Marathon, tethers, and LATCH (oh my)

RachelOB

New member
Hello everyone! Scatterbunny sent me here to ask some questions. This forum is wonderful!

We have a 2003 Honda Element and this morning we installed my daughter's Marathon, rear facing. I got the Marathon installed with LATCH just fine, but I'm having problems figuring out the tether. My car has a tether anchor in the back ceiling, by the back window. According to the Marathon instruction manual I can use the tether rear-facing, but the manual isn't really clear about what exactly to do. Here's how it's currently set up:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v256/raitch/mytether.jpg

It just seems wrong to me. It's nice and tight, but I have a hard time getting her in the seat because the straps are in the way, and when I tried putting her in, she started playing with the tether straps.

No, I haven't driven with her in it yet. :D

Oh... and reading the Element manual I noticed it said I should take off the headrest in her seat. Really? The Marathon manual didn't mention it at all.

Thanks in advance!
 
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MelllieMa

New member
There are two ways to tether a rearfacing Britax seat. One is the way you have done it-which helps the seat not over-rotate in a collision (Australian I think), the other is to tether it to the floor area in front of it-which helps by preventing 'rebound' (Swedish I think). Both are safe options with different benefits.
The link the previous poster gave you is a great place to start.
Oh, and I'm not sure without reading your Element's manual, but I *think* the 'remove the headreast when tethering a child safety seat' instruction is only referring to a forward facing child seat installation.

I also noticed the baby toy links on the seat. Be sure to only allow soft toys in the car. Everything in a car is a possible projectile in a crash, and even a very small hard toy can hit your child (or you!) in the head with tremendous force. (A one pound toy times a 30mph crash is like a 30lb toy, yikes!)
 

RachelOB

New member
That link really is a great resource. I was looking at it earlier, but unfortunately, it doesn't show any seats tethered to the ceiling in the Australian method, just one tethered to the head rest of the seat.

The unregistered pooster said they thought I have it installed wrong... I just need to figure out how I'm supposed to do it.

I'm actually going to be calling our police department today to have it checked because we have some certified inspectors there. But I was hoping for some feedback here, since I'll have to drive with my daughter in the car to get to the police station.

Melllie, thank you for your help. Good eye, seeing those links! So you said "One is the way you have done it-which helps the seat not over-rotate in a collision (Australian I think)"... so it looks like it might be OK to you?

Thank you for all the help.:D
 

MelllieMa

New member
Yes, it looks fine. BUT, it is good you are calling a certified tech as I can't truly determine the installation without seeing your car and your child seat and your child.
If the police department has an appointment and a certified tech then go for it (be sure to ask for the tech's certification card). If not, then look here under the 'free carseat inspection' link for a list by zipcode of certified techs.
Good luck!
 

UlrikeDG

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
It's absolutely fine to tether it that way. However, you need to remove the mirror from the headrest. Assuming the mirror doesn't come loose in a crash, your child's face will slam against it when the seat "cocoons" toward the back of the vehicle.

See the Child Passenger Safety Technical Encyclopedia for more on cocooning and tethering rear facing.

By the way, those other seats were not tethered to the head rests. They may have looked that way in the pictures, but they would have been tethered to an actual tether anchor.

If you tether down toward the floor, you don't have to use a tether anchor. You can use the D-strap that came with your seat instead. Here are some pictures of how I tether my daughter's rear facing seat in my Honda Pilot, which may help you if you want to use the "Swedish" method instead.
 

RachelOB

New member
Thanks for your help, Ulrike. Actually we took the mirror down today (before I read your post) and now my husband refuses to let my daughter have the link toy, either, so now she's super safe. :D

I also called the certified inspector at the police station in town and will be making an appointment for an imspection. Thanks so much!
 

MelllieMa

New member
Ulrike!

I loved seeing your website and the photos of you!
What fun!
Your girls are darling! Thank you for posting a link. :cool:
 

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