would you get a new seat to rear face?

Amaris · Aug 24, 2010

Kaitlin is now ffing in her radian. It kept over reclining with her in it and was a PITA to reinstall all the time to try to keep it from happening. I tried every trick I could find in here, but it kept happening. We finally turned her a few weeks before she turned 3. I would like to have her rfing again, but I'm trying to decide if I want a ca, since that was about the only other seat she had more than a little room in. Here are some of the seats we tried at target. Sorry for the size, this is the first time I've used photobucket!
40lb rfing scenera

My ride

And the complete air. I could not get the wings to move, the seat has been messed with a lot. They would have to move up some, she's sort of squished by them

jjordan · Aug 24, 2010

How much does she weigh? What other seats did you try, and did you try any in your car or just in the store?

My personal RF "must do it" line is 3 years old. If one of my kids outgrows his/her rearfacing seat before age 3, I'll get another seat to keep him/her rearfacing. If after 3, then I'll turn him/her around to forward facing. But that's really a personal decision and one that only you can make.

If she is in a properly used forward facing seat (don't forget the tether!), then at 3+ years old, she is very safe.

Amaris · Aug 24, 2010

She weighs 35-36lbs depending on the day. Sorry, I had to edit several times to add pics, I couldn't figure out a different way on my phone! We only tried them in the store. I know there will be a difference in the car, but the problem is dh isn't too keen on getting another new seat. I told him the radian was the last till a booster unless she wasn't ready to booster when she outgrew it. I intended to rf untill 4 or 40lbs, but it hasn't worked out. I did make sure she's tethered and the safe stop is on.

jjordan · Aug 24, 2010

Well, if it were me I'd leave her forward facing. The way kids grow, they can put on 3-4 pounds within a couple of months and/or not gain any weight for a year! She is about 4 pounds away from outgrowing every rearfacing seat (but the Radian 80SL/XTSL) by weight, and that could happen really quickly if she hits a growth spurt. If she were 30# then it might be a different story.

Thanksgiving_Twins_Mom · Aug 24, 2010

Just my :twocents: - you did great to get your DD to 3 years and 35+ lbs. RF and turning her FF in a properly installed and top tethered seat is a reasonable and safe thing to do. If you have tons of $$ burning a hole in your pocket then yeah, get another seat to give you some more RFing time (Car-Seat-Enablers-R-Us

) but don't beat yourself up if you decide to keep her FFing and put the $$ in her college fund instead.
As much as I think it's awesome that there are now a lot of seats that RF past 35 lbs., I think it has the unintended effect of exacerbating "car seat geek guilt" about turning a 35 lb. 3YO FF - hasn't it been only a year or so since the first 40 lb. RF seat was introduced?

Amaris · Aug 24, 2010

Thanks! I will probably end up keeping her ffing in the radian. With my luck I would get the ca and she would gain 4lbs in a month! Sometimes it just takes someone else to put it in perspective!

gigi · Aug 24, 2010

I faced a similar dilemma when my son turned 3. He hit the 35 pound weight limit on his Boulevard and I AGONIZED about whether to buy another seat (Radian didn't work well in my car and all the others seemed SO close by weight). It was a really gut wrenching decision, but I kept him FFing. I still go back and forth all. the. time. about just buying a 40 pound seat to keep him RFing a couple more months, but it seems excessive when I'm being rational. I do need to buy him a new seat b/c we grew to dislike his Boulevard FFing...but I still don't think it makes much sense to buy a convertible rather than a combo seat. It is a very hard decision.

Amaris · Aug 24, 2010

That's why I asked here, one day the rational part of me says she's 3 and almost 40lbs and fine ffing. The next day the car seat geek says get a new seat and turn her! It helps that others see the rational side, too, and push me that way. On the other hand, this is the first time in a very long time that the number of seats I have is equal to the number of kids I have and the car seat geek part of me is saying an extra (or 2 or 3) wouldn't hurt!

cookie123 · Aug 24, 2010

It seems like a lot of people are having this issue with the Radian and a rf older child. Has anyone informed SK of this issue at all?

Mommy2Marcus · Aug 24, 2010

I would leave her FF, exspecially with your DH being against another seat. At 3 & 35-36lbs, her seat installed properly, being strapped in properly, the safe stop used & the top tether use, she will be safe. My personal limit is 3. If Marcus had of wanted to stay RF for a little longer, then I probably would have left him, but he really wanted to be FF & it was killing me. I feel perfectly safe with him FF. It took me getting used to it & thinking about it long & hard, but I am fine with it.

WTG for keeping her RF as long as you did. You did a great job. :thumbsup:

vrclay · Aug 24, 2010

You know the other thing is that the Scenera is on sale at Target this week for $40, which is not that huge of a financial investment for RFing a little while longer.

I feel your pain on the Radian over recline. My 3YO (Today!) desperately wanted to be RFing like his little brother, and so did his mommy, but I couldn't get the d@m# seat to stay upright in my Prius - I spent 3 hours on mother's day (yes, that's what I asked for - uninterupted time to install carseats) fighting with the Radian...I lost.

...so he's FFing... and he loves his RED carseat...

Amaris · Aug 24, 2010

She has so little room in the scenera that even at $40 it didn't seem worth it. The first pic in the first post is a 40lb rfing scenera. My child comes from holy long torso batman land!

Melanie · Aug 24, 2010

If it was my child, I wouldn't buy another seat unless it could be passed down. Those last few lbs could come fast.

I've just started FF my 3yr 4 mo old in DH's car. We were in a similar situation. Radian wouldn't work in that car-well it would, but then no front passenger. After much thought, I decided not to buy another seat for the extra 5lbs.

I know you said you've tried the Radian tricks, but have you tried bracing it or kind of bracing it? I know cars will side airbags will tell you not to brace, but I've made the decision to kind of brace mine. I'm able to put the top of the seat in between the headrest and the top of the seat. It barely touches the seat and doesn't make the airbag light come on. It gives us just enough support to keep the seat from over reclining with a heavy child and squishy seats. Wonder if that would work for you?

bree · Aug 24, 2010

I'll go against the grain, since I know you've already gotten a lot of good responses about forward-facing.

I would buy a new seat to rear-face a young 3 year old. My son's only about 2 months younger than your daughter, and I wouldn't forward-face him at this age, so that's where I'm coming from with my answer.

I imagine at 3 years old, she'll be 4 or close to it before she's gained those last 4 or 5 pounds. I'd also try to install any of the seats in your car before ruling them out. The My Ride in particular is known for gaining literally inches of rear-facing room from the store to the car. Post #12 in this thread is a good example.

I know that there are a lot of people on this board (as evidenced by the responses in this thread) who are comfortable forward-facing a 3 year old, so I feel that you already got a lot of good responses on that side of the issue. I just figured that since you asked "would you get a new seat to rear face?" I thought I would be honest and answer "yes" to give you someone else's perspective from the other side of the issue. :twocents:

bobandjess99 · Aug 24, 2010

Personally? Ya. Probably. I wouldn't push it on someone else, and I might not do it if it would cause extreme issues financially or installation-wise, but I would do it. However - in your situation, I'd try yet again to fix the over-reclining in the radian though first...since it is the only seat that will honestly offer that much more time, due to weight limits.

Amaris · Aug 24, 2010

Our front seat is a solid seat. There isn't a seperate headrest piece. I don't know if there's a name for that or not. That said, as far as I can find out, there aren't any restrictions against something touching the front seat. Its a 2005 expedition that we purchased used. I've called several times to see about an owners manual but haven't received one. I have looked online, and assuming it's exactly the same as the printed one, I don't see anything. However, I personally, am not comfortable with the amount it depends on the front seat. If it were just a little over reclined I would be ok with it, but if I move the front seat forward she's nearly laying down! There isn't a tech on the board close to me. If there was I would go see them and get help! The sk instructor told me how wrong it was that I was rfing her at 13 months, and even though I complained I'm not in a hurry to return to him. After I complained there hasn't been a class listed locally, but I was told he was retrained. Anyway, dh is against yet another seat. I won't go against him to buy one. I wish the radian wasn't such a PITA!

finn · Aug 25, 2010

I personally would buy another seat to keep my 3 year old rear facing, especially a newbie 3 year old, if they were only a couple of months away from their 4th birthday then no, but 4 is my minimum limit.

Pixels · Aug 25, 2010

cookie123 said:
It seems like a lot of people are having this issue with the Radian and a rf older child. Has anyone informed SK of this issue at all?

Over. And over. And over.

They are in denial that there is a problem. Either it's user error, or they advise using the front seat to forcefully brace and adjust the recline angle. When told that the vehicle has advanced air bag sensors and the vehicle prohibits anything touching the front seat, they blow that off and say do it anyway.

My vehicle does not have advanced air bags, but I don't like bracing that forcefully anyway. It rubs on the vehicle headrest. I already have wear marks in my car from the Radian, I don't need another set.

Amaris · Aug 25, 2010

I've talked to dh and shown him all of your replies and he says we are not spending more money on another seat with the same rfing weight limit as the one we have, especially if it has a shorter shell. I have talked to russ about the over reclining and the adjuster lever that sticks in the up position. He blew off the recline and said to brace it and it would be fine. I have to wonder how they know it will be fine and where they tested it that they were able to brace it that much and it still passed. The lever sticking, he assured me that it must have something to do with how I'm installing the seat! Since it's only dh or myself who puts her in her seat we just make sure it's pushed down. Honestly, I'm starting to feel like the radian is the worst car seat purchase I've ever made!

StillThankful · Aug 25, 2010

Pixels said:
Over. And over. And over.

They are in denial that there is a problem. Either it's user error, or they advise using the front seat to forcefully brace and adjust the recline angle. /QUOTE]

What does "forcefully brace" mean?

Mine is currently at a 45 degree angle and I would like it more upright.

would you get a new seat to rear face?

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