darn loosening carseat

BabyS has a RF Titan in her dad's 2009 Accord. It's the only thing that would fit between the 2 PWs the older kids had. But the darn thing keeps loosening up I tightened the install a couple months ago. It was loose again this morning. No one is unbuckling it, A's buckle is next to it and she is carseat queen took. I don't see Dboss that often, let alone have time when I could check his seat. He rarely drives the baby.

I'm using a rolled towel for recline. It sits on a bit of a center hump. But it was tight. I may start playing with boosters to see if I can LATCH the Titan and have 2 boosters next to each other. A is in a backless now since her PW broke. Maybe the Bodyguard would puzzle better for J.

Are you using a locking clip or switching the retractor?

Is it possible that the belt has a really big sweet spot and as it tightens with driving it hits the sweet spot and unlocks? Or is it not unlocking?

I'm locking the retractor- it's not unlocking. We (Me, Mboss, Dboss) tried many times and couldn't get a LC to work :rollseyes: If I got the seatbelt tight enough for less than 1in movement, we couldn't rebuckle. If we could rebuckle, it ended up too loose. Locking the retractor was the best...except that it's somehow loosening over time.

OK, do the locking clip again.

Get it as tight as you can get it and still be able to buckle.

If it is not tight enough,

unbuckle, put a half twist in the belt stalk and rebuckle.

Lather, rinse, repeat, until you get a tight install or you have twisted 3 complete revolutions into the belt stalk.

safeinthecar said:

OK, do the locking clip again.

Get it as tight as you can get it and still be able to buckle.

If it is not tight enough,

unbuckle, put a half twist in the belt stalk and rebuckle.

Lather, rinse, repeat, until you get a tight install or you have twisted 3 complete revolutions into the belt stalk.

Click to expand...

I tried all that. But, when I get time with his car, I'll try again because it was a yr ago-ish.

I stand behind the seat and push into the seat while buckling. The one time my tummy does something good.

We had this problem with the MR in my fiance's car... I tried a locking clip, twisting, etc and it still seemed to loosen. Finally I went on a rampage with the seat tried everything I could think of (no easy feat with a MR in a 2 door car lol) and was able to get it to stay tight with 1.5 twists in the belt stalk. The car has a locking retractor, but for some reason it didn't like the MR. All you can really do is keep fighting with it and trying... ours has stayed rock solid since, hopefully that one will do the same

Judi said:

I stand behind the seat and push into the seat while buckling. The one time my tummy does something good.

Click to expand...

That's what I do too. That's what I try first. When that doesn't work, I move to other methods. I even knelt on the seat. I had A stand on the seat, and push down with her legs, bracing herself against the ceiling (At that time, I was the owner of the seat and wasn't concerned about it breaking).

When we did the locking clip.... I think I had it pulled so tight, that it pulled the buckle stalk out so far... that when we unbuckled, the stalk sank back in a bit. No matter whom I had trying to hold the stalk out, it never worked.

Now that I think about it, it wasn't a year ago I installed the seat first. It was last summer. Maybe during the Aug vacation while I'd have the car and no kids for a while. If BabyS was my child, she wouldn't be riding in the seat again until it was fixed. But she's not And I can't tell her parents she can NOT go with Dad. But, hopefully I can work with it this Sat and she won't have to go anywhere with him. It's rare, but has been getting more frequent recently.

I will try all the tricks again, starting with the locking clip.

Without unboxing my PW, does anyone know if the Britax Bodyguard is as narrow as the old PW? THe PW fit perfectly in the contours of the seat, but nothing else did. Maybe I can get a BG to play nice with A's high rise (or even a backless TB) next to each other and put the baby outboard if I have to. The BG has 1yr left on it, and maybe by then A will pass the 5 step test.

MY seats are similar to accord seats, and I put a Rf titan in the middle. Are they fabric? One thing I've noticed with ALL my seats, is that my seats are VERY plush and smooshy. (I'm certain that's a word, really.) So, a seat can seem tight one day, but then, after the smooshy seat smooshes over time, the seat seems looser. But, after retightening every day for a week or so, I get to the maximum squishable level (technical term), after every last bit of excess air and padding, etc gets completely smooshed down, and it stays tight. On the reverse...uh...ya...I have deep, permanent dents in my car vehicle seats. But, the seats aren't tight (and therefore safe) otherwise.

bobandjess99 said:

MY seats are similar to accord seats, and I put a Rf titan in the middle. Are they fabric? One thing I've noticed with ALL my seats, is that my seats are VERY plush and smooshy. (I'm certain that's a word, really.) So, a seat can seem tight one day, but then, after the smooshy seat smooshes over time, the seat seems looser. But, after retightening every day for a week or so, I get to the maximum squishable level (technical term), after every last bit of excess air and padding, etc gets completely smooshed down, and it stays tight. On the reverse...uh...ya...I have deep, permanent dents in my car vehicle seats. But, the seats aren't tight (and therefore safe) otherwise.

Click to expand...

Yes, cloth seats. I don't remember it being hugely smooshy, but maybe I'm wrong. And.... I can't tighten the seat every day for a week. Or even once a week It's rare that I'm there, and Dboss is there. Unless it's in the morning when I'm trying to make lunches, feed 4 kids, and get them all out the door to school in 30mins or less. Haha, Maybe I'll stop by his office the 2 days/ week I know he's there and tell him I'm there for the weekly carseat tightening