Stresch
New member
Several months ago we watched our niece (3.5) and nephew (2) for a weekend. Both kids weighed about 32 pounds. We were all at my FIL's house, and he picked them up, partly because we weren't sure if we could fit three across in our car.
Saturday morning, we were going to go to a museum, so we went out to check Nephew's carseat. We thought it probably wasn't installed tightly enough in FIL's car. Yeah. The seat was just buckled it. Not locked, not tightened, not tethered. We ended up installing it with LATCH. Then we found out that we could NOT tighten the harness. It wouldn't budge. So we uninstalled it, and examined it.
The seat was an Evenflo Vanguard. And it had a big chuck of plastic missing at the bottom corner and it was all cracked. I have no clue how that happened. I do know that it was in continous use for 3 years. Niece had it, and then they moved her into a booster (Graco TurboBooster) when Nephew needed it. Granted, she couldn't have met the minimum weight on it and she was less than 2, but that's what happened, and luckily they haven't been in an accident.
So, cracked seat, impossible harness adjuster, and he was very nearly over the top of the highest harness slots. I was completely unwilling to let him ride in that. I had my partner take all three kids on a walk, and I did some brief internet research. We ended up buying him an Evenflo Chase with money we did not have. We talked up the importance of a tight install, and how easy LATCH is to use, and how important it is to tether the seat, and how Nephew really should stay harnessed. But, we didn't actually see the kids' parents.
A month or so later, we saw them, and my partner checked to see if they actually had installed the seat. Uh. No. One LATCH connector attached, the seatbelt was in the beltpath but not fastened, and the top tether was hooked on, but not tightened. So she fixed it and explained how it really needed to be tight. This was, apparently, too much for them. They are not speaking to us because we are telling them how to raise their kids.
So. Too late to change what happened, or to even really fix it now. But, did I do the right thing? At the time, that seemed like the best seat, especially given the nonexistent budget. Would he have been safer moved into a booster, since the carseat wasn't actually installed? We are going to be seeing them soon. I'm sure the carseat thing will come up.
If anyone has any advice or wants to reassure me that they situation now is better than it was, I'd appreciate it. Also, sorry for the length.
Saturday morning, we were going to go to a museum, so we went out to check Nephew's carseat. We thought it probably wasn't installed tightly enough in FIL's car. Yeah. The seat was just buckled it. Not locked, not tightened, not tethered. We ended up installing it with LATCH. Then we found out that we could NOT tighten the harness. It wouldn't budge. So we uninstalled it, and examined it.
The seat was an Evenflo Vanguard. And it had a big chuck of plastic missing at the bottom corner and it was all cracked. I have no clue how that happened. I do know that it was in continous use for 3 years. Niece had it, and then they moved her into a booster (Graco TurboBooster) when Nephew needed it. Granted, she couldn't have met the minimum weight on it and she was less than 2, but that's what happened, and luckily they haven't been in an accident.
So, cracked seat, impossible harness adjuster, and he was very nearly over the top of the highest harness slots. I was completely unwilling to let him ride in that. I had my partner take all three kids on a walk, and I did some brief internet research. We ended up buying him an Evenflo Chase with money we did not have. We talked up the importance of a tight install, and how easy LATCH is to use, and how important it is to tether the seat, and how Nephew really should stay harnessed. But, we didn't actually see the kids' parents.
A month or so later, we saw them, and my partner checked to see if they actually had installed the seat. Uh. No. One LATCH connector attached, the seatbelt was in the beltpath but not fastened, and the top tether was hooked on, but not tightened. So she fixed it and explained how it really needed to be tight. This was, apparently, too much for them. They are not speaking to us because we are telling them how to raise their kids.
So. Too late to change what happened, or to even really fix it now. But, did I do the right thing? At the time, that seemed like the best seat, especially given the nonexistent budget. Would he have been safer moved into a booster, since the carseat wasn't actually installed? We are going to be seeing them soon. I'm sure the carseat thing will come up.
If anyone has any advice or wants to reassure me that they situation now is better than it was, I'd appreciate it. Also, sorry for the length.