Monterey and Focus not a great fit (IMO)

unityco

Ambassador - CPS Technician
They're not a horrible fit either, but not great. :( Because the Focus' buckle stalks are fixed and low, I never had any great hope that DS would be able to buckle himself, but not only will he probably never do it, *I*can barely do it (and we only have one seat back there most of the time!)

The only position I haven't tried it in yet is passenger side. On the driver's side, the Monterey, when in its "proper" position, covers the female buckle - however I know that position is narrower than the passenger's (by buckle position, not by actual seating area.) I had to scoot it over as far as it would go and I also needed to remove the car's headrest.

It fits much better in the centre, but there's still some buckle coverage and therefore buckling awkwardness. Probably the best fit would be on the passenger side, but if he's alone in the car, I'll leave him in the centre.

I loved the fixed buckle stalks for the Radian, but not loving them so much for this booster! :eek:
 
Last edited:
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Mommy090804

New member
Thanks so much for the "heads up"!

Some time in the next year I may begin booster training DD. I have been interested in the Monterey, but good to know that it isn't very compatible with the very short buckle stalks in the Focus. I had considered buying one on sale right now, but with the six year expiry and older DOMs it just wasn't such a great deal.

I will definitely try before I buy, not only in respect to DD fitting in one properly, but also in respect to buckling the booster. :thumbsup:
 

unityco

Ambassador - CPS Technician
Glad someone found it useful. :thumbsup:

I forgot to mention the LATCH situation as well. I would have used borrowed LATCH in the centre, except that (as I've mentioned before for the Focus) borrowing causes the hooks to overlap the outboard buckles, and in the case of the booster, overlaps *both* sides of the centre belt so you can't buckle it at all. :thumbsdown:

(I'm not even sure if the Monterey allows borrowing :eek: (the Focus does, and I know the Radian doesn't,) but I wasn't too worried about that since it's not securing the child, just acting as a cargo anchor, IYKWIM ;))
 

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