Frontier Installation Problems

[ladybug_mom]

A member on our site, just bought two Frontiers for her 4 and 6 year olds. They arrived today and she can't get them installed correctly! I wish I was closer, she's about 4 hours from me in NB. Here's her post:

so our new britax frontier carseats arrived this afternoon, i was so excited that i couldn't wait till dh came home from work. they don't fit!!!!! i've spent 2.5 hours with trying to get one seat in the car and there is no way that i can get it tight enough. it just slides back and furth in our hyundia sonata.

we are using seat beat and the unversal latch, the one on the back part of the car, we don't have the one between the seats. everyway we put it the back of the carseat is like 2 inches off the seat. i've switched the base from booster mode to carseat mode. we haven't tried installing it in the middle because that just isn't an option and neither is getting a different vechile. i am so fustrated!!!!!

any suggestions? oh just want to add our local fire dept won't be of any help as dh is a firefighter, they know nothing about carseats.

Any ideas? I'm assuming with the lack of UAS/Latch that her vehicle is older than 2002.

The original post is here: http://forum.canadianparents.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=786667#Post786667

[CDNTech]

Has she tried long belt path? If her seatbelts are long enough, that should give her a great install.

I don't know of anyone in NB, sorry. :o

[hipmaman]

Yeah she tried the LBP now and it worked.

[Unregistered]

We could not get our Frontier installed in my mil's car well either.
We finally found a hint on another forum that said to twist the belt (the one connected to the seat) to shorten it and then we were able to finally get it in tight but it took us probably 30 mins or longer with both of us working on it to get it just right. I'm not thrilled w/ the way we had to install it but it was the ONLY way it would install tightly for us. My mil does not have latch.

[east coast mommy]

Also with the Frontier- if you are using the LATCH system then you need to get under the seat fabric and pull. It's easy to get it as tight as a Marathon doing this.

[hipmaman]

We finally found a hint on another forum that said to twist the belt (the one connected to the seat) to shorten it and then we were able to finally get it in tight but it took us probably 30 mins or longer with both of us working on it to get it just right. I'm not thrilled w/ the way we had to install it but it was the ONLY way it would install tightly for us. My mil does not have latch.

Twisting the seatbelt stalk (up to 3 full turns) is one trick that can be used for any carseat when there might be an issue of seatbelt/carseat compatibility issue. If you can get it in tightly and correctly with just turning the seatbelt stalk, then that's a good thing. No need for UAS, if seatbelt works.

[Unregistered]

We recently got the frontier. It can be confusing as there are 3 methods of installation. Once we figured out which method worked best for our vehicle it went in easily. It went in supper supper easy using the LATCH... but DS is nearly 40lbs... so I preferred to use the belt. Just a reminder there are weight restrictions on using LATCH... they differ by vehicle but are generally around the 40 -44lb range.

[QuassEE]

The LATCH weight limits are one of my frustrations with the Frontier.. It installs great in my Odyssey with LATCH, but it's a pain with the belt.. My daughter is 35lbs, but my son is 45lbs... I love my daughter's Frontier, but hate my son's.. :)

Keep in mind that the LATCH weight limits are available here:
http://www.saferidenews.com/pdfs/pg_126_max_wt_07.pdf
...with the addition of Mazda having told TC 40/48.. (I'm not sure how to interpret "40/48", mind you.)

-Nicole.