Considering changing carseats.

11-21-2011, 12:03 PM

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Hello-

I have a 1999 Plymouth Grand Voyager Espresso. I haven't gotten the tether anchors, I am going to stop by the dealership tomorrow and see what they say about them.

Currently, my 3yr old (32.2lbs, 37.5") is FF in a Graco Nautilus. My 4mo old (13.4lbs, 23.5") is RF in a Chicco Keyfit 22.

I am considering getting the Radian XTSL for both of them (turning my son rear facing again) the more I look into it but was wondering the compatibility with these seats and my van. I really like how they can fit three across just incase we do decide to have another and I like that they are easy to take with you when you travel.

I also found a video on you tube about the latch coming undone with simple rocking back and forth, I do not have speakers on my computer so I couldn't hear the narration. I obviously do not have LATCH in my vehicle but my husband has it in his 2010 Escape. Has anyone had a problem with this?

They're both securely in the middle seat, they do not budge but the locking mechanism on the seat belts do not work so I've used a latching plate with my Nautilus.

Any insights and recommendations I would greatly appreciate. Can you fit these okay rear facing with the bench seats? Do they come with locking plates or do you have to purchase those separately? Is the right configuration for my children both in the middle bench or should I move one to the rear?

Thanks again!

ketchupqueen · 12-03-2011, 06:42 AM

Welcome to car-seat.org! Sorry it took a few days to answer this.

I have used Radians in a 98 Grand Voyager (captains' chairs 2nd row), rear-facing without much problem. I found them to do ok in all positions, as long as you twist the buckle stalks in the third row down and get them pretty upright. The new Angle Adjuster should help with that! Your vehicle has locking latchplates (read about locking latchplates here) but if you prefer to use a locking clip or need to because of the way they fall (I did need to outboard in the third row), the Radians come with locking clips, as do almost all other seats.

The SuperLATCH problems are only in some vehicle; it tends to happen when the LATCH strap adjuster ends up close to the belt path, which unfortunately happens fairly frequently because the belt path is so low. The good news is, if you're concerned, you can just install with seatbelt and not have to worry about it.