Question Radian RF in Sienna

[Calgarymom]

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Hello

I am a new user sent here by canadiancarseatqueen! You helped me a BUNCH in Kaczs' Kids a month ago with carseat and stroller advice. I ended up with a Valco double instead of the Chariot and love it. The double Graco is still in the garage!

Anyhow, I wonder if anyone out there can help with a Radian question. I just put it into my Toyota Sienna 06 behind the driver RF for my 9 month old son. The install was GREAT. BUT.... while my husband was moving cars around with no kids in them, he moved back the driver's seat. Of course, I fixed it all before my son went into it. The car seat seemed fine after this. With my husband's seat position, the car seat doesn't move, but does touch the front seat. My question is: does this matter? I have a different seat to use, but I like using the Radian harness and he looks so comfy in it!

Thanks, Nicole

[canadiangie]

HI!!

I'm so happy to see you here!!

Glad you like your Valco double. I was pretty sure you would...


It's quite possible that either myself or CDNtech can meet you in the city to help with your Radian. Let me know if this is something you'd be interested in.


But for now, you need to check the manual of your Sienna to make sure it doesn't restrict a car seat from touching the front seat(s). As long as you don't find anything mentioned about this, you can go ahead and leave the Radian touching the front seat. Sunshine Kids allows for touching, and even allows for something known as Bracing (where the Radian would be 'smooshed' a bit into the front seat).

Do you have the Radian tethered rear facing? Sunshine Kids allows for this and provides a connector strap which is used to create an anchor point. Let me/us know if you need help with this feature.

Anyway, I'm THRILLED to see you here... you have no idea.

[Jeanum]

Hi and welcome to car-seat.org. Your Sienna likely has a warning about not allowing a child restraint to touch the front seatbacks because it can interfere with the sensors for the advanced frontal airbags. I'm in the U.S. and have an '05 Sienna, and the warning appears at the end of the airbag section in my Sienna's manual on page 127. I believe it's very likely your manual has a similar warning. Here's a slightly fuzzy picture of the page from my manual for reference:



The warning against having a child restraint touch the front seatbacks is the third bulleted item on the left side of the page. IMHO it really should be in the child restraint section of the manual, too, and more prominently stated, but it only appears in the airbag section and it's very easily overlooked. I had to really sift through my manual to find it there after another Sienna owner alerted me to the warning against touching. The same warning also appears only in the airbag section of the manual for my DH's '08 Scion xB, another Toyota branded vehicle.

I can think of several possible workarounds to prevent the RF Radian from touching the front seatbacks in your Sienna. You could have your DH move the front seat forward enough to avoid touching the Radian. If that's not workable, you could consider installing it RF behind the front passenger seat with the front passenger seat moved up enough to avoid touching. If you have an 8-passenger Sienna, you could try installing in the second row center, or if you have a 7-passenger model, you could try moving the passenger side captain's chair to the second row center position in the vehicle and try installing the RF Radian on it there.

[mommycat]

Does anyone know if a Honda Civic would have a similar warning? I read the child restraint section but didn't think to read the airbag section. I don't let my seats touch anyway, just in case, but DH and other people are always shoving the seat back further and messing with my installs (grrr) and potentially endangering themselves.

And by the way, HOW are you supposed to keep kids from kicking and pushing on the seat in front of them short of tying their legs???!

[Calgarymom]

Originally Posted by Jeanum

Hi and welcome to car-seat.org. Your Sienna likely has a warning about not allowing a child restraint to touch the front seatbacks because it can interfere with the sensors for the advanced frontal airbags.

I can think of several possible workarounds to prevent the RF Radian from touching the front seatbacks in your Sienna.

I am not sure of the etiquette here, but thanks for your suggestions. I KNEW I had read SOMEWHERE about the seat back thing, but couldn't for the life of me recall where and for which seat or car! The workarounds are great, but won't really work for me, however, the Radian will find a good home in our other car FF for our daughter.

Nicole

[supermommyof2]

Did you check that the captains chair was moved back as far as possible?
I have an 06 Sienna and have had my RN RFing in the second row without
touching. It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure it fit with about an inch
between it and the driver's seat.