a couple more questions...

i think i am addicted to this board now. lol. i havent quite figured out the lingo but im sure i will. my daughter is 6 months 16.4 lbs with clothes and obviously rf in a marathon. i have a 2000 dodge caravan and will be getting upper tether anchors soon, thanks to the advice i found here. now my main problems are getting the seatbelt tight enough and also not getting the lockoffs to work. my seatbelts dont slide back so i am not sure if i even need to use the lockoffs. also, which seat in my caravan is safest for my daughter...i have 3 rows and the back two are both benches. i was worried about putting her in the second row on the passanger side because of the location that the seat belt it achored into the car, next to the sliding door, leaving quite a gap in between the seat and where the belt is anchored, if that makes sense to anyone, lol, its the best way i can explain it. i have also considered taking the second row bench out and moving the third row up and putting her seat in the center with the lap belt. =/ i think about these things everytime i get into the car and would just like an outside opinion. sorry if i made your head hurt with all of the questions.

Your Caravan should have belts that lock at the latchplate...meaning, the sliding part that has the male buckle end. When you buckle in a carseat the lap portion of the belt should stay tight, right? The shoulder part will still be loose unless you have a sudden stop or impact.

You don't have to use the built-in lockoffs on the carseat if you don't want to, with belts that lock themselves.

There's no safety concern about having the seat in the middle row with the seatbelt that stretches across the aisle (that's what you meant, right?).

You can still top tether her carseat even without top tether anchors; the ones that will be installed are for forward-facing; to tether rear-facing you just use the D-ring that came with the seat. It briefly talks about it in the manual, but post a new thread about rear-facing tethering in your particular vehicle if you need more help.

yes, i knew that i can tether her rf'ing. i didnt know before yesterday lol but i do now! =] and yes that was the concern that i had with that second row seating, and thanks for answering it for me =]