One of the worst and most interesting installs I've ever seen!

I while back I wrote about a mom I knew from dd's soccer team who had her baby (who was 22lbs) still in her SR w/belly clip and loose straps. I wrote about how I explained to her how tight the straps needed to be, where the chest clip needed to be and that she needed a new seat asap. I had recommended the MR to her and she had wrote everything down I had said.

Well fast forward to tonight. I pulled up in the parking lot at the soccer field and said mom comes over to me and is so excited. She tells me she got the new seat (the MR in a girly pattern) and she just loves it. She tells me that the only problem is that her boy friend installed the seat and it way loose and she knows it can't be safe. I asked her if she would like me to take a look at it for her. She said she was hoping that I'd say that. LOL.

I open the car door and just WOW! BF had installed the car seat center w/seat belt, but he used the passanger side belt! That's right, he had the driver side passanger seat belt pulled all the way out, across the passanger seat, through the rf belt path and then buckled into the belt stalk which was obviously for the other out board passanger seat. Therefore rendering both out board belts useless!

I told her no wonder it was loose. I showed her how to install it properly (her dd was in her stroller the whole time so I hadn't had a chance to see where she would be at harness wise), reminded her that the straps needed to be at or below her shoulders, and where the chest clip needed to be. I told her that AAP recommends keeping kids rfing to the limits of their seats (her dd is 9 mon) and told her that if she had any other questions or needed help again to not hesitate to ask me. (I did explain to her that I was not a tech and that she should have a tech check it out.:thumbsup

Well when we were loading up the car to leave she asked me to come over again because she knew the harness needed to be tighter but didn't know how to do it (she's used to the rear adjust SR). I showed her how super easy it was to tighten and loosen the harness with the harness adjuster and she was in aw. I checked the harness height while I was at it and it was perfect.:thumbsup:

Sorry, I just had to share. DH didn't appreciate my excitement as much as I would have liked him to and I knew you guys would understand.

I understand That's the stuff that makes you smile...:thumbsup:

Awesome! I'm glad she listened! :thumbsup:

I saw that in an '80s mustang. Yeah, there is NO middle seat!

WOW! What a CRAZY install that must have been to see. However I am glad that she listened & that you got to help her fix it in the end. WTG! :thumbsup: Doesn't it make you feel GREAT when you help someone.

That's awesome that you helped her out! Can you imagine if she'd never asked you?

It just boggles my mind that installing a carseat can be so challenging to some. Its just second nature to me. Then there's the whole reading the manual thing...do people just not even bother?

I'm curious what her other kiddo is riding in? Especially since all the seatbelts were being used on one seat!

Mommy2Marcus said:

Doesn't it make you feel GREAT when you help someone.

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It sure does!

MoreLatte said:

That's awesome that you helped her out! Can you imagine if she'd never asked you?

It just boggles my mind that installing a carseat can be so challenging to some. Its just second nature to me. Then there's the whole reading the manual thing...do people just not even bother?

I'm curious what her other kiddo is riding in? Especially since all the seatbelts were being used on one seat!

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Yeah, I can't even imagine what would have happened if they had been in an accident.

I also don't understand how you could get an install so, so, so very wrong.

Her other kiddo is an 11yo dd who is about the same height as my dd and maybe 10 lbs heavier. She was in the front passanger seat.:thumbsdown: You know, I was so excited to help her with the seat it completely slipped my mind to mention that her older dd would be a ton safer in the back seat with her sister.

The next time I see them in the parking lot with dd in the front I'll just casually mention that kids are much safer in the back. Not to mention I think our law is 12 and under must be in the back (but I could be wrong). I know there was a public announcement tv ad going on in our area that said that.

I am so glad you helped her.

twin momma said:

I am so glad you helped her. But I really don't understand her "helplessness". Her boyfriend installed it and she's pretty sure it's wrong... yet she drives her DD around in it for how long?! Did she not care enough to pull out the manual and read it?

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I don't even try to understand why people do what they do. I'm just glad she asked for help when she knew something wasn't right.:thumbsup:

She said she had just got the seat. I don't know if that ment that day or a couple of days ago.:shrug-shoulders: I cringe to think what could have happened had they been in an accident. I did make sure that she was able to install it herself though so hopefully she'll show bf as well.

People are a strange lot they are.:dizzy:

zactayaus said:

I don't even try to understand why people do what they do.

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Uh, yeah...

It's great that she knew enough that it wasn't right and had the sense to ask you !

My SIL went through a point in time when her girl's seats weren't even installed in the car. Yep, that's right, they were just sitting on the backseat. She didn't even notice, or seem to care. I only noticed when I went to kiss the nieces goodbye once they were buckled in, and her whole car seat tipped over.

If anyone figures out WHY people do what they do, then tell me why DH (who has been schooled on carseats) still does not get the MUST BE TIGHT at the belt path thing?
Thank god it was a short ride. (I wasn't there, emergency install of new seat.)
He was SOOO proud of himself, too, for putting it in...

...until I flipped Jonah across his back seat IN the carseat while buckled.


Is it a man thing? Men just can't install carseats?

That is so great that she asked you about it! I'm glad you were able to help her out.

My DH can install. He better be able to. He is a tech.

Judi said:

My DH can install. He better be able to. He is a tech.

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*nods* He really can. He's dang good at it too, even when her lap belt isn't cooperating.

My husband can put our primary and most of our secondary seats in, most of the time. If he tries to install a seat that he doesn't know in a car he doesn't know, there may be a problem-- but he knows enough to know that if there's more than 1" of movement at the belt path, he finds another way. (Like, when he tried to put my daughter's extra seat in my mom's car and couldn't, under emergency circumstances-- he just traded cars with her instead so she used the one that was already installed in our car, while he drove hers.)

I was so done. That is when DH steps in!

I was walking in a mall parking lot and I happened to glance in a car and saw a similar set-up. But, this seat was installed forward facing with 3 seatbelts. Yes, the lapbelt. And the passenger lap/shoulder belts going through from either side. I do have to admit it was probably tight, but wow, so wrong.

I'm glad you were able to help her!

I need me one of those man Techs.

I saw a scenera installed in the center using both outboard seatbelt. VERY interesting!!!

Jonah Baby said:

I need me one of those man Techs.

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I found a man, then made him a tech. :evil grin:

DH listens to it all very well, but our one and only hands on me-training-him session was cut way short when neither of us was watching 1.5 y.o DS1 and he wandered off (uh, yeah he was 3 feet from us but not within sight and we both freaked out).

Fast forward 18 months or so and DH's first time touching an install since then is a RN in a car/seating position that requires several tricks...all by himself, perfect install.

It's not a man thing--men are good at these things. But in many families the mom is the one doing the CR buying/research and she gains CR wisdom in the process. In that case, it's mom's job to pass it on to dad!