseat, or kneel in the seat. We need this done to be able to push the carseat into the vehicles seat to allow us to pull out slack and get a nice tight install.

So while kneeling, or putting weight into the seat you will grab the seatbelt and try to pull out as much slack as you can. While holding the seatbelt taut you will want to feed it through the ff'ing lockoff. Once you have the seatbelt nice and tight you may close the lockoff onto the seatbelt holding it nice and tight.

To check to see if you have a good install place one hand near the beltpath of the carseat and try to move the seat side to side, and front to back. If the carseat moves less than an inch then you have a good install.

[Unregistered]

Thanks for your help. I honestly did not realize that seatbelts were the same safety wise. I had a van that had lower anchors and top tethers, and it was easier to install the carseats. I watched a video on the Britax website that helped as well. I had read somewhere online that I could possibly have VW install the top tether and the bottom, but if not and I can use the seatbelt and know that that's just as safe that is great.
Could I also ask, is there anything that I can do to make sure my older son is safely buckled into his Graco TurboBooster?
Thanks so much for you reply!