Carseat recommendation for 1 year old and Mazda3 hatchback

[DanInAustin]

I'm a little late getting in on this thread, but we recently tried out a Marathon and had a few questions. We've got a 2006 Mazda 3 hatchback, with our 20 month old RFing in a Roundabout. My wife has long legs and is 6' tall.

I tried it out in a hurry (while everyone else was waiting in the store), but here's what I recall. When RFing outboard on the passenger side, with the Marathon in the reclined position, the passenger seat would be too far forward to be usable - the headrest would be in the way. When it wasn't in the reclined position, it would fit fine.

So here's the questions:
1. I thought the info on the side of the seat said that it HAD to be reclined in the RF position. True at any age and size? Or am I making this up?
2. In the CDNTech post with the photos (which really help!), the base is pulled away from the vehicle seatbacks. I had to jam that thing right up against the seatback to get anywhere close to the angle that was shown on the side of the seat for level with the ground. And I believe that was with the carseat in the upright position. Is that not important to abide by, or am I doing something wrong?
3. There was something in this thread about bracing against the front seats. Is it OK for the Marathon to touch the front seats? In both outboard and center?
4. How about center fit? For some reason we always had out roundabout outboard, thinking that it wouldn't fit center. We just tried it this weekend, and it seems to work fine (though she'll outgrow it RFing in a few months). Will the Marathon fit in the center? Is it OK for it to touch one or both of the front seatbacks? Also, I thought the Mazda 3 manual suggested that center latches wouldn't work with all seats, and for some reason I thought a long time ago we checked with Britax and it was OK to use them (which is even stranger that we never tried center before). Is it OK to use the Marathon (or Roundabout) center in a Mazda 3?
5. We have been using a mirror on the rear seat headrest for visibility of our daughter in the seat. Is there a trick to make this work when they're in the center? When we get her in or out the mirror tends to shift...
6. With the Marathon in the center, can you fit reasonably sized humans in the back seat?
7. Also, if you go FFing from the center, it seems like the tether makes the hatchback area of the car much less usable (since there's a strap running down and the length of the whole area). Any solutions or alternatives?

We'd like to go play with the Marathon again in the next few days, but before then would like to get a feel for the best way to install it, without defeating any of the safety features.

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[mommycat]

Hi Dan, good to hear you want to continue to RF your son. :thumbsup:

1. I thought the info on the side of the seat said that it HAD to be reclined in the RF position. True at any age and size? Or am I making this up?
You are right - for RF installs, the seats need to be FULLY RECLINED. (I believe there is a weight limit for using the middle recline position when FF, after which it needs to be fully upright.) The way we get a more or less reclined install is by pushing on different areas of the seat to have the vehicle seat cushions more compressed either in the seat bight or by the seat edge, giving a different resulting recline.

2. In the CDNTech post with the photos (which really help!), the base is pulled away from the vehicle seatbacks. I had to jam that thing right up against the seatback to get anywhere close to the angle that was shown on the side of the seat for level with the ground. And I believe that was with the carseat in the upright position. Is that not important to abide by, or am I doing something wrong?
The "level to ground" guide is there to help get a 45 degree install for very young babies. Older babies can be more upright, for the MA (and most but not all seats) up to 30 degrees from the vertical. So once your child is old enough that their head does not flop forward onto their chest when sleeping with the seat more upright, you ignore the line. As I said before, pushing down differently on the carseat gives a different angle: pushing down more in the foot area gives a more vertical install, while pushing in the bum area gives a more reclined install. You can also stand behind the seat and use your hips on the carseat shell to either push it downwards a bit for recline, or toward the back of the car for less recline. Pulling the base out from the seat bight gives you more room to push the seat more upright before it jams into the vehicle seat back.

3. There was something in this thread about bracing against the front seats. Is it OK for the Marathon to touch the front seats? In both outboard and center?
Yes, Britax allows the MA to touch the seats in front. Some other carseat manufacturers forbid this. Also, some vehicle manufacturers forbid anything to push against the front seats (one reason stated is airbag sensors) so it is a good idea to review the vehicle manual in every vehicle (seatbelt section, carsseat section, and airbag section, at least).

4. How about center fit? For some reason we always had out roundabout outboard, thinking that it wouldn't fit center. We just tried it this weekend, and it seems to work fine (though she'll outgrow it RFing in a few months). Will the Marathon fit in the center? Is it OK for it to touch one or both of the front seatbacks? Also, I thought the Mazda 3 manual suggested that center latches wouldn't work with all seats, and for some reason I thought a long time ago we checked with Britax and it was OK to use them (which is even stranger that we never tried center before). Is it OK to use the Marathon (or Roundabout) center in a Mazda 3?
It is fine to use them in the center and I am pretty sure either will fit. I can't verify the center LATCH info right now. However, there is no reason why you couldn't use the seatbelt to install if LATCH doesn't work. You will probably have to use the seatbelt at some time in the future as there are weight limits to LATCH installs. However, this would be a minimum of 40 lbs, possibly more. Maybe someone will check their LATCH manual for you. Installing in the center often gives more room front-back as the CS shell can stick in between the two front seats a bit, letting the seats be pushed back a little further than when installing outboard.

5. We have been using a mirror on the rear seat headrest for visibility of our daughter in the seat. Is there a trick to make this work when they're in the center? When we get her in or out the mirror tends to shift...
Disclaimer: I believe the mirrors are not recommended because of potential for becoming projectiles. Depending on the style of your mirror, this will work the same in the center. You can adjust the angle by attaching it so it sits lower or higher on the curve of the seat abck/headrest. I just make sure to reposition mine before every drive if it gets knocked sideways.

6. With the Marathon in the center, can you fit reasonably sized humans in the back seat?
I don't know about your specific back seat. However, I find the MA to be fairly forgiving to sit next to as compared to some other seats, just for reference.

7. Also, if you go FFing from the center, it seems like the tether makes the hatchback area of the car much less usable (since there's a strap running down and the length of the whole area). Any solutions or alternatives?
There are no alternatives to using the approved tether locations. If you need to transport something large that won't fit with the center install, you will need to reinstall the seat outboard for the trip or arrange to transport the item when you don't have your son with you.

Hope that helps. If you have any other questions, please post again.

 

[featherhead]

One other thing, when the car seat is rear-facing, it MUST be in the reclined position. It cannot be in the upright position. Instead you can make the seat more upright using the suggestions posted here.

 

[DanInAustin]

'cat, thanks so much for the detailed responses.

We'll try to put in that MA by using the techniques that you suggested, RF and reclined. Although our daughter is 20 months and around 25 pounds, her head does sometimes flop forward when she sleeps in the carseat (and it drives my wife nuts), though I assume for a child this age and size we should be OK with the RF install as long as we don't exceed 30 degrees to the vertical.

I had noticed some posts with pretty detailed angle measurements - is there really a good way to do this, other than eyeballing it and relying on high school geometry class?

Great point about the FF tether and just moving the seat outboard when transporting something large.

I'll post if anything else comes up when trying out the install.

Dan

 

[mommycat]

You are welcome to post pictures of your installs for us to trouble shoot the angle, etc. The way I have been doing the angle measurements lately has been by using MS Word. Keep in mind that even though these look like they are exact to the tiniest degree, they may still be off by a bit due to camera angle, etc. So some part of it is still just eyeballing. I paste the picture into word and use the drawing toolbar to draw a horizontal line and a vertical line (the blue ones below). Pushing "shift" and holding it down as you click and drag your line snaps the line to 0*/45*/90*. I then rotate the picture so that something I know is vertical or horizontal lines up with one of these lines (right click on it and choose "Format Object" and got to "size" tab; you might need to change the pic to float behind text under "Layout" before you can access the angles on the Size tab). Then I put in a 45* line and a vertical line which I rotate by 30 degrees to give the acceptable range (green lines below). I also take a vertical line and rotate it until it lines up with the seat back at the appropriate spots (some seats have different spots that seem to line up with the baby's back) and the angle I needed to rotate it by is the approximate angle of the install (red line below). Clear enough??

 

[Unregistered]

We have a mazda3 sedan and have found that the convertible seats don't fit well when in the rear facing position. As it really is in your son's best interest to keep him rearfacing as long as possible, I say don't switch him before he out grows the infant seat.

For the forward facing seat, if you don't need room for other passengers in the back, then look for whatever goes the longest with a harness. We got a graco nautlis. It's wide, but we don't really use the backseat for anyone but our daughter. For a skinny seat, the sunshine kids 65lb convertible seems like a good option.