Radian install and headrest height?

The first time we installed the Radian XTSL RF in the center backseat of my Mazda6, we had the help and wisdom of the lovely CPST Julie.

This past weekend, we uninstalled it and upped the harness height since my son's shoulders are now above the next highest slot. The harness is now in the middle of the 5 slots (slot 3). According to the Radian manual, if the harness is in the top 3 slots, the head rest has to be brought down to just above the shoulders (whereas before it was pushed all the way up out of the way when the harness was in the 2nd slot from the bottom).

The problem is that I can't get the headrest down to his shoulders! He's too tall to use the 2nd harness slots (harness was coming up from behind his back) so we have to go to the third slots) but he's not tall enough to have his head in between the two headwings.

Here's a pic to illustrate what I mean.
View attachment 7635

We struggled to re-install the seat and finally got it in tight on the third try...but weren't really able to improve the angle to be much more upright...using a level and a t-square we figured out the new angle is 47 degrees (from horizon to Radian back.) LO is comfy so I have no problem with it. The issue is that the boot keeps slipping back into the seat bight no matter how much we tried to push down and tighten with it pulled back a bit. I think it's because the seat belt buckles sit down in these indents in the seat. Oh well.

Here's a pic of the install as well.
View attachment 7636
Sorry, didn't come out exactly level to the horizon....and yes, the seats do slope back in the backseat. It is ROCK SOLID from side to side though! Yay us.

ps. Couldn't find anything in the Mazda6 manual about bracing a RF carseat....it is touching the driver's seat back on the edge but I can still move itup and down so it's not "braced" per se....is this ok?

:happy-wavehello:

I haven't a clue about the finer points of the headrest, so I hope someone chimes in with some tips.

Touching the front seat gently shouldn't be a problem, usually it's the airbag section of the manual that will say something along the lines of not cramming cargo into the seatback and pushing it up too hard, while the carseat section doesn't say anything. If gently resting isn't causing your airbags to flip into the OFF mode, then it's no worries

Measure recline from vertical, then it's only 43*, right? That's what it looks like, doesn't look overreclined in your picture

I *knew* you'd be able to get it nice and tight (heck, it took ME a couple tries, didn't it? If not in your car, it took me months to figure it out in my own! That seat is so challenging to master, lol).

The headrest doesn't go quite all the way down to the level of the third slots, but I think it should go lower than that. Try peeking under the cover by looking through the slot for the headwings, and see if it's all the way down or not. If you can't tell, move the headrest up so that you can see the track the headrest moves in. Then move it back down again to see if it's all the way at the bottom of that track.

Hi back to JoolsPlus3!!! :happy-wavehello:

The airbag section only talked about when a small child is in the front seat and the airbag OFF light is illuminated, you don't want anyone pushing on the back of the front set or packing cargo too tightly against the back of the seat so as to increase the weight on the seat and thus turn the airbag back ON. Since I don't intend on having any small children riding in my front seat, I didn't see a problem. And anyway, it's not touching the passenger seat, just the driver's seat. And I always want the airbags on.

Yes, 43* from vertical....

I will look later and see if I can see the track like you describe, Pixels.

Tough seat to install, but I LOVE it for its day-to-day operation....so much easier to use/adjust than my DH's TF.

It defintely looks like its not down all the way, my DS wa son the 3rd slot and the wings were a lot further down, it does take a bit of a struggle to get them down all the way

here is a picture installed and not

Thanks for the pics! I went back and pulled open the cover where the tracks for the headrest run down, and did find that I could shimmy it down a bit more. It looks a lot more like wavegal's pictures now. Still not to his shoulders, but definitely to his ears.

Just an FYI for future harness height changes, you can change it without uninstalling it. The yoke and straps are easily accessible from behind.

On Levi the headrest isnt to his shoulders yet, he has a big head but short torso.