Difference in LATCh on MA and DC ?

Tara

New member
I recall someone here mentioning having a preference for one over the other. But I don't remember who or why they had that preference.

I just now got around to looking at it and see what was being talked about.

Now I want to know why who said what about them :)

Anybody??
 
ADS

LEAW

New member
I think the difference isn't the LATCH, but the harness and harness tightening... the MA and Blvd have the same harness system (heavier duty) while the DC has the oen the RA has, the push button, and a slightly lighter weight webbing.

I've heard reports of older toddlers able to release the MA/BV harness, but imo if the kid is tightened appropriately they can't reach the harness release, so I suspect the parents giving those reviews (I think they were on amazon.com) didn't have the kids in tight enough.

Some people find the push button easier, I've never had a problem with the BV(Wiz) on our seat.
 

Tara

New member
Yeah, I know the harness adjust is different. But their LATCH was different too..MA's LATCh clips are on straps that are attached to separate bars on either side. The DC is one strap that runs through the belt path (or something like that) anyway, it's one strap with a clip at either end.

I think the MA and BV each have the side bars for LATCh and the DC and RA each have the single strap ??

edited to add:
I don't even have LATCh in my vehicle, so this isn't pertinent (did I even come close in sp?) I was just browsing and happened to catch the difference and remembered a prior conversation. Just curious is all :)
 

LEAW

New member
Hmm I didn't know that.. guess I'll watch the thread and see :)

Yah, the BV has 2 straps on 2 bars, I can't really speak for the others, though I'd think they were all the same since it's the same shell?
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
Lisa, I know several technicians who's children have loosened the MA harness because they just have long arms and can reach the lever. (And these are techs that I *know* have the harness tight enough.) Some kids are just flexible and have monkey arms. ;)
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
skaterbabscpst said:
Lisa, I know several technicians who's children have loosened the MA harness because they just have long arms and can reach the lever. (And these are techs that I *know* have the harness tight enough.) Some kids are just flexible and have monkey arms. ;)

My kid is 100% monkey. She can both tighten and loosen her straps at will. She'll tell me if they're too loose, and tighten them, and she'll tell me if they're too tight and loosen them just one notch so she's comfortable (I do tighten as tight as I can, so I believe her if she says it's too tight a few times here and there).

When she was younger she could loosen the straps to a far too loose level, but that lasted about two weeks, and we spent a LOT of time talking about passenger safety then, and she stopped (I have a safety conscienious child).

Wendy
 

urmysunshinex3

Senior Community Member
Count my kids in the monkey category (actually I call them little Gorilla's) with the long arms and able to lift the lever on the Marathon. My twins learned to loosen the harness on the Marathon at 3.5 yo. I can promise they were correctly belted too. There was absolutely nothing I could do to keep them from loosening it. I had several talks, pulled the car over each time, didn't go anywhere for weeks, took away their lovie's etc., but they continued to lift the lever and lean forward to loosen the harness. I finally just bought the Decathlon for them and they just now figured how to loosen that at 5.5 yo. The harness is the same as far as the thickness and strength it just has a different adjustment.

As far as the latch on the Marathon and the Decathlon. The Marathon like a pp said has a bar on each side which webbing is attached to with the latch clips. The Decathlon has the a webbing with latch clip tacked (for lack of a better word) to each side.

When I had the Marathons for the boys, I always struggled to install it with a lap-only belt since you had to weave it under the bars. The Decathlon went in like butter with a lap-only belt install.

For those reasons (no latch bars & push-button harness adjustment) with the 3 position crotch strap is why I much prefer the Decathlon over the Marathon.

Lynette
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Did you tighten through the holes in the Radian? I've found that's the easiest way for me to tighten either a manual lap belt or the LATCH. Heck, even the shoulder belt the one or two times I've done that.

Wendy
 

melaniev

New member
thats funny because i prefer lapbelt-only for all the seats i've ever had; it's a lot easier for me to tighten it 1st then use all 115lbs of me to get the darn thing buckled, than to have the lap-shoulder keep loosening up.
 

Ali

New member
urmysunshinex3 said:
When I had the Marathons for the boys, I always struggled to install it with a lap-only belt since you had to weave it under the bars.

I thought the lap only belt went over the bars! Have I been doing it wrong?
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
When I spoke to Britax the lady (Michelle) explained to me that with a shoulder/lap belt the shoulder part helps hold the seat where it is, so it can go over the bars, but without the shoulder part the lapbelt needs an extra hand, which is why it goes under the bars.

Wendy
 

urmysunshinex3

Senior Community Member
AFAIK, Britax has always said lap belt goes under the bars on the Marathon.

Usually, lap-only belt installs are a total breeze, but with the bars on the Marathon it was always gave me trouble. The bars would hinder me from tightening the belt far enough, since the latch plate would end up hitting the bars and not tightening any further. I would end up having to twist the female portion of the buckle down a couple times to get it tight enough. It could be done it just took me quite some time to do.

Also, when I flew with the Marathon the buckle obviously wouldn't go under the bars like it was supposed to, and then when I buckled it over the bars I couldn't unbuckle it. The pilot ended up coming out and helping me and another passenger to get our Marathons unbuckled. We had flipped the latch plate on the buckle too, like was suggested to me to help when unbuckling. It was one big mess, needless to say.

At the time, the Marathon was the only thing to harness my 2.5 yo-40 lb boys that would work for our family, so even with all the trouble I had with them, I totally appreciated them. It is a great seat!

Lynette
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
urmysunshinex3 said:
Also, when I flew with the Marathon the buckle obviously wouldn't go under the bars like it was supposed to, and then when I buckled it over the bars I couldn't unbuckle it. The pilot ended up coming out and helping me and another passenger to get our Marathons unbuckled. We had flipped the latch plate on the buckle too, like was suggested to me to help when unbuckling. It was one big mess, needless to say.

We've had the pilots out too several times to help remove our Wizard. I took the black plastic off the back, and that helped a little, but not enough. I finally figured out that I could stick my hand in there and loosen it enough to pull out the buckle and THEN unbuckle it (with much cursing and scraping of the hand). Or we'd just remove the seatbelt from the seat, like we saw the pilot to. LOL That was the easiest option, though we tried not to let the attendants see us do that, we don't know if they'd appreciate us knowing how to do that.

Wendy
 

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